Roman Reigns Retains WWE Title vs. Randy Orton, Styles, Knight at Royal Rumble 2024

Roman Reigns defeated Randy Orton, AJ Styles and LA Knight in a Fatal 4-Way match at Royal Rumble on Saturday night to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Orton appeared to have this one won after hitting an RKO on all three opponents. He then pinned Reigns to a count of two, but Solo Sikoa interfered and pulled the referee out of the ring.

Eventually, The Tribal Chief retained the title after hitting a Spear on AJ Styles.

Reigns entered the match having been world champion for over 1,200 consecutive days, but Saturday marked arguably the toughest test of his title run to date.

During the buildup to the Royal Rumble premium live event, Orton decided to sign with SmackDown over Raw, and he made it clear that one of the biggest deciding factors in that was his desire to get his hands on Reigns and The Bloodline.

Orton was out of action for a year and a half due to a back injury, and in terms of the storyline, it was caused by The Usos brutally attacking him and putting him through the announce table.

While The Viper had his sights set on The Tribal Chief, Knight made it known that he had some unfinished business with Reigns in his own right.

At Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia in November, Reigns put his title on the line against The Megastar. Although Knight nearly ended the titleholder’s historic run, Sikoa helped The Head of the Table retain.

As if both Orton and Knight gunning for Reigns wasn’t enough, Styles returned from injury as well, and he also targeted Reigns and The Bloodline.

The Phenomenal One was scheduled to team with John Cena against Sikoa and Jimmy Uso at Fastlane, but Sikoa and Uso attacked Styles and put him on the shelf.

In an effort to determine Reigns’ opponent at Royal Rumble, SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis booked a Triple Threat match between Orton, Knight and Styles.

Reigns aimed to teach all of his rivals a lesson, so he crashed the contest with Sikoa and Uso, and he left all of the combatants unable to continue.

Much to the chagrin of Reigns and Paul Heyman, Aldis fired back by booking a Fatal 4-Way at the Rumble.

Saturday was perhaps the most vulnerable Reigns has been over the past few years due to the sheer number of top contenders he had to deal with, but he again found a way to retain, and he is in line to enter WrestleMania 40 as undisputed WWE universal champion.

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