10 Wrestling Matches That Were Controversially CANCELLED
2. Roman Reigns Vs Adam Pearce (WWE Royal Rumble 2021)
There'll be books written about WWE's output during the pandemic one day, and depending on the detail they'll potentially be as depressing as the rolling lockdowns themselves.
Flashpoints of creativity were rule-proving exceptions between 2020-21, as WWE somehow made their 2018-19 "we're sorry it's awful, we'll fix it, honestly" era look like 1980s Mid South by comparison. Never had stuff just happened with a randomness alien to just about every scripted show in history, and by the time January 2021 came around they decided to let a potential Universal Championship match between Roman Reigns and Adam Pearce marinate as if it were the real deal. Far from the biggest creative crime committed in The ThunderDome, but really weird and dumb to look at all the same.
Pearce had tried and failed to get a handle on Roman's increased megalomania on SmackDown, and worked himself into a shoot long enough to get slapped on the graphic for seven days. Kevin Owens was the eventual replacement, trying one last time to wrestle the belt away from 'The Tribal Chief' before going to the back of the line for a full 12 months until he got another crack.