Roman Reigns' blockbuster segment at Royal Rumble reaches astonishing feat
Roman Reigns has consistently been involved in some of the best WWE segments over the last three years. Royal Rumble 2023 was no different.
The Tribal Chief and Sami Zayn's segment towards the end of the show will go down as one of the best segments in modern WWE history. The latter finally betrayed the Bloodline and the segment was watched over 20 million times within 24 hours.
The ending to this years Royal Rumble which saw Sami Zayn turn on Roman Reigns has now been viewed over 20,050,000 times & counting across all WWE socials in under 24 hours 🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/Q1TPElqiqU
These are undoubtedly astonishing numbers and will definitely grow a lot over the next few days.
The Royal Rumble main event saw the Head of the Table take on Kevin Owens in a world title match. The former retained his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in dominant fashion following a hellacious Spear. But the night was not over as the Bloodline proceeded to assault the Prizefighter.
Roman Reigns handcuffed the former NXT Champion to the ring ropes and ordered Sami Zayn to hit him with a chair. The Canadian star shocked fans around the world when he turned on the Bloodline and struck the leader instead.
Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso beat down Sami before Roman Reigns finished him off with multiple chair shots. It was a memorable segment from start to finish and one that will be talked about for years to come.
Roman Reigns' segment was similar to an IMPACT Wrestling segment according to Bully Ray
On the December 22, 2022 episode of IMPACT Wrestling, Bully Ray ambushed Tommy Dreamer with a steel chair. Josh Alexander was zip-tied to the top rope in a similar way to how Kevin Owens was handcuffed.
While reviewing Royal Rumble 2023 on his Busted Open radio show, Bully Ray noted the similarities between the two segments.
"The angle that they did afterwards was probably some of the best stuff I've seen in a long time," Bully Ray said. "Now, I've gotta be honest with you, it was a little reminiscent of some things I've just recently seen in IMPACT Wrestling with handcuffing or zip-tying the babyface to the ropes, bludgeoning him, somebody stepping in front trying to save him, a friend, yada yada. It doesn't matter, it still worked."
Sami Zayn is a likely opponent for Roman Reigns at the upcoming Elimination Chamber premium live event in Montreal. If the former Shield member retains, he will face Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39.