Kevin Owens Talks Handcuff Botch Against Roman Reigns At Royal Rumble

During a recent appearance on The Jake Asman Show, Kevin Owens addressed the "handcuff botch" that took place in the closing stages of his  WWE Universal Championship match at last Sunday's Royal Rumble event.

When Roman Reigns was handcuffed to a metal structure, Paul Heyman ran over with a pair of keys to free "The Tribal Chief" and stop the referee from counting to 10 – in the Last Man Standing bout. After Reigns knocked off the first referee, the second referee stopped counting once it became apparent that Heyman couldn't unlock the handcuffs. Reigns was eventually freed but fans on social media were very vocal about the glaring botch.

While speaking in character, Owens said he was cheated by the referee and should have won the Universal Championship.

"I've never been cheated by a referee that way before," said Owens [h/t/ Fightful]. "He [Reigns] brought handcuffs, I handcuffed him to something and I thought I had him, I really did have him. Some screw-ups from the referees and here I am, sitting in my car without the Universal Championship."

Owens went onto reveal that he's still recovering from the brutal match.

"I'm still in recovery from the Royal Rumble," said the former Universal Champion. "It was a pretty rough night. I was thrown off a 12-foot platform onto a bunch of tables, I got hit by a golf cart, I jumped off a forklift that was about 10 feet in the air, I burned my arm on a light that was part of our setup, and to top it all, I didn't win because a referee got paid off or something."