6 Match Star Ratings For WWE Royal Rumble 2021
2. Roman Reigns Vs. Kevin Owens - Universal Title Last Man Standing Match
The sort of match that makes you feel guilty for not thinking was great - before any comment is made on the content, the balls and graft must be put all the way over - Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens took several risks and beat the f*ck out of one another in a commendably brutal feud-ender.
Unhinged and at times creative - and trope-y at others - the layout was too inelegant to reach anywhere near the pinnacle of the great plunder brawls.
In an on-the-nose story beat too damning to get over as this grand babyface moment, Owens, after a surreal brawl through the digital crowd spot that only brought into focus just how weird things are now, was launched from the Zoom call and through a table below. Designed to establish the idea that he had returned with more resolve than ever, it actually under-sold the big TV spot that wrote him off in the first place.
Almost all pro wrestling is in some way derivative. The big notable spot in this match wasn't bad because AEW did it first. They didn't, in fact. But the Sammy Guevara golf cart bump has been meme-d to such death that it can only resonate now as a comedy spot. Even if AEW hadn't created an iconic moment of levity back in May 2020, this still wouldn't have worked. It was pure slapstick. WWE had spent months layering and layering Owens with sympathy, but turned him into a punchline here. The context was all wrong, and that a forklift was used to set up another outrageous bump didn't much help the optics.
When this wasn't a tonally off spot-fest, it was very good. The violent and logical use of a chair to keep Roman down was wince-inducing in the best of ways.
But mostly, a match that ended on a downer of a botch didn't possess enough identity nor drama to excuse all of that excessive TV time.
Star Rating: ★★★