It is no secret that Roman Reigns was the handpicked star by Vince McMahon to succeed John Cena as the face of the WWE. Despite heavy rejection from the WWE Universe, Roman Reigns kept getting pushed anyway, and had his coronation at Wrestlemania 32, where he looked to finally be getting a long title reign.
However, things definitely were shaken up after Reigns popped and failed WWE’s wellness policy test. He had to drop the title to Seth Rollins, and was suspended after the Raw following Money In The Bank.
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What was surprising about Reigns’ loss to Rollins was not only the fact that his title reign was cut short at 77 days, but the fact that he lost clean. Prior to Money In The Bank, Reigns had never been pinned or submitted clean as a singles competitor.
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This was seen as a punishment for Reigns for being popped. Reigns made his first televised appearance after a month of suspension on Battleground, in the much anticipated main event – The Shield Triple Threat. In this match, Reigns was once again pinned clean, this time by Dean Ambrose.Things started to get more surprising from there, because on the Raw after Battleground, Reigns lost in the main event to Finn Balor, losing clean for the third match in a row. This has bought about a lot of buzz and speculation over Reigns’ position in the eyes of Vince McMahon and other top WWE officials.
There were rumors a couple of months ago about Vince McMahon not being high on Reigns anymore. However, they were brushed off as just that – rumors. After Reigns was suspended, there were also rumors about Vince McMahon being low on Reigns than he ever was before.
And if the last month has indicated anything, this seems to be true.
According to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is stopping his push as the top star “for the time being”. This would mean that the likes of Finn Balor will be pushed heavily as the top star on the Raw brand, and that Roman Reigns will have to work his way up to the top once more.
It can be perceived as a positive situation from both sides. On one side, you can have other stars benefiting from a push, and on the other side, Reigns will have time to reinvent his character and improve. Would you like to see Roman Reigns finally turn heel?
