10 Weapon Fails That Totally Ruined Wrestling Matches

5. The Drama In Kevin Owens Vs. Roman Reigns Is Literally Handcuffed

Hardyz Table Fail
WWE.com

At Royal Rumble 2021, Roman Reigns defeated Kevin Owens in a wildly entertaining Last Man Standing brawl with a certain suboptimal spot. He ran Owens over with a golf cart, which was always going to stoke the fire of tribalism, given the heavily meme'd Sammy Guevara chase. Moreover, Owens as the "just keep fighting" babyface wasn't the best choice for an inadvertently amusing slapstick spot.

You aren't meant to laugh at a babyface. A babyface is meant to be a Saturday Night Live-style host welcoming you to Monday Night RAW. Everybody knows that.

It was nothing if not incredibly committed, but the finish ruined it almost entirely. After struggling to put one another away with various demented dives and vehicular assaults, the only way to keep Roman down was to cuff him to a scaffold backstage. In the one moment in which WWE was too successful at something, Paul Heyman struggled to unlock the cuffs with his key. The immersion of the match was ruined entirely because the referee had to stop the count. Reigns was going over.

This was a timing conundrum that Heyman couldn't throw a Gauntlet match at.

 
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Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!