Roman Reigns Retains Against LA Knight

Roman Reigns is on track for another WrestleMania main event after defeating one of his toughest challengers, the red hot LA Knight, at WWE Crown Jewel 2023.

The fast-rising Knight had spent the better part of 2023 establishing himself as one of WWE’s biggest stars, even becoming the No. 1 merchandise seller in the entire company. That’s never a bad thing, of course, but the timing of his incredible ascension on SmackDown couldn’t have been worse.

Why? Because of Reigns.

“The Head of the Table” has held the WWE Universal Championship—now merged with the WWE title as the Undisputed Universal title—for more than three years, resetting the modern day record books in the process. During Reigns’ run as champion, there have been times when it looked like he would finally drop the championship that has defined him for nearly 1,200 days.

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Perhaps that best opportunity came in September 2022 when Drew McIntyre appeared to be perfectly positioned to dethrone Reigns at Clash of the Castle in Cardiff, Wales. Instead, Reigns retained again, and McIntyre’s character really hasn’t rebounded since then. Now, McIntyre’s WWE future is up in the air amid uncertainty regarding his contract negotiations.

Ironically enough, Knight found himself in an eerily similar position: primed to do the unthinkable and topple Reigns—only for that not to happen.

Knight has been one of WWE’s biggest success stories in recent years, transforming from a manager known as “Max Dupri” to generating the biggest crowd reactions of any babyface in the company as Knight. His rise has been incredibly impressive, but like McIntyre, he and WWE reportedly have been unable to agree to terms on a new contract.

Both stars are pivotal pieces of Monday Night Raw, but they are also both clear cases of poor timing. The reasoning is both simple and obvious: WWE is clearly headed toward Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes II at WrestleMania 40, the planned main event of the show.

The unfortunate reality for anyone who’s faced Reigns during the past year or so of his championship reign is that they are just placeholder opponents to get Reigns to the clear endgame of a rematch with Rhodes. It was true of Jey Uso, just as it was true of Knight.

At Crown Jewel 2023, Knight had the crowd firmly behind him just as he always does, but he fell to Reigns after repeated interference—this time from Jimmy Uso—just as everyone has since late 2020. Despite the slivers of hope for a Reigns loss that accompanied his feuds with McIntyre and Jey Uso, among others, the outcome never changed.

Knight knows that better than anyone right now, which is fine for the moment, but if WWE doesn’t follow up with something big for the charismatic star, his momentum could be halted for good.