By far, the biggest news story in the world of professional wrestling is the stunning report that Roman Reigns has been suspended for 30 days for violating the WWE Wellness Policy. In the coming days, we’ll certainly learn a lot more in the wake of the suspension, but late Tuesday afternoon, a bombshell broke that will certainly have many fans scratching their heads.
According to a breaking news edition of Wrestling Observer Radio , Dave Meltzer reported that top WWE officials knew about the Roman Reigns’ failed test results before the Money In The Bank pay-per-view on Sunday. The domino effect that these findings will have, not only among the backstage reports that will continue to surface, but on the actual product itself, should be plentiful.
On Monday, the Inquisitr reported that the biggest reason for Roman Reigns dropping the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, first to Seth Rollins, who then lost via a Dean Ambrose cash-in, was a result of failing live attendance figures with Reigns as the face of the company in John Cena’s absence. But, with Roman violating the Wellness Policy (the banned substance has yet to be made public as of this writing), WWE was forced to strip him of the title regardless. The poor live event attendance figures now drops down a peg as far as top catalysts for the title change.
Meltzer indicated that while many, if not all, of the company’s top officials knew about the test results, it’s very likely most of the writing staff was not aware. He referenced past suspensions, and how Meltzer himself informed members of the writing team who had no idea they were coming. In the case of Roman Reigns, whether his suspension has a ripple effect on the main event picture will play out over the next 30 days and maybe longer.
What’s odd in all of this is that Reigns still appeared on Monday Night RAW the night after Money In The Bank , and WWE officials still went with the plan to book the previous members of The Shield in the triple threat main event at Battleground . Technically, Reigns will be reinstated on July 21, three days before that pay-per-view; so, in essence, he could compete in the match as planned. But, it might prove extremely difficult to book the build-up when he won’t appear on television in any capacity leading up to the July 24 show. Even more interesting, a likely top pick, Roman Reigns won’t be able to appear on the July 19 Smackdown when they do the WWE Draft in advance of the brand extension.
That draft remains a lingering cloud over the whole company. Battlegroundmay have been the WWE’s only chance to do the Reigns-Rollins-Ambrose match in the near-term, considering it’s extremely possible they all won’t be on the same show when the rosters are divided. However, SummerSlamwould be one of the main pay-per-views with cross-branded rivalries. There could be a major case to be made that by virtue of Rollins beating Reigns clean at Money In The Bank, Seth would have a legitimate and rightful claim as the number one contender to Dean Ambrose at Battleground. That way, they could save the triple threat for SummerSlam, when Reigns has had a chance to appear on television and contribute to the build.
It’s also worth mentioning that the WWE included Roman Reigns’ apology (via Twitter) in the article on their official website. This virtually eliminates any chance the company would have had in drumming up any farcical storyline explaining Reigns’ absence over the next month. As of now, it appears that despite the test result, and despite knowing the results ahead of time, the plan remains for Roman Reigns to compete in the Battleground main event, in what is perhaps the most anticipated match since The Shield initially disbanded.
[Image via WWE]