WWE News: Creative Plans For Roman Reigns After Failing To Capture The WWE Universal Championship

The Roman Reigns experiment clearly wasn’t going the way Vince McMahon and the WWE creative team had designed. Reigns was being groomed as the successor to John Cena, a coveted position as the face of the company. The WWE needed a long-term replacement for Cena who was being pulled in many different directions, unable to commit to a full-time WWE schedule any longer. And the fans wanted a replacement at the top of the card, having felt force-fed the hustle, loyalty, and respect routine.

The only problem was that Roman Reigns wasn’t the solution in the fans’ minds. Much like with Cena, the WWE Universe rejected the corporate selection of Reigns. The hope was that the organic reactions for other WWE superstars would result in pushes like that of Daniel Bryan. But much like with Cena, WWE management seemingly ignored the backlash and kept Reigns in the main event picture. Until Roman violated the WWE Wellness Policy, that is.

Roman Reigns’ victory over Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania 32 was meant to cement him as the top guy in the company. No more hot potato with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, or sneaky Money in the Bank cash-ins. The plan was to give Reigns a lengthy run with the title, main-eventing every pay-per-view following ‘Mania, including SummerSlam and beyond.

The brand extension wouldn’t have altered those plans either for the most part. Reigns would have continued to hold on to the WWE World Championship, bringing it to RAW, while the Smackdown roster would have competed for the Universal Title.

Reigns’ first feud after dethroning The King of Kings was with AJ Styles, which then ended at Extreme Rules when Seth Rollins attacked Reigns after the match. It provided one of the more memorable moments from 2016, with Rollins returning after more than seven months away due to injury. It also gave the WWE the opportunity to execute a double-turn with Roman and Seth. They decided against it despite the thunderous reaction Rollins received upon his return, but there have been discussions lately centered around that very idea.

The attack set the stage for another Roman Reigns title defense, this time coming against Rollins at Money In The Bank. Plans remained in place for Reigns to continue his reign, but his failed drug test changed just about everything. WWE officials were aware of the violation before the pay-per-view but decided to keep him in the match, book him on RAW the following night, and maintain the much-anticipated triple threat match at Battleground between Roman, Rollins, and Dean Ambrose.

Vince didn’t want Rollins to regain the title he never lost quite yet, so they went with Ambrose in light of Reigns’ violation and subsequent suspension. But with Ambrose getting drafted to Smackdown, the door was open for a top babyface to emerge on Monday nights with Roman getting punished. The decision was made to insert Finn Balor into that role immediately upon his promotion to the main roster, and he actually defeated Roman Reigns on his way to the SummerSlam main event.

SummerSlam provided four main-event level matches and for the first time in a long time, Roman Reigns was not involved in one of them. According to Daily Wrestling News, he was in fact punished by McMahon by being dropped down the card and into a feud with Rusev for the United States Championship. It was not only a scolding, but Vince was testing Reigns to see if could handle the demotion and work his way back to the top of the card.

Then, of course, Balor gets injured, relinquishes the Universal Championship, and throws all previous creative plans out the window yet again. Roman found himself in this week’s main event for the vacated Universal Title, but did not win, thanks to a returning Triple H. The Game certainly had provocation, but the bigger news was Hunter also attacking Seth Rollins, allowing Kevin Owens to win the match and become the new champion.

Reigns could certainly make an argument for having retribution on Triple H, but according to Cageside Seats, Roman will resume his feud with Rusev as we head towards the first RAW-exclusive pay-per-view of the new era, Clash of Champions. It does make sense seeing how Reigns and Rusev never had an actual match at SummerSlam, so there is plenty of unfinished business there.

It just seems interesting that Rusev was nowhere to be found this past Monday, and Reigns couldn’t just ignore the fact that HHH cost him the Universal Championship. The plan was to keep both Rollins and Reigns away from the title picture once Balor ascended to the top of the mountain. But as has been the case plenty this year, things had to change. We’ll have to wait and see whether Reigns has done enough to warrant a run with the U.S. Title.

[UPDATE]

One minor wrinkle that could affect any plans to continue a Roman Reigns Rusev program is that Rusev and Lana will be missing next week’s schedule, including RAW, to go to Bulgaria for their second wedding celebration. Certainly something to keep an eye on when next week rolls around.

[Image via WWE]