"The belt they took away" - Former WWE personality discusses why Roman Reigns retained the title at Elimination Chamber

Former WWE manager Jim Cornette recently spoke about Sami Zayn's loss to Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber 2023.

With a rabid Montreal crowd behind him, Zayn looked to dethrone Reigns last week. However, the odds were stacked against The Master Strategist. After several interruptions and distractions during the encounter, The Tribal Chief secured the win with a devastating Spear, dashing the hopes of the thousands of fans in attendance.

On a recent episode of Jim Cornette's Drive Thru, the veteran mentioned that WWE possibly wanted someone with a better look to be the champion.

"They either want somebody like Reigns that looks physically impressive and cool, how he dresses, acts, and carries himself. Or they want a guy like Cody with the suit and the tights and the Bloodline of the Rhodes family," Cornette said. "Here's a WWE Superstar Sami Zayn but it's not the WWE Champion. For that, they want somebody that has all of the attributes including appearance."

He also detailed that Cody Rhodes' story arc was more compelling and made more sense when it came to long-term booking.

"As for business overall, the story they have told for Cody and his story, his path - 'Winning it for my daddy. The belt they took away from my daddy at the Garden.' That's bigger and it's better and it's long term and it makes more sense." [3:20 - 4:35]

You can watch the full video here:

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Roman Reigns will be making an appearance on SmackDown next week

This week on SmackDown, Paul Heyman caught up with Jimmy Uso backstage and asked him to sort out the issue with his brother Jey Uso.

He showed Jimmy a text from The Tribal Chief stating that Roman Reigns would be on SmackDown next week. The Wiseman warned Jimmy that Reigns would handle the chaos within the Bloodline if The Usos could not resolve their internal differences.

Later in the evening, Zayn confronted Jimmy Uso and suggested that Roman Reigns was manipulating his cousins. Jey watched the exchange from the crowd and refused to step in even when things broke down inside the ring.

Do you agree with Jim Cornette's opinion? Sound off in the comments section below.

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If you use quotes from this article, please credit Jim Cornette's Drive Thru and add a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.