6 Match Star Ratings For WWE Royal Rumble 2022

6. Roman Reigns Vs. Seth "Freakin'" Rollins - Universal Championship Match

The show started on such an incredible note.

The second that the Shield's theme dropped, you couldn't help but melt into a wry, appreciative smile. It was more than a neat moment of nostalgia; Seth's attire choice made sense of and even enhanced a bad, hastily-thrown-together build. This word has been bastardised beyond recognition, but the moment was so cool and inspired that it went some way towards making people forget that the Shield have reformed multiple times since 2014.

The match itself pulled at this thread artfully too; Seth, who was on sensational 2015 form, worked the match as if he'd spent hours and hours drilling into Roman's psyche. The callbacks weren't mere fan service. Rollins unleashed the "Shield bomb", countered the Spear into a Pedigree and played the frantic aerial artist of 2012-2014 as a way of unsettling Roman, who was nowhere near the worker Seth was when the Shield were a breakthrough full-time unit. Roman was brilliant too in a match refreshing for its lack of methodical, we-tell-stories posturing; his 2.9 kick-outs sold the shock result with exquisite dramatic timing.

The match peaked before the finish, and the finish was bobbins.

It was as annoying as it was puzzling, looking at the full picture. Reigns went full heel, and later realigned with Paul Heyman, preserving their face/heel dynamic. So why have Brock Lesnar eliminate hometown star Randy Orton and last eliminate a returning babyface?

Getting disqualified for kicking too much ass isn't storytelling; it's an excuse to prolong a story for content's sake.

Star Rating: ★★★½