Roman Reigns Beats LA Knight

Roman Reigns defeated LA Knight, retaining the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship with help from the Bloodline at WWE Crown Jewel 2023.

Roman Reigns was a massive -5000 favorite against LA Knight at Crown Jewel, making him one of the biggest favorites of his entire title reign. In his last world title defense—a successful one against Jey Uso at SummerSlam—Reigns was a -1000 favorite. At Money in the Bank, Jey Uso became the first person to beat Reigns in three years, yet nobody gave Jey a chance.

With LA Knight five-times the underdog Jey Uso was, Knight’s chances of leaving Saudi Arabia as WWE champion were rendered impossible. Knight’s by-the-numbers title chase against Roman Reigns highlights a pitfall within the Bloodline Storyline in 2023. There has always been a short list of wrestlers whom fans believe will dethrone Roman Reigns. For the past two years, that list has almost exclusively featured Cody Rhodes. When Rhodes lost to Reigns at WrestleMania 39, it didn’t advance the story as much as it delayed it.

Since WrestleMania, The Bloodline has been reduced to an island of dormancy. An island of purgatory. One where Reigns seldom defends his WWE Championship, and when he does, nobody believes he’s going to lose. Reigns’ inevitable clash with Cody Rhodes has overshadowed every B-challenger. Even when Reigns ran into WWE’s hottest star in LA Knight, WWE is still telling Cody Rhodes’ story.

Afterall, it’s only the bottom of the third.

Rhodes came face-to-face with Reigns for the first time since the Raw After Mania on the October 13, 2023 broadcast of SmackDown. It was a microcosm of Reign’s feud with LA Knight, with Knight—and everything else in WWE—taking a backseat to WWE’s two biggest stars.

WWE, somewhat reluctantly, has pulled the trigger on a main event push for LA Knight. Knight continues to surge in popularity, much to the chagrin of wrestling purists who obsess over emotionless workrate and meaningless star ratings. The Attitude-Era influence of LA Knight has become a story in and of itself, but it’s worked. In the pro wrestling business, what’s old is always new again. But WWE has almost gleefully pushed the LA Knight “ripoff” narrative.

The Miz (who rips off The Rock), Paul Heyman (who rips off Bobby Heenan), Zelina Vega (Who cosplays like every day is Comic Con) and most recently Roman Reigns (John Cena, Thanos) are just some of the WWE Superstars who have cut promos about Knight’s similarities to The Rock and Austin. It’s almost as if WWE is trying to brainwash its fanbase into thinking the same.

After losing his biggest match to date, Knight’s next few months are going to be his most crucial. WWE’s commitment to Knight moving forward will be made clear through the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 40 season. After losing his first world championship match, will fans push Knight toward an eventual rematch like Cody Rhodes or settle for a lesser role like Sami Zayn? Judging by Knight’s main event against Reigns, things bode well for the megastar. Knight kicked out of a spear and lost only after outside interference from the Bloodline, the way every top star loses to Reigns.

WWE’s long-term storyline has done more good than harm for the promotion. WWE continues to overachieve in viewership, ticket sales and just about every key performance indicator. But in building up to one of WWE’s biggest rematches of all time (hopefully), Reigns and the Bloodline have sacrificed momentum for the greater good.