It will be interesting to see what the WWE does on Monday Night Raw to follow up the fact that Roman Reigns beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 , which looks like it led to the retirement of the Phenom. While some believe that Roman might turn heel after the victory, it doesn’t look like it will happen.
Roman Reigns sent out a tweet this afternoon and showed the proper respect for The Undertaker after their WrestleMania 33 match. In the tweet, Roman said that he did “what I had to” in the match. He had argued that this was his yard now but said in the tweet that his win at WrestleMania does not change the fact that The Undertaker held down the yard for years.
Roman Reigns even used the hashtag that has been trending since last night – #ThankYouTaker – and added a second hashtag of his own with #Respect. It is clear that Roman is showing a lot of respect to The Undertaker after last night’s hard-fought win and a Reigns heel turn seems further away than ever.
With that said, there is no telling where Roman Reigns goes next on the Monday Night Raw brand. The biggest idea would be that a win over The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 could launch Roman Reigns into a feud with Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship.
The problem is that a Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns match is a huge deal. The two fought before – at WrestleMania 31 – for the WWE world title. In that match, Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and pinned Roman Reigns. This means that Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns have still not figured out who the better man is.
A Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns match is allegedly planned out for WrestleMania 34 , so that is still a year in the future. There is a chance that the WWE could plant the seeds for that match tonight on Monday Night Raw but there are other moving pieces involved as well.
With Brock Lesnar as the new WWE Universal Champion and Bill Goldberg apparently leaving the WWE after his contract expired, that leaves the door open for new contenders. Kevin Owens was the last champion and has not received his rematch for the title yet, so he is in line.
Someone else who could easily step into line as well in front of Roman Reigns is Finn Balor , who is making his WWE return tonight. Finn Balor was the first ever WWE Universal Champion and had to relinquish the title after tearing his labrum in the match where he beat Seth Rollins for the title.
Speaking of Seth Rollins, he beat Triple H last night at WrestleMania 33 , and that win is just as important as Roman Reigns beating The Undertaker. Add in Braun Strowman and Triple H’s own right-hand man Samoa Joe, and there are plenty of big names who could step into line for a Universal Championship slot.
As for Roman Reigns, he will get his title opportunities, and the win over The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 almost assures that fact. There is a big push in the WWE to make Roman the biggest face in the company, and they recently announced that he was the No. 1 merchandise seller among active full-time stars.
That makes it sound like they want to make it clear that he is the next John Cena for the WWE and the win over The Undertaker was just a way to drive that message home. The tweet that Roman sent out makes it clear that he is not becoming a heel anytime soon and will continue to show respect when due while maintaining that he owns the yard in the WWE.
[Featured Image by WWE]