Botched ending in Roman Reigns' Last Man Standing Match revealed

At WWE Royal Rumble, Roman Reigns faced Kevin Owens in a Last Man Standing Match. While Reigns was able to retain his WWE Universal Championship, the ending of the match was botched due to the current champion's inability to get free of the handcuffs in time.

At the pay-per-view, Jey Uso was noticeably missing, as he has been since his last appearance on January 15. However, that did not stop Reigns from using questionable means to win his match against Owens.

The two battled all around the stadium, as each Superstar did their utmost to keep the other one down. Both tried and failed numerous times, with their battle continuing on the ramp, among the LED screens of the WWE ThunderDome, backstage on tables and a forklift, and finally next to a steel fixture.

KEVIN OWENS. That's it. That's the tweet. 🤯#RoyalRumble #UniversalTitle @FightOwensFight @WWERomanReigns @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/OtitCoOpr1

— WWE (@WWE) February 1, 2021

It was there when the two Superstars were battling among the steel fixtures, that Roman Reigns emerged with handcuffs, clearly intending to restrict Owens' ability to get up. Owens managed to use this to his advantage and hooked Roman Reigns to the fixture with the handcuff instead. The Universal Champion was almost unable to get up, and so stopped the count by pulling the referee into a steel beam, knocking him unconscious.

Paul Heyman appeared to try and help him get free with the key to the handcuffs when a second referee appeared to continue the count. Reigns had incapacitated Owens with the low blow, but the referee was halfway through his count when it was clear that something had gone wrong. Roman Reigns' handcuff was not coming loose and the referee had to awkwardly stop the count.

One of the many reasons it's good to have @HeymanHustle in your corner. #RoyalRumble #UniversalTitle @WWERomanReigns pic.twitter.com/RKcHxhs9MB

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) February 1, 2021

Reigns came to a squatting position soon after, to help the moment make sense. Heyman and Reigns frantically worked on the handcuff, until finally, it came loose, but it was obvious to anyone watching that the referee had to stop because something had gone wrong with the handcuffs, making for a rather awkward moment.

Great match that fell apart a little at the end. The second ref had to stop counting whilst Heyman got Roman out the handcuffs and Reigns won by KO'ing Owens with the Gullotine.Onto to the Men's Rumble! pic.twitter.com/7FdO4OqpdC

— Brij (@cmpunk48275401) February 1, 2021

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Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns leading up to the Royal Rumble

Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns had been feuding since the end of 2020, and the duo even faced each other in a TLC match at the pay-per-view of the same name. There, Reigns got the help of Jey Uso to secure the win, and proceeded to assault Owens to continue their feud over the next few weeks. While he thought he had put Owens behind him, and turned his attention to Adam Pearce, Kevin Owens returned when he least expected.

Adam Pearce was originally supposed to face Roman Reigns at the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but he changed things up at the last moment, citing an old knee injury. Instead, Kevin Owens stepped into his place.