Roman Reigns Retains Universal Title via DQ vs. Seth Rollins at WWE Royal Rumble 2022

Roman Reigns retained the Universal Championship in a disqualification loss to Seth Rollins at the WWE Royal Rumble on Saturday night, keeping his 500-plus-day title run intact.

The Tribal Chief refused to break his guillotine choke after Rollins' hand fell on the bottom rope. The referee counted to five before calling for the bell.

After Reigns missed his scheduled universal title defense against Brock Lesnar at Day 1 because of a positive COVID-19 test, he returned on the ensuing episode of SmackDown.

Lesnar, who won the WWE Championship in a Fatal 5-Way at the pay-per-view instead, confronted The Head of the Table and challenged him to a champion vs. champion match. Things got physical as Reigns hit The Beast Incarnate with a Superman punch, but he never accepted the challenge.

With Lesnar having to put the WWE title on the line against Bobby Lashley at the Royal Rumble, The Tribal Chief was in need of an opponent.

Reigns claimed there was no one left for him to face, which resulted in WWE official Adam Pearce being given the power to make the decision.

Pearce ultimately made a surprising pick in Rollins, who showed up on SmackDown despite being a Raw Superstar.

While it seemed like a strange match given that they are on different brands and are both heels, Reigns and Rollins have a ton of history together dating back to their main roster debut as two-thirds of The Shield along with Dean Ambrose (now Jon Moxley in All Elite Wrestling).

The Shield dominated WWE before breaking up and seeing all three members experience singles success as world champions.

Rollins was the first to win a world title, and he did so by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract in the main event of WrestleMania 31 between Reigns and Lesnar, pinning The Big Dog for the victory.

The Visionary also referenced their Shield days by entering The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis in the group's attire and to their entrance theme.

Reigns and Rollins have a ton of experience working together both as partners and adversaries, but Saturday's match felt fresh since it was the first time they wrestled each other since The Tribal Chief turned heel.

It was also their first one-on-one PPV bout against each other since Money in the Bank in 2016.

Rollins has enjoyed a lot of success against Reigns over the years unlike most, but the titleholder managed to retain the title Saturday and put himself in position to carry it into WrestleMania 38.

Considering the nature of the outcome at Royal Rumble and the further attack on Rollins by Reigns with a steel chair afterward, there may be one more encounter between these two in order to resolve the bad blood.

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