Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn

[8.0] "This is a very good match but not as close to the live verison on rewatch alot of slow talking which i dont mind in roman matches as it normally picks up other then in the middle it doesnt, sami plays a great underdog taking a beating but it is better in the mania verison. the jey stuff here is great same witb the bloodline stuff but on rewatch it isnt perfect its slow and in some spots even boring KO returning was the pop of the night after the match"

[6.0] "An amazing watch live of course, but in hindsight, the actual wrestling part was only 70% of what it could've been between these 2, great but could've been even bigger feeling, and when they hit some of there signature moves in spots that are more filler than making the absolute most out of their individual magnitude. There's also this really rough filler spot before Sami helluva kicks Jimmy off the apron where Sami dodges a superman punch and Roman almost hits the ref, an "oh shit spot", but Sami starts stomping Roman in the corner to capiralize and its like they forgot the match they were in? It deflates the momentum and it's just weird, but it doesn't affect the match badly in the end. And the layout of The Bloodline portion is fucking mess cause these producers dont care about that. But there are some great moments. Sami finally taking control in the start by dodging Roman running the ropes and leading and throwing him outside the ring and his dive is such a simple sequence but placing it in a match this big makes for such a great hold your breath moment, everything quieting down for our hero. Perfect start. Sami's finisher stealing AND hitting the Helluva Kick was a believable false finish. And I like the ending if Sami was gonna lose of Sami missing a chairshot and being punished by Roman raining his own chairshots over and over again, not making it a more deflating, quick blows the candle out like Sami kicking out of the spear teased (another great spot), but a long tumble that's tastefully harsh and tragic, even if it doesn't come close to undoing the harsh reality that Cody the fraudulent bitchboy quack who's worse than either and is the worst top guy ever, was being chosen. Sami should've won."

[8.0] "It's a great match, no doubt about that. I enjoyed it immensely and it continued a very emotional and dramatic story between the two. Not having Sami win should be considered an all time blunder as far as booking goes. There was no good excuse to have Roman win. The Sami and Kevin Owens reunion to win the tag titles is a consolation prize. It prevents the match from being an all timer but it's still a modern classic."

[9.0] "Recuerdo dónde estaba cuando ví esta lucha. Al principio estaba un poco jodido porque Sami era un rival de transición a pesar de TOOOOODA la historia que había detrás. De igual forma, quedé totalmente comprado desde el videopackage. Qué cosa hermosa es el Wrestling que, a pesar de saber que era imposible que Sami ganara, estaba apoyándolo y sufriendo como un loco. Cuando se terminó la cuenta, volví a la realidad pero de eso se trata. Perfecto storytelling."

[9.0] "This was just a perfectly executed match with an incredible storyline attached to it and it didn't disappoint at all."

[9.0] "[4.5*] This match was BRILLIANT and if Sami won I would have given it 5*, because the storytelling was literally perfect for his big win, they should have called an audible there. The best match in Romans title reign in my opinion, very very close of the full 5*. I was so mad with the bullshit finish that it made me think how much I was caring for it. Masterpiece."

[10.0] "Jey's interference was just a hinderance to set up Zayn and Owens eventual reunion as a tag team and the outcome was predictable either way, but this was an incredible match between both Zayn and Roman with such brilliant in ring action and psychology between them both and the crowd was red hot behind Zayn."

[9.0] "Very good storytelling. Kinda slow. There was no chance that Sami was going to win but they really made it really close. Tension between Owens and Zayn was awesome. Jey Uso's interference was annoying because he litteraly didn't do anything."

[8.0] "Es muy raro volver a ver este encuentro, simplemente no jalaron del gatillo con Sami Zayn en el momento, era ahí o nunca. Montreal se le entregó y siento que es un gran What If?"

[7.0] "The result is the sad consequence of a gross miscalculation of the reactions to Zayn at the beginning of the storyline. Knowing what we know today, this match should have taken place at Wrestlemania and probably had a different outcome there. It's a bit reminiscent of the way Daniel Bryan was handled at the time. At this point, Sami Zayn simply has no chance, and that almost completely takes away the explosiveness, drama and unpredictability of the match, however clever the story around it may be. The craft itself is at least passable, the Hometown Hero could certainly perform in a much more sophisticated way, but the stereotypical presentation and the limits of the champion don't allow for much more. The bottom line is that a pretty fantastic crowd is left empty-handed after all the twists and turns in the story can now only be used to have Owens & Zayn meet the Usos in Hollywood. And that's not even Second Best for me."

[7.0] "I have loved Sami Zayn for many years but put off watching this match for a long time... the feeling watching back now is about what I expected. Sami puts on a great showing, it's not the heights of Generico in terms of in ring style but he is as always perfect at capturing the crowd and makes everyone feel he really has a chance, even if he doesn't. The style of Roman is effective for his fans but not very interesting to me, do a simple move and then pace around talking for the next 90 seconds. The copious interference of the Bloodline is also not really for me, and I feel a bit sad even almost 2 years on that they did not take a chance on a Sami win when his popularity exploded, but so it goes. The match it still good, though not great for me."

[6.0] "To be honest, the actual match wasn't great, was probably around 3.5 stars. Just felt like the pacing was weird and lack of build up to the big moves. The ref bumps were pretty predictable but there were some good false finishes. The tease of jey hitting roman with the chair was awesome, and there was a happy ending for the crowd with Sami and Kevin teaming up. 4.23/5."

[9.0] "Weird match to rate, multiple feelings about it. The build and anticipation were out of this world, I've felt this nervous very very few times in wrestling, rooted so much for Sami here. This great match and storyline should've been in a main event of Wrestlemania, or some big stage in Canada. I mean, it was kind of obvious that Roman would win, but Sami was so amazing in the entire thing that we really believed. This gave me Punk at MITB 2011 and Bryan "yes movement" vibes. Simply incredible, but this time they didn't capitalize it, it's a mistake and a shame. Match was nervous and tense, hard to analyze the wrestling watching when watching it for the first time, because the quality of things were in second plan, but the match was great, a bit slow but a lot of drama and storytelling. If this had the right winner the grade would be higher for sure - {****1/4}"

[10.0] "This was easily 2023s match of the year in my opinion. The crowd was very electric and right behind Sami and the in ring work, as well as the storytelling was perfect. Not even a Bloodline interference could ruin the match."

[9.0] "Die Atmosphäre zu Beginn des Matches war schon auserordentlich. Gefühlt wollte man es zu sehr und zu offensichtlich melken, man zu Beginn sehr langsam, zeigt dann auch in der zweiten Hälfte kein überragendes Match, auch bei den Eingriffen hätten die Akteure entschlossener Handeln sollen. Das alles ist aber Kritik auf hohem Niveau."

[7.0] "What could've been if Sami had won. 2024's Mania wouldn't of been so poor, and this crowd wouldn't of been wasted. This match is worth seeing for said crowd, and the match is somewhere between average and good too. 3.5 Stars."

[9.0] "An amazing match with the hottest crowd WWE's had since pre covid. The thing that would have made this a 10 for me was Sami winning but it would have made 0 sense for a 2 and a half year reign to end 6 weeks before Wrestlemania. Both guys got to play to their strengths with Roman playing to a crowd that so badly wants to see him lose and Sami being the ultimate underdog having to fight the bloodline with no help."

[8.0] "watching this match for the first time in over a year really makes me appreciate this match even more because of how Romans title reign as gone ever since this moment. Romans matches have gone down very much in quality ever since WM39 so seeing something like this reminds me of a time before it got stale. Of course theres bloodline interference and the finish of the match couldve been so much better as I feel they did the crowd dirty going home with that finish (its worth noting that the ending segment with KO, Sami, and Heyman is a great ending for what the story needed and Im happy with it). The crowd was so hot for this entire match and knowing / thinking about the results of this match AT LEAST once a week didnt hinder my experience with the rewatch at all BECAUSE of the crowd, the feeling they brought to the match, and watching the fan made Monster promo video for Sami before this match made it even better. I hope Sami will get his flowers with a whole title run in the really near future because he deserves it."

[8.0] "The level of heat and intensity from this crowd combined with the emotion of the story really elevated this match to being really good and compelling. I knew the result before seeing it but that didn't really make it less thrilling"

[8.0] "A time to remember when Sami was this OVER, this crowd was electric for him which really brought the match into a different level."

[8.0] "Nice in-ring match. A superb crowd who took the time to play and who made the match. Finish which could have been better done. (4*)"

[8.0] "[4.25*] The atmosphere of this match was historic, the Montreal crowd was going crazy cheering for Sami Zayn who was also fighting in front of his wife and children. This is probably Roman Reigns' best title defense, Sami and Roman sell this match incredibly, the selling and the urgency they both had to win the match was great. The crowd's reactions to Sami's Superman Punch and Helluva Kick sequence were sensational. The end of the match was disappointing thanks to the interference that happens in every Roman match, but this time at least the action in the ring was very good."

[10.0] "One of the best matches of this century in my opinion, I know the result isn't the right one and even that's debatable but that doesn't mean we should sleep on this match which is simply perfect. The match & the story sas the most compelling thing WWE has come up with since the KofiMania and that awesome WM35 title match, everything is executed right down to the smallest detail. From the entrances to the post-match angle, you travel to Montreal for almost an hour and believe in Sami's miracle, even when you know the result. Unbelievable crowd too, the atmosphere is just magical. This masterpiece deserves so much more love."

[7.0] "- Amazing crowd - Really fun story was being told aside from wrestling stuff (the kiss to his wife, the first few minutes of the match absorbing the atmosphere, Roman's mannerisms, the rants at Sami's wife) However, this match almost was a 6-star match had it not been for the first true false-finish of the match when Sami kicked out of the spear. The homecrowd popped huge for the other "false-finishes" before that kickout but they weren't genuine from the vantage point of an average fan. There was never a thought that crossed my mind related to Roman's historic reign ending on a blue thunder bomb. Simple moments like those didn't do much to enhance the match. Sami has hit a BTB so many times to no victory, the homecrowd helped make everything bigger than what it was which was really fun. The spear through the barricade also looked great and had great timing. There was a level of predictability that diminished the match a little bit before it began, but there also wasn't a moment where Sami looked like he could've won the championship and ended the reign. Aside from the barricade spot, their wasn't a major spot that will be remembered. Sami's suicide dive is always fun but aside from the barricade spear, the wrestling was pretty routine. Roman reversing Sami's midrope DDT on the outside was cool because it seemed like that would something Sami would've wanted to make sure he included for a match as big as that one. Also, the most popular and most accepted purpose of a blind pin is too assume that the face pinning the heel while the referee is down that he would've won since the heel didn't kick out. Why would he? Roman felt the and was likely aware that the referee was down, why would he kick out? This is the case for most blind pins. Both wrestlers should usually be aware of the fact that the referee was down regardless of how beaten they are. Sami getting the blind pin while the ref' was down didn't achieve what WWE probably wanted it to achieve. The repetitive formula of Bloodline storytelling also contributed to this match not reaching 8 or 9 stars. Even by then, it was old. The fun parts of this match and the story being told along with the efforts taken to make this match a huge deal warranted the 7 stars. Had it not been for the true false-finish toward the later stages of the match, this would've been kept at 6 stars but that was a cool and genuine false-finish."

[5.0] "The interference and magical appearance and disappearance of both referees with perfect timing completely ruined any ability to suspend disbelief that this isn't all staged. The 2nd ref ran out to the ring WHILE Jimmy was interfering, there is zero chance you could even kayfabe him not seeing it and calling for the bell. They weren't even trying to make it believable and it absolutely ruined the match."

[10.0] "This is match of the year in my opinion. The pacing, the storytelling, and the crowd here were all perfect. There was a ton of amazing storytelling along with the action and the near falls. There was the ref bump and Bloodline interference like usual and Roman getting the win."

[9.0] "This was a brilliant match and the best match of Roman's title reign so far. The crowd was absolutely insane here for everything and it made for an amazing atmosphere. Roman was definitely awesome in this, but Sami's performance was perfect here. ****3/4"

[10.0] "This is my favourite match of the year. This has been the most emotionally invested in a match I've been in a long time. I think most of us can relate to Sami Zayn, an outsider, just trying to fit in, and for just a moment, it felt like he really could do it, it felt like he was going to rise above and become a champion. But, of course, Roman must win. Even though I knew it would happen, it still crushed me, it's the hope that gets you. In retrospect, the match might not hold as much importance as Roman retained at WrestleMania anyway (huge mistake, by the way), but the storytelling was so perfect, the atmosphere was so perfect, the emotion was so perfect. FIVE STARS (*****), probably six star range if Sami actually wins it."

[9.0] "This is probably the peak of the bloodline story and the best Roman Reigns' title match. Everything here answers the criterias of a bloodline match : the hope spots, the ref bump, the uso intervention, the drama, the trashtalk. But here, it works particularly well because everything makes sense, especially the Jey part and the post match run-in from Kevin. Not the best wrestling match ever, but a real good piece of drama that linked well with the stories that were told before. It's probably all downward from here ... 9/10."

[3.0] "Roman Reigns's best matches since his return in 2020 have been more pantomime than wrestling match. His dialogue-heavy duology with Jey Uso in the autumn of that same year is, in my mind, the best work of his entire career by far. To this point, though, he hasn't been able to replicate that success outside of the Thunderdome, and as a result his (rare) singles matches in front of live crowds have been fairly unengaging. This match was the closest he's come to replicating that success, and, it was to some extent a success, at least for the hot crowd at the Bell Centre. Watching the broadcast was an entirely different story. The finish felt crushingly inevitable, and it was a long road to get there. Roman's peacocking and preening and shouting at Sami's wife came off more as energy-saving stalling from a man being asked to work a match length he didn't have the stamina for than it did as the cruel strokes of calculated genius commentary and many online described it as. Watching this right off the heels of the US Title Elimination Chamber match, which was a minute longer than this, but still a breeze, and watching the 27-minute IWGP Women's Title match later this same night, which was a bit shorter and as deliciously deliberately-paced as New Japan matches get, only exacerbated the feeling that this match was just full of dead air. If this crowd was any less hot than they were, I can't imagine how much more painfully slow this would have been. And then there's the closing stages, complete with not one, but two, extended ref bump sequences. The Jimmy Uso interference is pretty unremarkable, seemingly existing to protect Sami, which... Sami having credibility as a top-of-the-card contender was never really part of the consideration, and by even staying alive as long as he had already he looked better than many of Roman's challengers, so what was even the point? And the second ref bump gave Jey Uso time to come to the ring and make his choice, which he just... Didn't do. Roman sidestepped a spear attempt from Sami that caught Jey instead, and that will likely be the catalyst for Jey turning on Sami again down the line, but there was, as was the case the whole match, a chance to see something really narratively interesting play out here. The chance for Jey, after spending the last month torn between his love for Sami and his fear of Roman, to demonstrate which of those opposing feelings he would act on. And then, what can I say about the finish that hasn't already been said? What an opportunity wasted. The match that preceded it was flat and frustrating, but if the result had been different, it wouldn't have much mattered. But Levesque is as inflexible and stubborn as his predecessor, even if he is less cruel, senile, and disinterested than Vince was. It was always going to be this way. This match was a *searing* indictment both of WWE's main event style and its creative process that not even the thunderous Montreal crowd could save it from what it was."

"Here we are 7 months following this match. Roman is champion because the dog must win forever, on his way to inevitably main eventing Wrestlemania 40 possibly against Cody Rhodes again. Sami has lost all the fantastic heat he had going into this match, and The Bloodline story has jumped the shark following that abysmal Summerslam main event. There is zero doubt in my mind that Sami Zayn should have won on this night, and WWE killed a moment that would have lived on forever because their handpicked number one guy has to keep winning and winning and endless winning."

[8.0] "This match shows that you don't have to do much with a right buildup and I wish that more people understood that. I mean guys just stand here looking at each other for a few whole minutes and you can already feel that it's great. The crowd was phenomenal, Reigns was milking the heat out of them like a boss and Sami was a perfect babyface here. Great match and one of the best examples what Roman's reign is all about - the story."

[10.0] "This match could've been complete garbage, and I would STILL rate this a 10! The story of Sami Zayn and The Bloodline single-handedly ushered in a boom period for WWE. Roman, Usos, Heyman, Zayn, and even Zayn's wife played their parts perfectly. If only a miracle happened that night in Montreal..."

[9.0] "The only reason this is not a 5 star match in my book is because of all the pauses, the time outs, the delays and the ausence of more Wrestling (which is the base of everything else). The story, as always, was perfectly told. Sami as the Underdog, Roman as the dominator, with his arrogance being his major handicap and giving Sami his chances to win the match. They played the (amazing) crowd so well, every spot had a lot of meaning, and for once the interferences from the Usos felt like an addition instead of a detriment. This could have been the Gargano vs Andrade of the Main Roster perfectly if it had more in-ring action. (**** 1/2)"

[10.0] "Roman Reigns never misses anymore and Sami Zayn bringing back his plucky babyface character from NXT has been one of the best things about the Bloodline storyline. Perfect main event and a great way to establish Roman Reigns as the best heel in the business in 10 years."

[10.0] "Roman Reigns just kills it every time, since the Brock match at Wrestlemania 2022 he doesn't miss in his main event matches with perfect drama and storytelling. Sami was the old NXT Sami and it told a perfect story to finish the night."

[9.0] "We knew Sami wasn't going to win. We knew what a Roman title match looked like. However, the story elevates this match so much. Sami did a wonderful job at making people believe, if only for a little bit."

[10.0] "Certainly my favorite singles match of the entire Bloodline saga thus far (hopefully Jey vs. Roman will top it in the future). This match was such an emotional journey that had me believing they would take the belts off of Roman for the first time in a while. Sami Zayn is one of, if not the best underdogs in wrestling today. Coupled with Roman being such a great villain, this was fucking fantastic."

[5.0] "The most overrated match of the year by far. A typical roman title match, never once felt like Sami would win"

[4.0] "Decent match but nothing special. Too high rating for a match that should has been more compelling. I mean, it wasn't a classic, it was forgettable and nobody will remember it in a year. Good crowd, good story before the match but then what? It's just not so emotional"

[7.0] "This match was okay. There's nothing special here or absolutely must see. It felt kinda like a match you could have put on smackdown and no one would care. I wouldn't call it a 5 star match more around a 4 star match. Trust me, you could skip this one and miss nothing. Still a good match though just nothing special about it, unlike the storyline that preceded it."

[2.0] "An incredible waste of one of the hottest crowds WWE has had in a very long time. They could have had lightning in a bottle but a half assed routine performance from Reigns and a momentum sucking result doomed this match to being below par. Although the near falls were good, the booking leading up to the match had managed to suck the tension away as we knew it was ultimately leading to Roman winning and facing Cody which lowered the stakes significantly."

[4.0] "Although there was a good atmosphere, the slow back-and-forth seemed misplaced with the clichéd interference coming off as almost ridiculous, ultimately killing all genuine momentum and drama. Overall the match was very underwhelming for what is supposed to be the best WWE story in years."

[3.0] "man this match really didn't hold up to my expectations. went half an hour and it felt like 28 minutes was just restholds. sooooooooooo fucking boring on the rewach. sami zayn has been my favorite wrestler since 2016 so watching in the moment i was excited and enjoying it but it was just pretty boring, sami didn't really even do much. no big spots, no underdog from the underground type moves. don't get me wrong i wasnt expecting a nakmura vs zayn takeover dallas -esque match but at least let bro go a little crazy, y'know? just wish they had more fun and did a little less on the drama side of it. a pretty big yawn but it's whatever the crowd work made the match."

[7.0] "I wasn't expecting Sami to win, so I wasn't disappointed at all with the finish. In todays shitty wrestling environment where the metric of quality is deemed to be the utterly dull style of great matches, its refreshing to see actual heat and emotional investment. Absolutely the right decision not to have Sami win which would be some gratitude era bullshit where everyone gets to have their divas title crying moment, instead you put the heat on the champ rather than throw that away for one feel good moment and no follow up (see the wet fart that was Adam Page as champion). its ok, in this fake sport its a better story when the baddies win and you pay to see them defeated. As far as the match goes, Sami's selling was brilliant, but that's about the only kind thing I have to say about it from an in-ring perspective. Tribal Chief Roman might be my least favorite offensive wrestler of all time. Everything he did looked good, but the endless staring contests and Bond villain monologues were just unbearable. Throw in the extended power naps after every near fall and I don't even know if the match contained five minutes of actual wrestling. I know that, character-wise and storyline-wise, this match was worked correctly and I was definitely engaged in it from beginning to end (as were the live audience), but I don't think this was a Match of the Year Candidate match as much as this was a "must see" match because of the storyline and the crowd. It was a very good match because of the intangibles that are rare in WWE, but it wasn't a match that I think will be talked about 5-10 years from now. That may be the biggest knock against what has undoubtedly been a stupendous run for Roman."

[9.0] "Just incredible. Would have been a 10 without the interference but this match unlike the other Roman matches with stupid ref bumps & interference actually required it to protect Sami & it actually helped the story. The crowd was insane to"

[3.0] "I don't know how people like this. Just a waste of time and a logical mess. KO coming out after the match is one of those things they'll explain away but makes no sense in the moment. Just deflating stuff overall."

[0.0] "I am retroactively rating the match this low due to the events of WrestleMania 39. This is a pretty good, maybe great PPV match with a horrible ending that wasted a great opportunity to end the reign, but I excused it for a while knowing that the likely outcome at the time would be Cody Rhodes finishing the story of winning the belt his father never won at WrestleMania, but after that horrible main event happened, I'm tired of excusing WWE wasting hot babyfaces then, now, forever."

[9.0] "The template of Reigns' matches w/marquee story-driven opponents was followed here as well & this has been the very best work in that pattern. Similar to how Owens had last month, the action could've been so better undoubtedly, but the character drive from both men as well as external acts (Heyman, Zayn's family, the commentators) were magnificent than the Rumble match. The trajectory of the story took a really good turn revealing the end is near for the dominant faction. 4.5 out of 5 stars!"

[10.0] "In terms of the actual quality of this match, it was the second best match of the show. I found the Chamber match to be a more impressive physical display from the people involved. However, what this match lacks in modern wrestling overstimulation, it makes up for with dramatic levity in spades and a story being told in the moves that are used. The only thing that detracts from this match and has me hesitant to call it a full 10 was that the ending was a bit flat, but the crowd's feelings towards Sami could make that expected. 2023 MOTY so far. [9.5 / ****3/4]"

[6.0] "Very good story, very predictable winner but had some good moments, match almost an afterthought for the Usos, Sami and Kevin story."

[10.0] "Sami gesamte Familie war da. Sein Vater, seine Geschwister, seine Freunde, seine Frau und sein Sohn er hält sein Privatleben total gemein. Ich wusste auch nicht das er verheiratet ist und auch Vater. Ja also ich sehe hier wieder Bewertungen wo ich mich nicht äußern werde. Es hätte seine Nacht werden können. Man hat es auch so toll aufgebaut auch mit einem Interview seiner Frau aber es war so knapp. Das hier ist eins der besten WWE Main Events überhaupt und dann in Kanada wo der Crowd auch nochmal besonders abgeht. Ein echt Weltkasse das Main Event (****3/4)."

[8.0] "Let's be objective here. The match lived off of the builded storyline. The crowd was very invested in the match. But other than that the match was very simple, but clean. I found the overbooking at the end kind of dragging, because at this point everybody should've known that Sami was going to loose this one. But hey, for WWE standards, I think its gold. haha."

[5.0] "Meh match, not great by any means. I don't watch WWE every week so maybe it's just the investment some people put in that make them feel like this match isn't run of the mill but I don't spend hours every week on this so I don't fall into that. I understand the story and all that, it's cool enough but the match its self really just isn't anything but a typical Reigns WWE match. I also never believed for a second Sami would win which I tried to set aside but hurt the match for me a bit."

[9.0] "WWE follows up a certified banger with yet another fantastic match. The crowd was absolutely electric for Sami, as expected. As heartwarming as it would have been, we had to know Roman was winning from the start. Sami becoming champion in Montreal will always be one of those crazy "what if" scenarios in our minds, but, I knew Sami wasn't winning once they made this for both belts. Nonetheless, this match pretty much had it all. David versus Goliath scenario, a highly personal backstory, a deafening crowd, the obligatory referee bump, etc. (I'm personally a fan of the "overbooking" type of stuff seen here and in matches the likes of Edge vs Bálor at Extreme Rules 2022, but I understand why others aren't). Very much looking forward to (and hoping for) Sami and Kevin reuniting to challenge The Usos at WrestleMania."

[9.0] "The moment and atmosphere in Montreal was incredible the crowd totally improved this match, Sami Zayn was the perfect underdog with the best storyline and the best place and moment to win the belt, unfortunately they missed an incredible opportunity to make a historic moment, I watched this match today on the day of this comment and even so I was thrilled with every kickout from Sami, for a change they put the blessed thing about this overbooking again, every defense of Roman needs a ref bump, now the road to wrestlemania is coming and I don't give a shit minimum for Roman vs Cody, not that I don't like Cody, but the guy to take the title from Roman needed to be Sami, incredible atmosphere that carried the match that just wasn't perfect for the result (****3/4)"

"Let us never forget that in 2004, Eddie Guerrero defeated Brock Lesnar a month before WrestleMania to win his first and only world title in WWE. They didn't have to do that. In fact they proved their incompetence a few months later when they had him drop the belt in the least deserving way possible to JBL. But the point is, they pulled the trigger. They had Eddie win the belt, period. Sami winning the strap here not only had far more build and would've been more satisfying, but was also far more necessary that Eddie winning the title. And they didn't do it. Sami lost decisively and he'll never be as over again. I don't even know if I can rate this match because the match itself has so little to do with why it will be remembered sourly. If Sami hadn't had the Montreal crowd and months of build behind him and every reason in the world to win, this match would've been remembered as a classic and possibly the last great Roman defense before dropping the belt. But instead, they chose to let a once in a lifetime story slip their fingers at the expense of the most over babyface they've had on their hands in years."

[9.0] "Sadly I had been spoiled on the outcome of this match before I watched, but man was it still a wild ride. Sami Zayn is truly one of the best around, and his hometown was hot for him. If they had pulled the trigger on Sami as champion this would be a perfect 10/10 for me. But as it stands its my favorite WWE match of 2023 so far, and one of the best Roman Reigns matches in forever."

"Good match to end a fantastic storyline. Included some moments that make you believe the underdog can truly overcome the odds. Perhaps not the winner fans would have wanted, but most likely the right call long term. Maybe it should have been Sami if the match had taken place at Wrestlemania instead."

"Though we've already known that who would win in this match, the whole atmosphere created by the amazing crowd still made it worth watching, but only after the slow entrence. Overall ****3/4 is a little bit higher than it should be. Replace rating with the male elimination chamber match should be appropriate"

[4.0] "The crowd was amazing, but the slow and plodding style just didn't work for what the story called for in my opinion. The melodrama ranged from great to nauseating and the overbooking at the end led to an all time flat finish. On top of it KO's return after the match instead of 5 minutes earlier to combat his mortal enemy who tried to end his career 3 weeks earlier was nonsensical. There was no doubt there were some redeeming qualities and certainly the crowd deserve credit, but this is largely a miss."

[10.0] "This match is a classic it had one of the hottest crowds and the fans where into this match and all the stuff they did was awesome I just wish sami won. *****"

[5.0] "This match exemplifies how a crowd can carry a match. Work wise, it was slow, plodding, and uncreative. But with a rabid crowd popping huge for every moment of hope and flurry of offense, the match was still engaging for the most part. 17 minutes of entrances, lost a lot of steam in the middle and the totally overbooked ending, but once again the crowd still carried it to a respectable rating."

[10.0] "A very dramatic match with the crowd fully behind Sami. Crowd was cheering for the first 5 minutes before they even locked up."

[5.0] "I spent the last 2 weeks rewatching every Bloodline segment since Sami joined in full, came into a WWE match expecting some good work in the ring and this is the end result fans get? The melodrama was fine, yet entirely predictable and beat for beat I knew where this was going. Ending the show with Sami Zayn standing tall despite losing to some of the worst wrestlecrap I have ever seen is WWE at its absolute nadir."

[9.0] "Amazing match helped by an amazing crowd. Crowd goes crazy for 5 minutes before the two even touch. Match looked great and told the story. Disliked how long the first ref was out over just being crushed in a corner. Did not make a lot of sense. Jey Uso's decision and the accidental shot from Sami set up a much larger story as did the post-match save by Owens. Zayn should have won, and that crowd would have lost its mind."

[5.0] "The red-hot Montreal crowd and the send-em-home-happy aftermath with Kevin Owens provided solace from what was a foregone conclusion in Roman's divinity trampling another of many opportunities to deviate from that in a more interesting direction. Jey has an opportunity to payoff his significant role in this feud but ultimately we don't get that, either. Some typical WWE production guffaws here as well including a profoundly strange shot of the only bored-looking fan in the entire arena during KO's entrance. Two superman punches from Sami demonstrates that the move is cartoonish and lackluster even when delivered by a great worker."

[10.0] "Not even a deflating finish can ruin what was a classic match. Any match that can truly get you, hook you in, and make you suspend disbelief is one worthy of the highest praises. Sami and Roman are both on the top of their games, and this match was beautiful."

[8.0] "The standard Reigns title defence with some walk and brawl, high impact moves with little to no connective tissue and lashings of melodrama. What elevated this was the crowd. A truly special site to see such fervour in the audience and that's what will stick in people's memories for years to come."

[9.0] "Pure emotion... The very case when a match doesn't need a lot of tricks to become a cult match. It is difficult to describe it, it is easier to just see it, no matter how trite it may sound. During the fight, teasers were available for both the continuation of the story of Sami-Roman and the team match Uso vs Sami and KO. And I hope stt Triple H makes the right choice. Sami and Roman have been hard at work all year, this is a very personal story that should have its development on mania, Sami should be the new world champion as he will never have more momentum than now, but win with Kevin tsg team championship they will be in time at any moment. Cody, with his pathos, looks like a character in a completely different film in this story. And yes, I won't be original, but Cody Now is Batista version 2014. well, the match itself turned out to be excellent, if it weren't for the kick-off... I'll tell him ****3/4 with hope that the moment of Sami triumph is yet to come."

[8.0] "The two main things to know about this match are 1) it continued the amazing neomemphis pantomime drama, throughout the entire match, that the bloodline story has been giving us, and 2) it's one of the only matches in modern memory where a sold out arena is 100% behind a babyface with supernatural home town enthusiasm. And it's Sami Zayn in Montreal at that. It's a perfect storm of all perfect storms. One of the things that makes wrestling special and unique is what the people in that arena experienced that night. There's something supernatural about experiencing heartfelt, animal emotions simultaneously with10, 000 of your literal neighbors. It's so fucked up, I can only imagine what it felt like to be a native to that city in attendance that night. This is it everyone, this is what makes wrestling what it is. It manipulates these base, primitive emotions inside you, including the feelings of kinship and empathy, to an extreme degree. Your brain stops functioning like it normally does. People go to church for that sort of feeling, or like watch real sports I guess. This match is good for the drama that it is, mandatory for anyone a fan of the bloodline stuff or the modern memphis style stuff wwe has been very good at executing. As a set piece it's gratifying watch. The first three or four minutes, the guys don't even step toward each other. It's that kind of match. Probably a 10/10 for the live experience. The ending is overbooked but it's excusable for the artistic execution. If we still have dvds this storyline is gonna make a great dvd one day."

[10.0] "this match was amazing. absolutely incredible story telling throughout it. really one of those moments and matches that will define an era and generations for 10, 20, 50 years from now,"

[8.0] "While the match wasn't that fantastic, the feud and the crowd elevaited it greatly. Sami always plays the ultimate underdog well and it was fantastic seeing him in this form again. The match still followed the classic dominating Roman formula, but it worked. Overbooked a little, sure, but it was needed. Roman, as expected, won and now will go on again Cody at Wrestlemania. While it's not quite clear yet what Kevin and Sami will do at Mania, I hope it's not going to be as simple as making them go against the Usos."

[7.0] "Solid match but it went on for way too long. The Roman Reigns match formula is so stale and it has been for so long. They had a chance to do something truly special but just went with the same old thing."

[5.0] "Der Main Event war gut, jedenfalls bis zu der Phase wo das Match dann losging. Im Match selbst gab es dann aber doch extrem viel Leerlauf und leider keine richtige Spannung. Zu keinem Moment konnte man hier an einen Titelwechsel glauben. Die Stimmung macht zwar vieles besser aber dies alleine langt nicht um hier überzeugen zu können."

[9.0] "Eine Achterbahnfahrt der Gefühle, welche ich voll gefressen habe. Mich hat das emotional so sehr angesprochen und mitgenommen, dass ich fast alles daran feiere. Ich war mir sehr sicher, das Reigns verteidigt und dennoch habe ich jede Sekunde mit Sami Zayn mitgefiebert und gehofft. Ganz stark."

[5.0] "This was a big payoff to this fued, but the match seemed boring, and slow, with a pretty weak ending."

[6.0] "another boring Roman Reigns style match that failed to convince me that Sami would be winning. I didn't bite and any of the nearfalls and the action between them was unoriginal."

[7.0] "The match was great. Roman and Samy had a good chemistry but the end was too much. The ref bump was evident. Sad that Jey took the Spear of Samy but it was fun. I hope that we will have Samy vs Cody vs Roman at WrestleMania, and see Roman lose his titles!"

[7.0] "We all knew deep down there was no chance Sami was going to win. Roman vs. Cody is the Mania match and that is set in stone. This was great though. Sami didn't get jobbed out in his hometown and still came out looking strong. The match was a tad overbooked (2 ref bumps! ) but it was done to protect everyone involved. The interaction between Sami and Owens after was intense - as if to say "Bro why did you wait so long! ? " "You only saved me after I was close to death! " I do believe Sami and Owens will challenge for the tag titles at Mania. Good match, great intensity, Roman played his part perfectly and the crowd's energy really added to this event. Great main event and great PLE overall!"

[4.0] "This match is fascinating because it showed that there's actually a lot of people that still buy the idea that WWE can go with the flow and not only crown the fan-favourite babyface that caught fire, but also adjust to the situation and go all the way with that. I'm curious where those people are coming from - are they genuinely new fans that haven't seen a hot babyface in their home-town in a big match before? Bad-faith, tribalist WWE fans that want to 'stick it' to AEW fans? I don't think you need to be a smart-ass to know that Zayn had no chance to win, you just needed to see examples in the past where WWE did that - if you've seen that before, you already know and understand that... but this match could become the moment when that pattern of expectations would break. In the crowd, there were a lot of fans that just wanted to see their guy win the big one, and they were cheering him on because they wanted to believe - I'm sure a lot of them understood the situation, but they just wanted to experience that magic for themselves because there was no situation like that in their lifetime (or only when they were kids). First half of this match was probably what what WWE office's dream match is - a very simple babyface vs. heel match done well, where hot crowd is reacting to absolutely everything, but the longer this match was going on, it was becoming a typical Roman Reigns match with boring heat segments. El Generico showed why he's such a special pro-wrestler when situation called for it - timing on his hope-spots was incredible, his offense in critical shifts of momentum was simply special. He did his part almost to perfection, but booking never lies. First ref bump was only of matter of time, and everything between first and second ref bump felt like time before execution or something like that. All of the nonsense (including post-match) happened only to make sure that the actual finish being would be kind of 'lost in the shuffle', but ultimately, Reigns hit Zayn with the Spear and pinned him just like that. I'm sure a lot of people who saw Owens run in after the match reacted to it like the guy that WWE caught on the camera did. Emotional investment is what pro-wrestling promotions want from the fans, but it will be interesting to see if WWE fans still want to see Sami Zayn win the big one."

[9.0] "This match hinges on how much you enjoy the Romans match formula/WWE main event style match, but I thought it was great. The match took4 minutes for any action due to how electric the atmosphere in the building was great. I don't dislike Roman heat segments, but man he could do without the dialogue all the time speak through your actions dawg. We haven't seen babyface Sami in forever but he still rules even though I knew he wasn't going to win he made me believe that he was going to, and his selling was fantastic, plus all of his comebacks throughout this as well. The only thing I would've changed is having Jey decisively turn on Sami as opposed to what we got, still thought this was fantastic with a great atmosphere.****1/2"

[4.0] "I'm probably out of touch with wrestling, because even despite a crowd this hot, I still didn't like this one. How could anyone like Sami Zayn's burial? Cena, Hunter and Hogan were never this bad. This looked like a Jeff Jarrett match. And I hate Jeff Jarrett matches"

[10.0] "The atmosphere for this match was amazing, the emotions running high for sami and the crowd biting on every false finish made it feel big and special. It's not a workhouse technical showcase, but it was brilliant wrestling."

"The match was entertaining with Roman leaning into being the heel character in regards to taunting Sami, his wife and all of Montreal. The strong points throughout the match were the near falls, each one provided a huge wave of cheers for Sami, with his fans hoping he can overcome the impossible. Both Roman and Sami allowed noticeable breathing room throughout the match to play into the storytelling factor that made all of this worth watching in the first place. Rather than it being a spot-fest, Roman controlled the majority of the match, then provided Sami room to perform all of his notable maneuvers. The ending of the match is where the entire experience fell flat. Jey added absolutely nothing to the match, neither turning on Roman or Sami - then after the pinfall, having Jimmy come out to beat up Sami also didn't add anything to push this narrative in any direction. This followed by Kevin Owens coming out to rescue Sami, where was he this entire time while Sami was being beaten in the ring? There was no reunion of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, signifying that we're going to get the tag team storyline everyone continues to assume - nor was there any other story elements that justified Sami Zayn taking on a HBK storyline of finding a way to join the main event at Wrestlemania for a possible belt splitting match. If anything, Montreal showed how great of a crowd they can be to add to the matches - they are the real winners here. Overall: Great match, great crowd, poor finish that failed to send the fans home with any idea of what's next in The Bloodline storyline. [6/10]"

[4.0] "I understand what people loved about this. I could not get into the level of shenanigans in this match. I lost count of how many visual pinfalls were in this match. They painted themselves into the unwinnable corner of booking a match between their top guy, and a guy they don't view as a top guy in spite of the crowd seeing him that way. They couldn't (or at least wouldn't) end the story the way the story had to end, but also couldn't commit to just beating Zayn. If all you want is a hot crowd, then man, you'd struggle to do better than this one. But the actual match is just so many finisher kickouts and ref bumps."

[9.0] "I wanted Sami to win so badly. But as the match got closer to the end it seemed less and less likely. It did keep me on the edge of my seat though, and the story telling was fantastic. I imagine Zayn and Owens get the tag titles at WM. At least it is something. Sami with those titles from Roman would have just been awesome to see, just not meant to be I suppose. All signs point to Cody Rhodes now. But damn they really could have had Roman just win the titles back in a rematch before WM. Even a short reign for Sami would have been worth it."

[8.0] "There was a huge amount of melodrama to be seen here, luckily the two men had the talent and charisma to pull it all off and give a lot of fans an emotional experience. Sami Zayn is one of the greatest in the world and in a perfect world, he'd be the one to take the belt off Roman."

[8.0] "The best thing about this match is undoubtedly the crowd. They were extremely hot the entire event, but at the main event, during those first 5 minutes, lets just say that they gave this bout such a big fight feel. As for the match itself, yes it shouldve have ended better. Yes, we knew Sami would lose. There were some great moments. I really liked the banter between Roman and Samis wife, he is such a manipulative character, shit talking Samis friends and family while he drags him all over the outside of the ring. Once the match picked up some steam things got more interesting, especially Jeys interference. This moment had me at the edge of my seat, and I wonder how this is going to be addressed on the next Smackdown. Sami indeed looked like he was capable of making it happen but then the shenanigans began. Ref bumps, Jimmy Uso, the chair. Classic WWE late match shit that weve known to expect. Why did KO come out AFTER? that one really caused a bit of frustration. I just feel like the ending couldve been set up differently. Like I said before, we knew sami would lose. I feel like the ending went a bit flat. After the pin, the crowd went dead. Ive never seen such a shift in energy. At the end of the day I trust the process. I really do hope theres something more for Sami, because he has been proven to be a draw and someone who the fans can get behind. We need more for Sami."

[10.0] "Excellent match. Everyone played their part to perfection. They didn't need to do anything fancy or over the top high spots for the sake of it and had just the right amount of false finishes imo. The crowd ate everything up, save for the obviously deflating final three seconds. Great emotion, drama, and overall execution. Psychology on point. They didn't go the predictable route of having Jey turn and KO save Sami from both Usos. Cliffhangers for both Jey and KO (why did he wait until the match was over? ) make me interested in seeing the follow-up. Don't go into this expecting a technical clinic or fairytale ending or you set yourself up for disappointment. Take it for what it is, and for what it is it was excellent. As far as sports entertainment goes, this was easily a ****1/2 match at least."

[10.0] "Sami Zayn and the Bloodline has been a must see story in the WWE over the past year and this was just another great step in an amazing story. The bezel crowd only made this encounter 100x better."

[8.0] "You can't deny just how berserk the crowd were for this, they were as hyped for Sami to win as anyone I can recall in recent memory. That definitely elevated the match. Sami really did put in a great effort. I just can't deal with how overbooked it was and how obsessed Roman is with the amateur dramatics over putting on an in-ring spectacle. About 20 superman punches as is par for the course these days, 2 ref bumps and the obligatory Roman spear through the barricade. That being said, you have to respect it when the fans care as much as they did for this one and the near falls did have you excited for the potential babyface win. ****"

[7.0] "There's plenty of good stuff in the middle of this match after the extended stare down and before the closing stretch of bad theatrics and referee timing that really exposes drew attention to fakery of this match. Glad to see Sami still has incredible babyface fire and can still throw down in the right (I wasn't expecting his clotheslines to look as stiff as they did) but this could have been so much more."

[8.0] "We knew this match would be an overbooked clusterf*** but I just wish they had more in ring action. Sami had some great moments but it just turned into a standard WWE Finisher-Fest. The crowd and story carried this match. Sami deserved the win and a better match tbh"

[4.0] "Way too slow of a main event match especially with the stakes involved. The crowd was really good and Sami was great at certain elements but I think the main reason this match fails is because it never makes Sami winning actually believable, he doesn't get any spots where he's truly taking it to Roman only a few lucky moves which makes the whole thing very plotting and dull. Very disappointing all around"

[8.0] "It's been a long time since I was so invested in a match and felt my heart racing while watching. Then that first ref bump happened and it abandoned its legendary status. Then it happened again, and of course Tran and Engler both show up as Roman is covering Sami. So frustratingly contrived."

[8.0] "While not the best match of both men by a long shot, I thing this is a great match and while yes sami shouldve won, I dont really care now that ive cooled down from it. Sami is legit the perfect baby face and you can feel it and considering he is the guy with a smaller physical stature its ok to have him get pushed around about as he always comes back 10 times strong. I am very interested in where this goes but for now this is a ****.25"

[6.0] ""Wrong kid died" - Pa Cox WWE's inability to pivot in key moments hurts them more than they know. The Roman monologue match is too played out and extremely dull now. Sami has made the Bloodline angle way more entertaining than it had been before him. This was a good chance to pump more into it with Sami taking a win and Roman coming for revenge. But gotta shove stuff aside to keep your bland plans going."

[9.0] "A fantastic main event, the false finishes and near falls were excellent, the emotional weight of this bout make it so much more memorable, a great end to a fantastic PLE."

[10.0] "Excellent match with an incredible, special atmosphere with a deflating finish. The crowd was obviously nuts and they let it soak in for quite a while before getting going. But when it did, this thing banged. Zayn and Reigns both hit their mark again and again. The timing was impeccable. I liked the early 1 count which showed just how far Zayn had to go before getting close to a victory. Reigns had a period beating down Sami in front of his wife and kids which garnered amazing heat as you'd expect. We had a great back and forth which featured some very smart spots and near falls. Two big ref bumps which allowed each Uso to interfere. The callback to the Rumble with Reigns, Jey and the chair was very cool and I love that we still don't know which way Jey will go. Holding back on that revelation is something I can't see the WWE of Vince doing. In the end, hugely deflating and I'm not sure if Zayn losing will prove to be the right call or the wrong one. But the whole thing was a historically engaging match and moment. ****3/4"

"stunning performance by everybody. loved every second of it.cant wait for smackdown what will happen now with sami"

[10.0] "this is currently the wwe match of the year, probably only second to omega vs ospreay. this energy had a similar feeling to mitb 2011 & the only reason people have given this match a low score is because the heel won."

[6.0] "It was a 30 minute long angle with Sami getting some decent hope spots. Roman's heel control segments were not convincing as everyone should've expected the finish a mile away. Speaking of, that was a bad finish, taking an incredibly long time to pin Sami to end the match. No, this match isn't cinema, but it was what makes WWE appealing to WWE fans. Sometimes a crowd can elevate matches to all-time statuses, but based on how WWE structures Roman's matches, this was not one of them."

[9.0] "I'm sorry, but whoever gave this match a "5" rating or lower was either blind, didn't watch it or just hates WWE product. This was (probably) a culmination to one of the best long-term stories in wrestling from recent years (in my opinion, it even topped Omega vs. Hangman rivalry from AEW). The Montreal crowd was electrifying from start to end and it worked pretty well with both competitors. Reigns did his heel schtick in an amazing way as always, while Zayn delivered a great underdog performance. That being said, while it wasn't a flawless match (some of the nearfalls were fantastic, but the other ones - for example when Sami caught Roman with a Blue Thunder Bomb - weren't so believable), it still reached the very high level of entertainment and dramatic action. Personally, I consider this match the best PPV/PLE main event since Reigns fought Lesnar in a Last Man Standing match at the previous year's Summerslam."

[9.0] "Memorable match. It was slow-paced, with lots of character work, lots of playing-with-the-crowd moments, just the typical formula of Roman matches. The atmosphere was unmatched, Montreal crowd was awesome and Sami really had a home-field advantage. Loved the match, I even thought Sami could win, but it ended up being kinda underwhelming due to the overbooking. Two ref bumps, and that part with Jey Uso was terrible in my opinion, it was the time for Jey to help Sami (or stay loyal to Roman), but no, they booked Sami Spearing him by mistake. It was the best chance WWE had to shock the world and create a tremendous moment, even bigger than Clash at the Castle, but I understand that Sami is not the one to dethrone Roman from a logical standpoint."

[8.0] "Sami Zayn is an incredible babyface, and though there was a lot about this match that was annoying, uncreative, and showcased the worst tendencies of Reigns/the Bloodline's melodrama, the Sami near-falls and the emotional highs he brought this up to still made it one of the most compelling WWE matches in a while. I just wished more people realized you can tell a story and actually do wrestling moves at the exact same time."

[7.0] "Like folks have said, this could have been an all-timer with the right crowd-pleasing crescendo. Instead we get am-dram shenanigans & MCU booking where teases supersede payoffs ***1/2"

[9.0] "Too good. Here we had two of the most Crazy kickouts ever and the base for the end of the longest SM tag team Reign. If Zayn 'd won I'd go with 5 stars, I'd loved Sami vs Rhodes at the main event of WrestleMania. ****1/2"

[8.0] "A real fun main event, nice and slow build, Roman sold well for Sami and the crowd were obviously fully into it, really fun."

[6.0] "Underwhelming and formulaic. Sure, the crowd was great but I wanted something different from the match. What we got was exactly what we always get from Roman matches. Long, slow beatdowns. Trash talk. Ref bumps. Interferences. To be clear, these things aren't bad and sometimes, they're even great (see Drew at Clash). However, this particular story has been so hot because it's been different and to see it end exactly the same way as all the others was depressing. Honestly, I don't think you had to have Sami win but it shouldn't have felt so much like all of Roman's other matches and defenses"

[8.0] "The crowd did a lot of the heavy lifting through the beginning and middle of this match but once Sami got going it was almost like a beautiful dance to his own demise. The Jey Uso stuff though....could have been done a lot better."

[10.0] "One of the best crowds in a match I have ever seen. Very clean wrestling with a great story being progressed, the involvement of Sami's family was very good."

[9.0] "What an experience this was, at least from the video package until 30 minutes into the match. The vibes, the package, the entrances, the crowd, the chants. The opening four minutes where no offense took place. Roman's demeanor and theatrics throughout. The moments involving Sami's family. The pace, the storytelling the near finishes, especially after Sami attempted the superman punch. It was all on point and it was immaculate. Then the cliche ref bump happened, along with the interference by Jimmy Uso and another super close near fall. Things started really picking up again after that, especially the conversation and slap fight, but then another ref bump? Really? It was getting too over the top until that Jey moment. Oh man that was something else. I'm rambling but these are the thoughts I had during this match. It was cinema and it was incredible. Even though I've largely tuned away from WWE and most wrestling companies, this match and story made me realize how wrestling can still make me feel. That's why I have to give it a high score. It's not a perfect match and it has a lot of moments that could make many fans tune out during its lengthy runtime. But when a match can make me feel as many things as this one did? Hope, anticipation, anger, frustration, sadness, thrill and more, often more than once? I have to give it at least a 9, even if it was a bit much in the end."

[8.0] "It's a great fight, in fact, it's very good in terms of interpretation and the story behind it. But being honest, I think the length plus the denouement makes it just another fight for Roman Reigns to retain at the end without much else, after having dead minutes during the match that disappoints."

[7.0] "A good match for sure, but it definitely was not the classic I expected. The crowd was absolutely molten hot, and the action was thrilling, but the ending was incredibly disappointing and much of the middle section of the match consisted of Roman monologuing and slowly applying holds. Roman definitely has a formula, and this was the quintessential Roman match to a tee. There has been quite a bit of divided opinion about this match, and rightly so, as there will never be a hotter face to dethrone Roman than Sami. However, I am intrigued to see where this story will go. On the whole, a very good match that could have been great."

[7.0] "This match reminded me a little of South Park's version of WWE. The crowd was there, the emotion was there, the story was there, but there was no wrestling to be seen. And it doesn't have anything to do with Roman's slow-paced style, but with the fact that all in-ring action is so carefully planned that it comes as a choreography or a theater performance more than as an athletic performance. In fact, there's no room for athleticism or innovation of any kind. It is incredible easy to read everything that happens in the ring and guess the next move. The result, as everything WWE does, is an over-produced experience that diminishes everything that grows organically."

[6.0] "Honestly thought this couldve been an all timer considering how special the crowd was but it was just a typical Roman match. Boring control segments, the same barricade spot & ref bumps as usual. A good match that couldve & shouldve been a top 5 match of both Roman & Samis career. 3.5 stars"

[9.0] "What an emotionally devastating match and story! The crowd created an Electric atmosphere and Sami and Roman backed up with a great big match! Even Sami Zayn's wife acting was great! I do have a gripe with so many ref bumps across wrestling.. But whatever, this was overall great stuff! ****1/2"

[4.0] "This match encapsulates mostly everything I dislike about WWE style main events. Reigns was a okay heel, but his work on top during the match's heat section was very dull, relying entirely on the atmosphere created by the crowd, which was the only element that saved this match from being entirely bad. I could also do without Reigns screaming his character's motivations twice every minute. Seriously, wrestling is a visual medium. You can communicate that through expressions and the moves used. Usually, I enjoy Sami as a babyface; that being said, I did not enjoy Sami's babyface performance in this match. I did not find any of his comeback spots to be at all memorable, and thought his offense lacked impact outside of a few moves, such as his signature blue thunder bomb. Speaking of things involving blue thunder bombs, I did not buy any of the near falls in this match. WWE main event finishes consist entirely of finisher spamming these days; so a couple of near falls off of finishers by Reigns and Sami is not enough to make me believe the match is going to end, let alone near falls from moves like the blue thunder bomb, which almost never win matches, let alone against main event guys. Also, there was too much fuckery, including two referee bumps. Perhaps my least favourite WWE trope is the inconsistency in new referees running out to replace ones that have been incapacitated. Seriously, are WWE officials in the back instructed by Lesnar in kayfabe, because they obviously do not watch the show. And, of course, when it came time for the match to end, one of the referees was magically okay, and thrust back into the ring to count the three. Owens not saving Sami prior to the match ending was pretty baffling; the only thing I can come up with to explain it is Owens still being angry with Sami for sticking by the Bloodline for so long. But, Owens nearly had his career ended (in kayfabe) at the Royal Rumble by Reigns. Surely he hates Reigns enough to want to screw him over, even if it means helping Sami win the title. I just don't buy his lingering distrust of Zayn as being a sufficient explanation for his character refusing to aid Zayn prior to Reigns pinning him. Overall, a match that will be enjoyed by people who like the WWE style; but, if you are like me, and find said style to be intolerable, then you will probably dislike this match as much as I did. **"

[4.0] "Ich bin in den Storylines nicht so drin, vielleicht hat das ja sogar irgendwie Sinn gemacht. Das Wrestling war untergeordnet und diente wieder mal als Lückenfüller in einem Reigns-Match. Warum zieht sich das alles so? 4/10 Brote"

[9.0] "If Sami was the champ, this was the best match of the year maybe, but we are still talking about a masterpiece of dramatic wrestling. 9.5."

[8.0] "Soviel Drama, soviel Action, soviel Overbooking! Endlich mal ein Roman Reigns Main Event Match in dem es auch spektakuläres Wrestling gab. Die Crowd war 100 drin, ich nach dem langsamen Start auch. Es war wieder vieles sehr vorhersehbar, aber die Logikfrage, wieso KO erst nach dem Match kam, umtreibt mich dann doch."

[9.0] "Sami was never going to win this match, and I went into the match with that mindset, but god damn, they really got me to want and believe Sami could win here, even though I didn't buy into any of Sami's near falls. An electric crowd and staredown lead to a pretty slow paced first act, but I really liked Sami's selling and Roman's heel work was good as well. The 2nd act got the match a bit more competitive with Sami getting more offense in before getting some close near falls that I wish I could have bought into. Then we get to the 3rd act where things fall off a bit. There's a ref bump, Sami gets the traditional Roman match "he would have had him if there was a ref! " spot. And then there were a few more near falls and some Jimmy Uso interference before Jey Uso enters and accomplishes basically nothing. Sami gets beat with a chair, then a spear for the winning pin that completely deflated the crowd into literal DEAD silence. Terrible, flat finish and overbooking aside, I liked the match. I wish Kevin had come out during the match though. A stunner into a helluva would have been a near fall that actually got me. [****1/4]"

[10.0] "Great psychology. Every move from both of Sami and Reigns has been felt. Moments with referee bumps were superfluous, so 4.75 for this one. Almost perfect match"

[5.0] "Totally fumbled the ball. Putting aside the result the finish was uncreative and flat. This blood fued started with 4 minutes of nothing then a lock up and exchange of headlock. Roman's control section remains boring and his mid match talking and selling are hammy. Action picks up by the end but becomes mired in egregious overbooking. Even Sami's near falls were not built well. Gave an extra half star for the fantastic crowd who deserved better **3/4"

[8.0] "****1/4 Unsurprisingly, this was slower and more cerebral match. Tried to base the story on reactions instead of spots. In the end it became too convoluted with the run ins and the ref bumps. Still, got to praise them for making a match of this style feel interesting with high stakes."

[4.0] "Comedically stupid like all WWE 'epics'. Almost the entire first 1/4th was wasted on both guys merely reacting to the chanting crowd, and yeah it was cool to see such a hot crowd, but it would've been nice to see the wrestlers themselves carrying the match instead. The match wasn't that exciting once it finally started anyways, though. Sami had decent energy as he fed off his adoring home-town crowd, but he didn't do anything especially impressive and was mostly just quite messy with everything he hit. Roman's arrogant and physical control work was decent, though his constant, awful WWE-style shout the storyline dialogue was far too on the nose to be convincing, and none of his would-be big' attacks were appropriately impactful or convincing. Likewise, I found (and always have found) Sami's babyface-selling to be pretty goofy and not at all sympathetic, since he always just looked far more dopey than endearing. His interactions with his family at ringside were also pretty corny, sorry to say. Sami's offence was alright once he finally gained some control, though he just kept going back to either relatively generic attacks or outright messy attacks. Quick mention of Heyman, who was typically absurd with his awfully stupid facial expressions in reaction to every somewhat big moment in the match. Dude is an absolute joke. As will surprise no-one, the match eventually became just a lame series of finishers, attempted finishers, even some stolen finishers, and of course near falls spammed one after the other, with the commentators plus Sami himself always going overboard to tease that every single hope spot of his was *definitely* going to be the moment where Sami would finally score the supposed upset of all upsets. Bless the Montreal crowd for willing themselves to believe in their guy, but knowing WWE's overkill style, I bit on absolutely zero near falls for either Sami or Roman, and the match-winning pin had 0 tension, so every part of the drama here was disappointing. And you of course couldn't go without the insultingly cliched babyface would've scored the win if not for an unfortunate ref bump spot, because that's just how simplistic WWE is. They somehow did yet more and more finishers and kickouts for the entirety of the final 1/3rd, which was still really stupid but at least entertaining on a really low level for just how stupid it was, plus more of Roman playing high-school theatre class by shouting the storyline at Sami, and YET ANOTHER ref bump, because LOLWWE. They also had all the side characters run out for the own moment of interference, which I'm sure passes for complex, high-class storytelling or something. Btw, if Owens was in the building and already planning on assisting Sami, then WHY didn't he come save Sami earlier when Roman and his sidekick Uso began all their cheating and, you know, maybe help him fairly win the titles? This match completely encapsulates WWE's puerile philosophy. **1/4"

[9.0] "i knew he wasn't gonna win and it still ended up absolutely devastating me, i want to grade it lower because of the outcome but how invested I got says something about the quality."

[8.0] "This had a lot of the Roman Reigns main event match features that suck: you get him controlling things way too much w/ spotty (in regards to how interesting it is) work on top, melodramatic dialogue of course (even though it wasn't actually THAT bad this time - still annoying tho), Bloodline run-ins, a super lame, energy-sucking finish, but goddamn it, there was still that magic in the air that this match was bound to have. There was close to zero fucking chance that Sami Zayn was gonna win the World Championship here, especially right before WrestleMania, but he still made me believe. One of the best, man. One of the very best."

[9.0] "Probably one of Roman's better fights in his reign. It's hard for me to put into words everything that happened because half of the work was done by the audience in Montreal. I don't hold a grudge against the winner, it was predictable, sad but predictable."

[6.0] "WWE is great at spectacle, but I feel like this was almost hurt by it. I'm all for dramatic pauses and playing to the crowd, but there was so much down time that came at the wrong time. Then the double ref incidents, run ins, sixth form drama class shouting in the ring, etc. When they got a sequence of wrestling going, it was good stuff. However, ending a match that started this hot like that felt like such a let down. Not the same as the Mox v Omega explosion match because the fuck up there was accidental, and this went fully as intended, but still feel like it had a similar crashing down to earth feeling. This was always going to be a tough match to map out though, so I do sympathise."

[7.0] "The result was not surprising but seeing Sami unable to dethrone Reigns was much more upsetting than expected. Even the crowd that was roaring before the match even began was deflated at the end. At least we know what Night 1 main event is gonna be. Other than the overbooked finish, I thought it was really great match, with great action, superb storytelling, huge emotional weight. It checks all the list of what would and should have been an all time classic if Sami had won. The big fight feel here at the beginning of the match is comparable to CM Punk's Money in the Bank match but everything went downhill due to an overbooked finish and a huge missed moment.***3/4"

[6.0] "As I said before I am not a follower of this company but I wanted to give it a chance for all the comments that I heard. I loved the atmosphere, constantly people like to say that matches have " big fight feel " and this definetely was one of them. I really enjoyed the way Sammy connects with the crowd and at the end of the match all I can say is that this was a wasted opportunity but maybe I am wrong because I dont follow the company on a weekly basis. I just feel that Sammy should have won, it was his moment but somehow only the fans feel that way apparently."

[6.0] "Nearly all the points I gave this is purely from crowd reaction. I don't understand why the current WWE main event style is just mid-match monologuing, occasionally stopping to do a slow kick, punch, headlock or basic slam - followed by a paint-by-numbers final sequence of finisher spam. Sub the names of the wrestlers and their finishers into this formula and you have pretty much every main event feud of the last couple years. It's so dull and lazy - ironic that this is the company who has the reputation of 'telling stories' despite the inability to craft a cogent beginning, middle, and end for any of their major angles."

[3.0] "I did not like this. They had all the tools to make this memorable but it was structured very poorly. 15 minutes for the first move, which wasnt just a hip toss but a sunset flip power bomb. It wasnt built up at all and after the excessive milking of the crowd it was just big move, pin, big move, pin. The ref bumps were poorly executed and made them look like goofs. The finish was incredibly flat. For a cannot miss match, they missed."

[1.0] "Almost ten minutes without doing anything, they could have built something fabulous, built something epic, Kevin Owens could have entered to intervene earlier, Zain had everything to be champion and go to Wrestlemania as champion, I had still been waiting for a while that Reigns was going to win, but at least they would have made a disqualification or something like that, it is already sung that at Wrestlemania it will be KO and SZ Vs The Usos, crap, they could have done something of an epic caliber as they did with Daniel Bryan, Mick Foley or Eddie Guerrero, epic moments If there was, the most repetitive thing ever, as always Reigns breaking a protection barrier or making their faces, the best thing about the match was only the public."

[8.0] "Crowd reaction matters, well storytelling, nice ending and after match moments. It was not so good from wrestling side, but It's still special to witness. (****)"

[8.0] "I can't say I liked how it took 4+ minutes for this match to actually start. I get taking in the crowd atmosphere but that was too much. The middle section is excellent, but unfortunately falls apart with the interference/ref bumps. Nothing was satisfying and the finish fell flat in a way where some of the greatest crowd heat ever seen in WWE evaporated without any meaningful payoff. Overall a very good match and extremely memorable, but had the potential to be so much better too."

[6.0] "Ended up a slow, bloated mess. The match began with all the emotional momentum possible, but just really dragged right off the bat. I don't mind a slow beginning, but the first half the match was repeated stretches of staring at each other, posturing, or selling long periods from very little offense. Once the match picked up, it then suffered from too many unsatisfying false finishes and TWO ref bumps, Uso interference, and all the same stuff. Had a couple strong moments and an amazing nuclear crowd despite all of that."

[7.0] "I actually had this match at an 8 to be objective, but I shaved off an extra point due to the numerous flaws with this main event. First of all, the wrong man clearly won here since Sami Zayn single-handedly carried the Bloodline story on his back since May 2022, and it STILL wasn't enough to prevent him from getting fed to Roman Reigns here. Even worse, they did that at his hometown too. Another flaw here is that there was NO point where I actually bought Zayn's near-falls on Reigns throughout the main event, which is absolutely sad because I can't suspend my belief at all with Reigns's opponents because I KNOW that Reigns will always find a way to kick out at 2. It's why I pretty much never look forward to Reigns's matches anymore. Plus, WHY did they have Kevin Owens not help out his best friend ( Sami Zayn) win the world titles when he had the chance to do so? Why didn't he help thwart off the Bloodline who was already screwing Zayn over? Additionally, Reigns STILL cutting these long monologues during his matches got old nearly 3 years ago. Progress your story through your ACTIONS instead of your words. You had 3 weeks to talk trash about Zayn. We don't need to keep spending 2+ minutes hearing it in a WRESTLING match. Lastly, having 2 referee bumps + Bloodline interference is not only overkill, but also just beyond redundant at this point. It's baffling how the Bloodline members aren't banned from Reigns matches 2 years later. Anyway, the crowd was at least super hot for their hometown hero here, and the action throughout the main event was pretty good for the most part. Objectively, this match is an 8. However, the numerous flaws for this main event ultimately brings this down to a 7 for me. I'm sure that it'll be overhyped though."

[7.0] "I'm actually not sure what to rate this but going with gut, I was underwhelmed. The atmosphere was fantastic. The action was minimal, but if you have the crowd you can really maximize the few moves. Here, though, it just didn't come together into much of an actual match, which I'd be fine with if the angle aspect of it didn't come off so flat. The devastating defeat was followed up with KO returning and taking out some of the Bloodline. It makes sense but was just a consolation prize here and so it rings false."

[9.0] "Imagine putting one of the most electric WWE matches of all time, one with top-notch pacing, selling, and storytelling, with some absolutely fantastic nearfalls and a handful of really nice spots, and cap it off with the lamest and most predictable finish a Roman defense could possibly have. I really did love this match for the first 31 minutes and change, the atmosphere was incredible and the performances of both men were so on-point (Roman's detached stare and demeanor during his heat segment was absolutely stellar) with that cut from the failed dive giving Sami a battle scar. The way Sami's wife and both Usos were involved was really well-done too. The parallels to the Rumble when Jey was out there were great. I was willing to forgive some of the weak-looking offense at times (more from Roman but Sami doing Roman's moves looked off despite the story significance) but the amount of ref bumps into the chair beatdown-spear combo into the straight 3-count was just SO deflating. Owens waiting until AFTER the bell to come out when he would've gotten a a Backlash 2000-tier pop for coming out before the finish was also a really horrible call. There's a dozen better finishes to this match, and half of them could keep the title on Roman if you're dead set on Reigns/Rhodes in the main of Mania. It's as if WWE were dead-set on having their best long-term storyline in I don't even know how long lose steam (even though Sami & Kevin are definitely getting the tag belts at Mania) and for that I can't give this a 10. ****1/2"

[1.0] "It's amazing how WWE can book like WCW 2000 and people lap it up. It's been the same old crap every time for the last 3 years with Roman Reigns matches. Please stop having Stockholm Syndrome."

[6.0] "A slow match that worked due to the crowd being into everything, allowing Roman to do his usual good heel work while Sami would make comebacks to wild cheers. There were some well done near falls and it was all perfectly fine until the the shenanigans started. After a ref bump, Jimmy Uso came out to attack Sami, who just barely kicked out when a second ref came down to count the pin. Then after a few minutes there's another ref bump. This time Jey Uso came out and prevented Roman from hitting Sami with a chair. Roman gave Jey the chair, but he couldn't go through with it. Anyway, Roman attacked Sami with a chair before pinning him just as the original referee was finally coming out of his stupor and gave a very slow count. It was obvious Sami wasn't going to win, this was way too overdone and there could have been a better way to go about this. Then after the match, Kevin Owens came out to save Sami from being attacked. It's just seems weird he wouldn't show up during when the help would have really mattered. They tried to put a happy face on this by having Sami stand tall in the ring with his music playing, but with everything that happened it fell flat. 6/10"

"Would rate this a ten but cagematch cant seem to remember that Ive commented on matches so it never lets me rate anything. Everyone who says this is trash because Sami didnt win please sit down and quit malding. Yes it would have been awesome to see Sami win and honestly from a booking perspective I feel they should have done it took (or at least have booked the match to only be for 1 title and had Sami win just the one so they could still have Roman be Cody at mania) match was still awesome, edge of yo ur seat the whole time, great stuff all around ***** instant classic (also that crowd man)"

[5.0] "Over-the-top, unsatisfactory ending, too melodramatic with multiple ref bumps and a crowd-killing finish. Fine enough effort throughout the match, but really they just traded finishers and waited for the inevitable silly finishing moments. But the lines in the sand will be drawn by fans or opponents of the style - it's what you would expect going in."

[5.0] "The same ref bump, pinfall that doesn't count because of the aforementioned ref bump monologing at the crowd Roman title match that we've seen 700 other times. Sami played his part perfectly and the crowd was great but the match falls flat when the cliche Roman title match BS they do doesn't turn out to be a subversion of expectations."

[8.0] "I really wish I could give this a higher rating, because the atmosphere was fantastic and I am really enjoying this storyline, but it fell a little flat for me. A lot of the match felt a bit like a generic modern WWE style 'big match', but was at least well executed and improved by having an extremely invested crowd. Unfortunately, I did not like the finish, and not just because of the winner. The timing of the ref's recovery felt contrived and I thought Jey's involvement was underwhelming. It felt like it ended with a whimper instead of something with more drama or intensity. It felt a bit like they had booked themselves in to a corner and needed to stall on Jey making a decision to fit with whatever their WM plans may be. A good match with a very memorable atmosphere, but not the classic I was hoping it would be."

[8.0] "Yeah Sami really should've won this one. You'll never get a moment like you could've had, really disappointing. Sometimes just giving the fans what they want is the right decision"

[4.0] "Every time I check out a Roman match it's the exact same overbooked nonsense with outrageously long monologues and matches. Sami's one of my all time favorites and he had an okay performance, but it wasn't anything he wouldn't do at a 2016 TV match. Not one but TWO referees getting knocked down, two interference spots, and so many finisher kickouts. The crowd was hot so I can't fault that but in no way was this an all timer."

[8.0] "I almost feel like this is more of a 7/10 of a match but it is a well told story... except.. ya know.. the ending I guess... watching just the high profile matches/events of WWE really makes you realize how very few tricks they have. The "ref bump" for the "visual win" is just used too much and it gets tiring to see so often in the top tier main event title matches like these. I wonder how many times they did that for Roman in the last 2 1/2 years. It just wears thin. Im trying not to get upset or rolly my eyes at the predictable ending but its going to be quiet something to see how the response to Cody is now, I have a sneaking suspicion they are going to keep him and Sami as far away from each other as possible and just push through any flack Cody might get. Who knows."

[9.0] "Great match, but I'm docking points specifically for the overbooked and painfully flat ending. Geez, can Roman not have a clean victory or loss at all these days? Good lord. Props to Sami for the incredible storytelling though, they had me on my toes until everything started falling apart. ****1/2"

[10.0] "Some people are being negative to be negative, this was INCREDIBLE! This was A MOTY candidate in February and I love it, the moments afterward ruled too."

[10.0] "this audience was just incredible, the last time this was probably at Money in the Bank 2011, and the match itself seemed good, and the emotions were just overwhelmed"

[9.0] "The match was quite interesting, albeit predictable. The same tricks with the referee that we could see before. It's interesting to see what's in store for Jey Uso and Roman Reigns."

[8.0] "man, oh man, match with a great story, but it seemed so obvious and the repetition of some Roman fights... They lost what could be the happiest victory ever in WWE, unfortunately now Cody winning the titles will be less "big""

[7.0] "Anyone saying this was an "amazing story" could not explain to me what the story is. The melodrama didn't work for me, the result was never in doubt. The safest and most predictable choice was made at every step. Good match and Sami is an all timer babyface and all but his body is falling apart and the wrestling was just not all that. The rating for this match being this high speaks to what an all timer crowd and an illusion of a story will do to a match's perception. ***1/4, would've been *** without the crowd."

[9.0] "The crowd was always going to make this match special, and not only them, but Roman and Sami themselves delivered in spades. Roman played a phenomenal POS. hell-bent on spoiling Sami's moment and taunting him and his family the whole way through. Sami put one one of the greatest babyface performances in recent memory, delivering every hope-spot, every big move with incredible passion. The crowd played their parts perfectly (the two men didn't even move for the first 5 mins and they were still electric). They came alive every time Sami made a come-back, exploded after every move, and bit perfectly on every single near-fall. They went with the bloodline-storytelling finish at the end, which may be divisive to some, but is fine enough for me considering this is the method they've been using to tell this story for months now. KO coming out at the end and getting revenge was great, but despite the fact that they are seemingly playing up the fact that all is not yet forgiven between Owens and Zayn, I do think not having the two hug to end the show is a missed opportunity. Still a great spectacle of a match (****1/2)"

[6.0] "Overbooked, it made the match very different from what an encounter between the two should have been. Just weird. Lots of energy and very good moments. But the result was deflating. The finish was lame. And honestly Reigns' reign is being very lame too with all his matches being about interference. Honestly not what motivates me to watch at all."

[2.0] "Some of the dumbest booking I have ever seen. They had it. All they had to do was get Sammi a short reign and they would have been been printing money from it for years to come. A rematch on cable would have won the night. But instead we get a contrived finish that helps no one. The video of Sammy winning would have been on the level of Mick winnning. Just an incredibly dumb choice and in how they did it."

[4.0] "Oh well, a moment in time that will get lost in between WWE countdowns and twitter posts talking about good this was. The main event Roman formula sucks, slow to a crawl and him doing exposition to the level of a middle school theatre play. The part with the kickouts was excellent but then the ending 8 minutes was complete chaos. Not even doing the Sami and KO hug is hilarious."

[7.0] "Vibe of the match was ofc excellent due to the crowd, but I hate ref bumps in every single PPV match of Reigns - in this case that wasn't even neccessary, because Owens showing up AFTER the match only for pop for Sami at the end is extremely dumb. From the emotional perspective that was satisfying, but I simply feel weird for that match."

[10.0] "It was perfect, Jey didn't cost Sami the match but he was involved, KO didn't help him to win because everything he done to him while he was in The Bloodline but he save him after the match because Sami saved him at the Rumble, and Roman and Sami worked at really good match that with this crowd made it even better"

[0.0] "An overbooked mess with the expect shit finish. Crowd was great, match was ok. Booking was pisspoor."

[7.0] "Match was good but disappointing not gonna lie, I don't even mind that Zayn lost but still, this match really suffered from overbooking and interference and holy shit was that start awful. I'm fine with Matches waiting for like a minute to start to set the atmosphere from a hot crowd but holy shit did take forever for the match to start. Half of this match felt like an actual match with good heat with nice exchanges and near falls and the other felt like it tried to be a theater"

[10.0] "an amazing story that will be remembered for years culminating in decent wrestling with a beautiful narrative"

[10.0] "Let's just say MOTYC. It was everything I expected from this match. What a story to tell. This is the greatest thing in PW history."

[7.0] "Could have been an all-time great match without the excessive ref bumping and interference. Definitely did Sami's story a disservice in the long run, but it's still been a fantastic ride."

[10.0] "Awesome match. This was very good even though its the usual ref bump no ref 3 count match that roman has been having lately. Still must watch and a great addition to the story. Hope we get the Triple Threat at mania"

[9.0] "One of the best matches in Elimination Chamber history, one of the best defenses of Reigns' Undisputed title and one of the best ending for a Premium Live Event of all time. Sami deserves everything, and Roman is really the best villain in the world right now. I'm very curious to see where Sami and Owens will be heading now: a Tag Titles Match at WrestleMania? It would be so interesting to see where Jey will stand!"

[7.0] "I had such high hopes for this match and they didnt get anywhere close. 32 minutes and 19 seconds for the same story, this time with two ref bumps. I had hopes of something new, just didnt deliver. The match was fine, just too long and dragged out for an ending that wasnt any good."

[8.0] "An absolutely incredible match. The crowd behind Zayn all the way, the heat of the crowd carrying the Fujita/Shiozaki-esque staredown at the start of the match. Great development of the spear throughout the match, with Sami managing to avoid it until having to also deal with Uso. The ref bumps and interferences and wife spots got a bit tedious, but the final one with the other Uso was really cool."

[10.0] "There was a story in this match, the match itself was almost perfect, and most important, everything about this was just so good, that I can still give it a 10. But for the match itself it's gonna be **** 1/2"

[10.0] "The story, the crowd, the emotion, the pure energy that this match gave is the best weve seen since cena vs punk 2011. As much as I wanted sami to win, and as much as i knew it wouldnt happen, this match was phenomenal."