According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter , by way of Sportskeeda , Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens are two of the names on WWE’s shortlist of superstars to feud with Roman Reigns after this month’s Survivor Series event.
The Universal Champion is currently without challengers on Friday Night SmackDown . He recently defeated his cousin Jey Uso and will probably focus on his purported cross-brand match with Randy Orton at Survivor Series until the pay-per-view.
However, the rumored feud with Bryan was initiated on last week’s episode of the blue brand’s weekly show. After Uso cleanly defeated Bryan in the main event, he attacked the former World Champion at the behest of Reigns. Bryan will want payback for the beatdown.
Meltzer noted that Bryan hasn’t been portrayed as a main eventer since he returned to action, so a rivalry with Reigns will likely be a placeholder storyline before “The Big Dog” moves on to bigger things.
The journalist claimed that a Bryan and Reigns title program “makes no sense,” but officials are booking it out of “necessity.” Bryan is reportedly more interested in elevating other talents as well, which means it could be a while before he’s given another run with the company’s top prize.
Meltzer also said that while Owens is scheduled for a future angle with “The Big Dog,” it’s going to be “the Reigns show” for quite some time. Given that Owens is a former Universal Champion in his own right, he’s a natural foe for Reigns.
The Sportskeeda report highlighted that Reigns will keep the championship until at least WrestleMania 37 . The next few months will reportedly see Reigns and The Usos dominate SmackDown as a heel faction that holds most of the gold.
As The Inquisitr previously documented, the superstar is rumored to be facing his real-life cousin Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at the event. However, the reality of the bout happening hinges on Johnson receiving permission from Hollywood insurance agencies.
Until next year’s WrestleMania , Reigns will likely go up against other babyface superstars on the blue brand. Officials will want to make him seem as credible as possible heading into the desired box office match with Johnson, or any other major opponent for that matter.
Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins are arguably the only other main eventers on the show who haven’t been mentioned yet, but it seems like only a matter of time until they cross paths with Reigns as well.