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Roman Reigns beats up opponent with bat at Crown Jewel, commentator goes bonkers: ‘Just like Steve Smith’
WWE's recent event in Australia featured Roman Reigns using a cricket bat, sparking excitement and drawing comparisons to Steve Smith.
Roman Reigns didn’t just win the pop in the recent WWE Crown Jewel; he hijacked Australia’s sporting soul for a few seconds. In the Australian Street Fight segment of the event, the ‘Tribal Chief’ whipped out a cricket bat and smacked Bronson Reed out of the ring. The moment sent the commentary desk into a meltdown.
The commentators were heard screaming, “Just like Steve Smith.” Indeed, it stood as a perfect tribute to the Aussie maestro in front of his home crowd.
The presence of the cricket bat was not at all a random event. WWE leaned hard into local flavour for an ‘Australian Street Fight’, and the bat delivered the perfect punchline. Reigns’ swing-and-send looked like the picture-perfect moment, with the crowd going into a frenzy. As the clip surfaced on social media, the fans played their full part in making it viral.
You didn’t need the rules of the match to get the reference made in the commentary. The broadcast team did the translation perfectly. The live reactions of Reign’s bat lift getting compared to Steve Smith name-checking the Ashes energy on a WWE PLE. That single mention of Smith turned a prop into a cultural bridge.
Result, chaos, and Bloodline drama
The bat didn’t end the match; it added to the spice. The closing stretch turned classic WWE with run-ins, a miscue inside the Bloodline orbit and a momentum flip that left the crowd gasping before the final pin. While Reed's power beats kept him strong in front of his home crowd, Reign’s aura stayed intact because the decisive moment hinged on mayhem rather than a blunt result. As far as the storyline is concerned, this nudges the Bloodline fracture while elevating Reed as more than a hometown cameo.
Crossover moments in sports travel when they are visual, native to the host city, and instantly caption-able. A cricket bat in Perth hit all three nerves. The added dramatic commentary mentioning Steve Smith made it even more viral. However, it did not stop there as Indian fans started mentioning their star Virat Kohli in the context too.
International PLEs survive or thrive on local texture. One tailored weapon, one perfect all, and one clean visual can sell an entire city its moment. Perth got the bat while the commentators added the flavour with the Steve Smith stamp. As a result WWE walked away with unmatched attention.
