Roman Reigns will reportedly face his former WWE rival Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble 2023 Premium Live Event, in what will be their first singles match in two years.
Last night at Survivor Series WarGames, Roman Reigns' Bloodline defeated The Brawling Brutes, Kevin Owens, and Drew McIntyre in a hard-hitting WarGames match. The Tribal Chief is now set for his next Undisputed WWE Universal title defense.
As per WrestlingNewsCo's sources, there are plans for Reigns to defend his title at the Royal Rumble next year. A source also told WrestlingNewsCo that former WWE Champion Sheamus was penciled in for a match with Reigns at one point, but WWE ultimately decided to go with Owens.
With Owens seemingly having the WarGames win wrapped up after hitting the stunner on Reigns, the eventual betrayal of Sami Zayn could lead to an interesting build-up to the next Premium Live Event.
Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens faced off at Royal Rumble 2021
Interestingly, Reigns met Owens in a Last Man Standing match at last year's Royal Rumble event. The 25-minute brawl ended with Reigns coming out victorious over Owens.
Reigns and Owens' heated feud was eventually won by The Tribal Chief. Ahead of their Royal Rumble 2021 encounter, Reigns candidly spoke about Owens in an interview with CBS Sports.
"I think if you just looked at it on paper, he's the exact opposite of me. We look different, we carry ourselves differently, we have different backgrounds. It's just completely different presentations, and there's something very interesting about polar opposites going at it and competing against each other to see who is the best. But, from the intangible standpoint, what KO brings to the table is his own way and own package -- his relentlessness to be great." [H/T CBS Sports]
A lot has changed since Reigns and Owens' Royal Rumble 2021 battle. Reigns still holds the Universal title and has also added the WWE title to his repertoire. Last night at Survivor Series WarGames, Owens had an incredibly strong showing, but it wasn't enough to put a stop to The Bloodline.
Owens is one of the biggest fan favorites in all of WWE. It would be interesting to see how he performs against Reigns this time around, if the match ends up taking place at Royal Rumble 2023.