In one of the co-main-events of Royal Rumble 2023, Roman Reigns will defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Kevin Owens, as announced during this week’s episode of Smackdown.

The first blue brand episode of 2023 opened with Reigns addressing Sami Zayn as the latter suffered a pinfall loss to Owens and John Cena the previous week in a tag team match also featuring himself.

Kevin Owens interrupted the segment and proceeded to challenge Reigns to a title match at the Rumble. The champion accepted almost immediately and Owens gladly left the ramp after stating the following,

"Roman, I'll see you at the Royal Rumble. And Sami, I'll see you whenever you manage to dig your ba**s out of Roman's pocket."

Later that night, Reigns once again confronted Sami in the locker room where Paul Heyman informed him that The Tribal Chief is giving him a chance to redeem himself as Owens will face The Honorary Uce in a singles contest, next week on Smackdown.

As for the title match announced, this will be the third time that Reigns and Owens will be battling at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event for a championship.

Owens won the first encounter in 2017 to retain his Universal Championship while Reigns retained the same title in 2021 in a Last Man Standing Match. Prior to this match, Reigns also defeated Owens in the December 2020 PPV event, TLC for the title.

Roman Reigns last defended his title against Logan Paul at the Crown Jewel premium live event on November 5 and this upcoming title match at Royal Rumble will be his first title defense as well his first match cum title defense for the year 2023.

Speaking of the Rumble, Ricochet defeated Top Dolla of the Hit Row faction in a qualifying match on the January 6 episode of SmackDown to secure a spot in the Men’s Rumble Match.

Top Dolla alongside the rest of Hit Row turned heel on Ricochet in a post-match beatdown but Braun Strowman came out to make the save for Ricochet. This unlikely alliance may continue in the Rumble Match but Strowman’s official entry is yet to be declared.



Liv Morgan is the first WWE Women’s Superstar to have declared for the Women’s Royal Rumble Match, this year. In the latest bygone Smackdown, Morgan announced her entry into this year's Rumble and she also willingly picked the number-one spot in the melee.

It should be noted that Morgan has competed in every women's Royal Rumble match, to date since its invention in 2018. Morgan also holds the not-so-impressive record of spending the shortest time in a Women’s Rumble match for just eight seconds in the 2019 edition.

The 2023 WWE Royal Rumble premium live event takes place Saturday, January 28 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The updated match card for the first PLE of the year stands as follows,

– Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Kevin Owens

– Pitch Black Match: Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight

– Men’s Royal Rumble Match: Kofi Kingston, Ricochet, and 28 Superstars TBA

– Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Liv Morgan, and 29 Superstars TBA