Will Roman Reigns defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship anytime soon? Looking at The Tribal Chief's shift in focus

WWE fans were shocked during last week's Smackdown when Roman Reigns' match for Night of Champions was announced. The Tribal Chief won't be defending his Undisputed WWE Universal title; instead, he will challenge for another championship.

Paul Heyman announced that Reigns and Solo Sikoa will battle Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for the Undisputed Tag Team titles at Night of Champions. With the match made official, what does that mean for the titles Roman actually holds?

Running a program outside of his own titles means that Roman Reigns doesn't have to defend them. With the change of rosters during the 2023 Draft, however, there are ready and willing challengers.

Bobby Lashley and AJ Styles are both former WWE Champions and viable contenders. Instead, WWE has decided that Reigns will go after tag team gold since his cousins, the Usos, failed to regain their titles at Backlash.

WWE has had The Tribal Chief defend his titles sparingly after they were unified last year at WrestleMania 38. Money in the Bank is the next premium live event after Night of Champions, but that's not until July. He will certainly have a featured match at SummerSlam.

While he doesn't need another set of titles to walk around with, WWE is gearing up for an upcoming feud with the Usos. It could mean that a title change takes place in Saudi Arabia, but Roman Reigns does not need tag team gold for the story to play out.

Roman Reigns hasn't regularly defended the Undisputed Championship

While holding both titles makes Reigns seem like a dominant force of nature, he hasn't exactly defended them regularly. Champions used to put their titles on the line at monthly events, but Reigns may only put his belts up for grabs four or five times a year.

That works if the other brand has its own championship, but that will only be the case once a World Heavyweight Champ is crowned at Night of Champions.

After unifying the titles last year in April at WrestleMania 38, his first defense only happened in June against Matt Riddle.

There could be a couple of reasons for Roman to work his way into the tag team title picture. The first is that WWE is indeed heading toward a major tag team match between Solo & Roman and the Usos. It may be with or without the titles, but the seeds were planted on last week's SmackDown.

The second reason is that it continues the trend of sporadically defending the gold. If WWE wants to continue his everlasting reign, then he can either keep his belts on his shoulders or work programs outside of the Undisputed Championship. While it would be nice for Roman Reigns to actually put his titles on the line, his story within his family trumps title defenses.