5 Reasons why Roman Reigns won the Universal Championship at WWE Payback 2020 exactly one week after The Fiend

#3 Roman Reigns and ratings go hand in hand

Back where it belongs. #AndNew #WWEPayback pic.twitter.com/bKy6v1pvwE

— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) August 31, 2020

Roman Reigns made a spectacular return at WWE SummerSlam after months of staying at home, because his immunity was compromised owing to the current ongoing pandemic. And in this period without Roman Reigns, the viewership numbers plunged to spectacular lows (which was, in part, due to the experience being marred due to the absence of fans in the arena.) However, all this changed on SmackDown before WWE Payback

. @WWERomanReigns @WWE @WWEUniverse @WWEonFOX @btsportwwe @WWENetwork @FOXSports @jacobu #TheBigDog #WWESmackdown #SmackDown #WWEPayback https://t.co/gIOLTF5PEL

— Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) August 29, 2020

However, the episode of SmackDown that followed, where Roman Reigns aligned himself with Paul Heyman and chose not to sign the contract on the go-home show before WWE Payback 2020 garnered the highest viewership numbers since April and one has to believe that the reason for that was the return of Roman Reigns. By putting the title around the waist of Roman Reigns, WWE has ensured that he becomes the most prominently featured performer in the entire roster so that SmackDown continues to garner the best viewership numbers. Only time will tell if they are correct in this assumption or not, based on their own booking strategy.