One of the most emotionally-charged defenses of Roman Reigns' 1,316-day WWE Universal Championship reign was his WWE Elimination Chamber 2023 bout against Sami Zayn. Zayn was fighting in front of his hometown crowd in Montreal, and had recently turned on the Bloodline, by hitting Reigns with a chair at the Royal Rumble.

"At the time I thought there was a case to be made for it," he said. "But, going back to the domino effect thing, I don't know... I really don't know. I don't think it's ludicrous to say that I should have. I think if you were watching at that time, anybody could have made that argument. But, again, timing and Cody was also red-hot at the time and they were building to something... Could, should, would. Would it have worked? I think so. But, who's to say."

He compared the ending of their title match to Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 1997, the infamous Montreal Screwjob. Zayn was in attendance as a fan at just 13-years-old. He said he was 95 percent sure that everyone in the arena remembers the feeling after his match with Reigns, just like he remembers how he felt after witnessing the Screwjob.

"What a gift to be able to do that," he said. "Because that's what we really do, we play with people's emotions."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.