Roman Reigns reportedly made a special backstage request to Vince McMahon

Roman Reigns is all set to enjoy another fruitful run at the top of the WWE in the upcoming few months as the new Universal Champion. With Paul Heyman as his advocate and a new heel persona, Roman Reigns is expected to have a lengthy reign with the Championship.

Dave Meltzer has now revealed in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Roman Reigns himself asked to be turned heel on his return. It's quite a special request when you consider that the WWE management has always refrained from turning Reigns heel.

Reigns was away from WWE TV since WrestleMania 36 due to the health concerns regarding COVID-19, and he made his return at SummerSlam.

Meltzer didn't know if Vince McMahon or Roman Reigns made the call to have Paul Heyman as the manager, but it all reportedly fell in place as Heyman needed something to do in Brock Lesnar's absence. Meltzer noted that Heyman is on a 'top-tier contract,' and the other option would have been to pay him a significant amount of money to be a booking consultant.

Roman Reigns' future as the WWE Universal Champion

When it comes to Roman Reigns' future as a Champion, The Big Dog will defend the Universal Championship against the winner of an intriguing four-way match that has been booked for the next episode of SmackDown. Sheamus, Matt Riddle, Big E, and King Corbin will battle it out for the #1 contender's spot.

Meltzer revealed that the idea here is to possibly save The Fiend for a later pay-per-view.

The original WrestleMania 36 plan, as you may know, was to have Roman Reigns beat The Fiend and become the new Universal Champion. The COVID-19 pandemic wrecked WWE's plans, but it may have been a blessing in disguise after all as we finally get to see Roman Reigns as a heel on WWE TV.

WWE has never fully committed to a Roman Reigns heel turn, and Meltzer even explained why the turn should have happened years ago. However, WWE's insistence on pushing Reigns as the next John Cena had its drawbacks, but the company has finally pulled the trigger on the heel turn that needed to happen.

All said and done, Roman Reigns is the bad guy now and he may hold on to the Universal Championship for a very long time.