Some people backstage reportedly wanted Sami Zayn to defeat Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber

Contrary to the hopes of the lively Montreal crowd, Sami Zayn sadly couldn't dethrone Roman Reigns in a highly absorbing contest at the Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event.

During the latest Wrestling Observer Radio episode, Dave Meltzer confirmed that a few people felt Sami Zayn winning would have been the best option.

Over the course of his run with The Bloodline, Zayn has legitimately become a ratings-puller and is currently the hottest babyface in all of professional wrestling. Fans would not have complained if Sami had gone over Roman, as WWE could have presented one of the most remarkable title changes in history.

The company, however, chose to take the predictable route and have Roman Reigns retain the Undisputed World Championship. The Tribal Chief will now defend the title against The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania.

As revealed by Dave Meltzer, while there was a group backstage who wanted Zayn to win at the Elimination Chamber, the WWE higher-ups had no intentions of changing the original booking.

In fact, WWE officials never even considered giving Sami Zayn a monumental victory over Reigns:

"Even before Monday, I was pretty strong on the fact that everything was different. And I know people there, you know, it's the same thing. I know people there who were very, very strong that Sami winning was the best thing. But, you know, I was also told that the powers that be are not even considering it. That's what I was told," reported Meltzer. "Now, you know, again, as time went on and the direction they went on Monday, it was just like, well, I hope they are considering it now." [From 18:00 onwards]

Sami Zayn was never factored into WWE's WrestleMania main event plans

WWE had the golden opportunity to allow Sami Zayn to have his crowning moment in front of his hometown fans. It might not have been WrestleMania, but the Elimination Chamber's main event felt like a huge deal due to the record-setting crowd reactions.

As highlighted by Meltzer, WWE giving Zayn the victory would have been the ultimate payoff, something that they could never replicate even if they wanted to in a year's time.

Sami's ardent followers would also be dejected, knowing that WWE never really saw the Canadian star as a WrestleMania headliner.

"You couldn't repeat that moment. Even if they decided to do it in a year later, you could never repeat that moment. This was one of those situations. It was really, really big. But again, the day they had their hearts set on one thing, and in their minds, Sami Zayn was not the WrestleMania main event this year. He just wasn't," added the Wrestling Observer journalist. [From 15:00 onwards]

Did you like the finish of Elimination Chamber? Sound off in the comments section below.

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If you use the quotes above, please credit Wrestling Observer Radio and add a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.