After a chaotic few weeks at SmackDown between Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens, it boils down to a Last Man Standing Match at the Royal Rumble for the Universal Championship. Adam Pearce successfully got Owens to some contract screens at this venue, and now it was time for Owens to do his part and get rid of Reigns. Owens was out first, and then Roman Reigns dropped the entrance driveway with Paul Heyman by his side, though no Jey Uso interesting enough.
Owens charged Reigns immediately, but Reigns dished out a Superman Punch and knocked Owens down shortly thereafter. Owens got up and dodged a spear from Reigns with a big kick and then hit Reigns with a pop-up power bomb, but Reigns counted on his score 4.
Reigns catches Owens, but Owens gets up and throws Reigns into the ring. However, Reigns turned it around and threw Owens’ shoulder first into the steel stairs. Reigns followed it up with a spear that sent him hard to the ground.
Reigns waits for Owens to get up and picks up the steel stairs and slams them into Owens. He picks them up again and punches Owens in the face and sends him down to the ground. Reigns then hit him again with the stairs and sent Owens down once more. Owens got up and kicked Reigns in the face, knocked him down and knocked the stairs out of his hands.
Owens slammed Reigns’ face three times on the stairs and then threw himself into the LED screens several times. Reigns got up and Owens first slapped him in more LED screens and then kicked him in the face. Owens then went to pick up the steel stairs and he slammed them into Reigns and sent him to the top of the equipment table.
Owens then climbed up and grabbed a chair, but Reigns slapped him in the eye. Reigns hit Owens on the ribs with a chair, but Owens fought back. They would trade in attacks until Owens hit Reins in the face with a big kick, then grabbed a chair and hit Reigns in the knees and legs, followed by a slap on Reigns’ back. Reigns provided the favor with several attacks that hurt Owns, and then Reigns tried to push Owens to the edge, but Owens stunned him and sent him in the direction of the edge. Reigns hits Owens with a Superman Punch and then throws Owens into the tables and breaks it in half.
Yet Owens got up on time. However, Owens feels the pain and goes behind the scenes for some unknown reason. He kept walking until he came across the practice ring behind the stage. Suddenly, Reigns crashed into a golf cart and crashed into Owens, and the collision resulted in a broken windshield.
Owens was down, but picked up on the score of 9, and Reigns then dropped him off with beats. Owens rose again with the score of 8, and before Reigns could attack him again, Owens punched him and a then-pop-up force bombarded him in the table. Owens then climbs up and splashes Reigns and breaks the table in the process. Reigns barely made it up at the score of 9, and his legs were spaghetti at this point.
Owens sent Reigns down again and grabbed a ladder. Owens slapped the ladder in Reigns’ face and left him on top of a table. Owens climbed into a forklift and lifted a pallet. Then he lifts the pallet and climbs on it, jumps and strikes a guard at Reigns and shatters the table below. The referee started the score, and Owens was up, and Reigns got up with the score of 9, but quickly felt back.
Owens continued to drag Reigns to the concession area, and Reigns flourished in a few places. Owens dragged Reigns back to the ring area and the referee started counting again. Reigns would knock it, but then the tables would turn and hit Owens through the LED screen. He was almost counted out, but he rolled off the stage and landed on his feet, beating the score to 9.
Roman then pulls out some shackles and tries to secure Owens, but Owens stops it and throws Reigns into a light pole. Owens then handcuffed Reigns to the light structure. He was then on the verge of being counted out, but Reigns hit the referee in the post and knocked him out before he could count him down.
He then hit Owens with a low shot and sent him to the ground, and then Heyman came out to take off the shackles, but a new referee came out and started the count. After a while (a long time where the referee actually stopped counting because it took so long) Heyman was able to take out Reigns, and as soon as he did, he immediately applied a guillotine to Owens, which seemed to that he was over.
The referee started counting, and that was all she wrote for Owens.
Here is the complete map for the Royal Rumble:
WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre vs. Goldberg
WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens (Last Man Standing)
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Asuka & Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler
Royal Rumble-men: Daniel Bryan, Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Otis, The Miz, Jey Uso, Cesaro, Jeff Hardy, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura, Big E, John Morrison, Sheamus, Mustafa Ali, Edge, TBA
Royal Rumble for Women: Nia Jax, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Beliar, Bayley, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, Shayna Baszler, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, Tamina, TBA
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments and as always you can WWE talk to me all things on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!