KEY POINTS

  • Royal Rumble 2023 will take place in January
  • The event will be held at Alamodome Stadium in Texas
  • Roman Reigns has been the Universal champion for over 800 days now

Roman Reigns will reportedly take on Kevin Owens at Royal Rumble in January.

Royal Rumble, a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event organized annually by WWE, will be the first PPV event of 2023. It is scheduled to take place on Jan. 28 at Texas' Alamodome Stadium.

The Tribal Chief, who is the current Undisputed WWE and Universal Champion, will defend his undisputed title against Owens, according to WrestlingNews.co. The match will be the next step in WWE's continued story, featuring The Bloodline, Owens and Sami Zayn.

WWE's initial plan was to pit Reigns against Irish wrestler Sheamus, who currently is contracted with SmackDown. However, the plans later changed, with Owens being picked for the big fight.

There were also rumors about Sami Zayn facing Reigns in a singles match at the Royal Rumble. However, the Zayn vs. Reigns match may not happen until February's Elimination Chamber event as it is going to take place in Zayn's hometown of Montreal, Canada.

Reigns has been wrestling part-time as per his new contract, meaning he will participate in less number of matches. The Head of the Table's next televised fight is the upcoming Royal Rumble clash with Owens.

This won't be Owens' first clash with Undisputed Champion Reigns. At the Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2020 and Royal Rumble 2021, Owens had a chance to win the Universal Championship, once in a TLC match and the other in a Last Man Standing match. Owens failed to defeat the Tribal Chief on both occasions.

Roman Reigns, WWE
Roman Reigns is a four-time WWE Champion. Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images

At the recently-concluded WWE Survivor Series WarGames, Reigns and Owens came face to face as they were on different teams for the men's cage match as part of the main event.

The Bloodline, comprising Reigns, Sami Zayn, Solo Sikoa, and The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holland, and Butch), Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens by pinfall in the WarGames match.

Reigns, who has held the Universal Championship for over 800 days and has been the WWE Champion since April, has speared through multiple opponents during his title run, defeating the likes of Owens, Drew McIntyre, Edge, John Cena and even his The Bloodline teammate Jey Uso, who is also his cousin.