Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn Planned for Elimination Chamber 2023 Main Event
This past Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble 2023 event featured a Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match between Kevin Owens and champion Roman Reigns, which was won by Reigns. During the post-match segment, Sami Zayn refused to get involved in the Bloodlines attack on Owens resulting in Zayn attacking Reigns and being kicked out of the group.
The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Monday’s Daily Update that his sources confirmed that WWE officials currently have Zayn vs. Reigns to be the main event match for their upcoming Elimination Chamber 2023 event on February 18th in Montreal, Canada.
Meltzer reported that WWE officials had been working on plans for this match since around this past October or November. Meltzer also reported that WWE officials currently feel that the Bloodline storyline with Zayn is so hot that it does not matter what would be on the rest of since it is strong enough to carry the event on its own.
The O.C.’s Contracts Status Update
As noted before, The Good Brothers’ Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson made their returns to WWE this past October.
Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Gallows and Anderson had signed five year deals with WWE that will keep them in the company until late 2027.
It was reported that many of WWE’s roster are currently signed to three year deals that are set to expire in mid-2025 but the Good Brothers were given a longer term deal for their return to the company. One high-level WWE source spoken to stated that the reason for the Good Brothers’ contracts being longer is due to WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque had felt badly for them when they were released back in April of 2020 and wanted to make good on their previous deal that was ended prematurely.
WWE Royal Rumble 2023 News & Notes
WWE producer Ken “Dykstra” Doane reportedly suffered a leg injury at this past Saturday’s Royal Rumble 2023 event in San Antonio, Texas, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Doane suffered the injury following Judgement Day and Edge’s brawl on the asile during the Men’s Royal Rumble match. Doane was among the WWE officials involved in segment and is believed to have suffered a torn calf in the process.
Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that this year’s event was the second longest ever in terms of overall runtime for a Royal Rumble event in Royal Rumble history, only behind the 2019 event.
This year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match featured WWE Hall of Famer Booker T among the surprise entrants for the match. In a recent episode of The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore podcast, co-host Booker T revealed that he was asked by WWE officials if he wanted to participate in the match during the event’s kickoff show.
WWE officials reportedly were not happy with the performance of country musician Hardy’s concert during their Royal Rumble event, according to Fightful Select. It was reported that their sources stated that Hardy’s performance was “largely scoffed at” in terms of his signing and other production issues affecting the quality of the concert.
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