At Elimination Chamber, Sami Zayn attempted to complete his fairytale story to reach the pinnacle of WWE by defeating Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
Zayn gave his everything in front of a hometown crowd that cheered him to the rafters while showering The Tribal Chief with chants of “F**k you Roman!”.
Despite Reigns taking full control of much of the match, Zayn came up from underneath on more than one occasion to get near-falls with a Blue Thunder Bomb and a Helluva Kick.
Things broke down late on after a referee was knocked unconscious. Jimmy Uso took to the ring to attack Zayn with multiple Super Kicks and an Uso Splash but it wasn’t enough as Zayn kicked out on two.
When the second official was taken out with a dodged Superman Punch, Paul Heyman gave Reigns a chair, but Jey Uso appeared and prevented him from using it. Zayn tried to take advantage of Jey’s presence to attack Reigns from behind, but The Head of the Table moved and Uso ate a Spear.
Reigns then grabbed the chair and launched a vicious assault on Zayn followed by a Spear for the win, ending Zayn’s fairytale journey to the main event.
Sami Zayn graphically reveals the aftermath of the match
Following the event, WWE posted pictures of Zayn on social media, showing just how badly the chair shots had affected him, with bruising and scrapes across his entire back.
😣😣😣😣#WWEChamberpic.twitter.com/JciyGp1EkO
— WWE (@WWE) February 19, 2023
Zayn spoke about his feelings following the match at the post-Elimination Chamber press conference, revealing that he was affected by the unhappy ending of the bout, and part of him wishes he had been able to achieve the fairytale ending everyone hoped for.