WWE Rumors: New Update On Vince McMahon’s Reaction To Roman Reigns’ Absence, Per Dave Meltzer
A new update has emerged regarding Roman Reigns’ absence from WWE tapings and how the company’s chairman, Vince McMahon, is reacting to the Friday Night SmackDown star’s continued unavailability due to health concerns regarding the coronavirus and his most recent bout with leukemia.
As quoted by WrestlingNews.co, Dave Meltzer wrote on the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that McMahon’s plan for dealing with Reigns’ absence “changes daily based on which way the wind is blowing.” This, according to the former publication, could explain why the former Universal Champion is “erased” from certain WWE videos but featured in others.
“The one consistent thing is that he’s not being mentioned on any of the current commentary by the announcers. On the investor conference call, McMahon never mentioned Reigns’ name.”
According to WrestlingNews.co, recent examples of Reigns being erased from WWE promotional material included the time he was removed from the company’s videos for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Instead of “The Big Dog” being shown visiting sick children, the new video centered instead on John Cena, who is the foundation’s leading celebrity wish granter, per Sports Illustrated.
#TheBigDog is HERE.#SmackDown @WWERomanReigns pic.twitter.com/UnlTiJkwZZ
— WWE (@WWE) March 21, 2020
Earlier this week on Monday Night Raw, Reigns was also not featured in the clip featuring Seth Rollins’ Money in the Bank contract cash-in at WrestleMania 31, where he interrupted the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Reigns and Brock Lesnar and later ended up as the new champion. The video, as noted, made it appear as if Rollins pinned Lesnar and not Reigns to win the title, when it was actually the other way around.
On the other hand, Reigns was still visible in the video aired when Triple H celebrated his 25th anniversary in WWE last month on Friday Night SmackDown. As this was a compilation of “embarrassing moments” for “The Game,” Reigns was shown defeating Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 32 in 2016. It was also pointed out that the promotion does not have any official directive to delete the 34-year-old from its history.
Reigns’ past battles with leukemia and the recent news that his wife is pregnant with twins make it unclear when he will be able to return to the squared circle. However, as WrestlingNews.co speculated, there’s a possibility McMahon might “feel the pressure” to find a way to get the SmackDown mainstay back on television, as WWE’s ratings have been suffering since it switched to holding shows at an empty Performance Center over concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
