Roman Reigns Beats Drew McIntyre; Solo Sikoa Debuts

Roman Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre, extending his two-year run as WWE Universal champion, and continuing his run as Undisputed WWE Universal champion. The match saw the debut of Solo Sikoa, who pulled the referee out of the ring just as it seemed McIntyre was going to finally defeat Roman Reigns.

Following the match, Tyson Fury—who stopped a Money in the Bank cash in from Austin Theory—got in the ring to sing with McIntyre and Principality Stadium. The stadium was quite cranky, largely booing the moment, but they came around to sing “American Pie.”

WWE aired a “Broken Dreams” video package prior to the match starting as the partisan crowd was solidly behind the hometown hero. Fans fiercely chanted “Oh Drew McIntyre!” to the tune of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”

Delivering historic moments at WWE Clash at the Castle should have been top of mind in WWE for a number of reasons. Clash at the Castle’s predecessor was WWE SummerSlam 1992, where the British Bulldog won the Intercontinental Championship from Brett Hart in front of his home country inside the United Kingdom’s Wembley Stadium. With a massive crowd on hand at Principality Stadium, the table was set for WWE to replicate a doubly historic win: A rare world title change in the United Kingdom, and the end of Roman Reigns’ two-year run.

Turns out, the only history WWE replicated at Clash at the Castle, was the history that has already existed for over 700 days. With exclusively predictable results—where all of the favorites went over—and no surprise returns, Clash at the Castle came off as more of a house show.

Reigns has been a great champion for WWE since the day he won the title. Reigns had a polarizing push-and-pull with WWE’s fanbase as The Big Dog, but thankfully, his much-needed heel-turn unlocked a creative windfall. As the more aloof, more calculating, and more dominant Head of the Table, Reigns carried the company on his back.

Until his 2022 feud with Drew McIntyre, Reigns’ dominance as both a gift and a curse.

Despite developing into a gripping character, complete with a talented supporting cast in the Bloodline, Reigns’ world title challengers were often booked as one-dimensional underdogs whom few believed had a chance. This led to less suspenseful world title matches that often felt inevitable. Reigns cleaned out the divisions many times over, with every pay-per-view having the same (expected) outcome. Reigns even beat Drew McIntyre in a SmackDown vs. Raw exhibition match at WWE Survivor Series 2020.

In recent weeks, particularly since Triple H took over creative, Drew McIntyre has emerged as the most viable threat to defeat Roman Reigns since his reign began two years ago. Reigns once again walked into a world title match as a favorite, but only a slight one at -160 compared to +120 for McIntyre.

Roman Reigns Continues Historic Title Run

Reigns recently celebrated his 734th day as Universal champion. With the Scottish-born Drew McIntyre wrestling in the United Kingdom, Saturday presented the perfect opportunity to dethrone Roman Reigns, especially with Reigns effectively a part-timer.

WWE went into overdrive in building up its Clash at the Castle main event, which emanated in front of over 60,000 fans. Prior to this main event even being announced, WWE’s pay-per-view return to the United Kingdom was already considered a massive success in terms of ticket sales.

WWE delivered in promoting its main event, airing a series of vignettes chronicling McIntyre and Reigns en route one of WWE’s biggest main events in years. Not only did Roman Reigns feud with Drew McIntyre, but each veteran top star also had opps on the side. Reigns is in the midst of a highly compelling feud with Kevin Owens, one that implicates honorary Uce (and Owens’ best friend) Sami Zayn. McIntyre, meanwhile, is currently feuding with Karrion Kross, who has also teased coming after Roman Reigns. This dynamic alone opened up the floodgates for possible match finishes. Kross, seated in the crowd, got involved in the match by throwing a water bottle at McIntyre.

Given how long they’ve been exposed to WWE fans, it’s almost impossible to tell the stories of Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns without sounding like a rerun. But by building to a historic pay-per-view, WWE succeeded in giving this main event the level of hype worthy of headlining a stadium show.

The ever-changing Triple H era was the cherry on top of an already intriguing matchup. Steadily, but surely, Triple H has implemented a number of small-but-important changes to further put his stamp on the new WWE. With the last decade defined by part-timers, is Triple okay with having a part-time champion? Or is he more keen to to have a full-time champion like Drew McIntyre? With Reigns celebrating two years as champion on SmackDown, it could have just as easily have served as a sendoff of sorts.

But after an unpredictable world title match, Roman Reigns survived, alongside Solo Sikoa, with The Bloodline only getting stronger.