Report: Possible reason Roman Reigns isn't defending Universal title inside Elimination Chamber
On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the possible reason Roman Reigns isn't defending his Universal title inside the Elimination Chamber.
On January 21, 2021, WWE will present the Elimination Chamber event, featuring two Elimination Chamber matches. On the SmackDown side of things, six participants will battle inside the hellish structure, with the winner getting a shot at Roman Reigns' Universal title on the same night.
As reported previously on Sportskeeda, the original plan for the match was for The Tribal Chief to defend his Universal title belt against five competitors inside the Elimination Chamber. Dave Meltzer noted the same on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, and added that the most likely reason WWE changed the original plan was that it didn't want the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match to mirror the RAW Elimination Chamber match, in regards to the stipulation.
“It’s a way to get heat on Reigns. Originally, Reigns was going to be in the chamber match. That was the original idea and then I guess they didn’t want to do it on both shows or something. Whatever…they wanted to tweak it, so they tweaked it.”
Roman Reigns will battle the winner of the SmackDown Elimination Chamber
Roman Reigns will be having a big advantage at the Elimination Chamber event, as he will be facing a battered and exhausted winner of the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match. Fans might remember the very first Money In The Bank cash-in at the hands of Edge, which happened mere moments after John Cena successfully defended his WWE title inside the Elimination Chamber. It took Edge less than two minutes to finish off Cena and win the WWE title for the first time in his career.
Even if WWE places a bunch of matches between the SmackDown Elimination Chamber and the eventual Universal title match, the winner of the first bout would still be at a big disadvantage. Going through five determined men inside the Elimination Chamber is far from a cakewalk. To top it off, Roman Reigns is one of the most ruthless stars in all of WWE today, and will not go easy on the one who survives the Elimination Chamber.
On the RAW side, Drew McIntyre is going to defend his WWE title against AJ Styles, Randy Orton, The Miz, Jeff Hardy, and Sheamus. The competitors in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber are as follows: Jey Uso, King Corbin, Sami Zayn, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, and Cesaro.