A star as big as Roman Reigns deserves better than that what he's been given over the past year. And in all honesty, so do we.
Another SummerSlam, another Roman Reigns return. Old hands in this game will remember that it was exactly 12 months ago that “The Tribal Chief” made his big return to WWE after his post-WrestleMania hiatus, delivering a punch to the jaw of Solo Sikoa to set up the closing shots of SummerSlam 2024.
Admittedly, this year isn’t a total repeat, given that Reigns technically returned two weeks ago on “WWE Raw” and is actually booked in a match at this weekend’s event (unlike last year, when he was just a run-in with a big-budget entrance). But the overall vibe is distinctly familiar, as WWE rolls out the proverbial red carpet for one of its biggest stars.
How big a deal is Reigns? His somewhat sporadic appearances mean that he tends to drop in and out of our pro-wrestling power rankings, which prioritize those wrestlers who’ve been active recently. But if we were ranking the biggest current names in pro-wrestling by star power alone, Reigns has to be top five.
Reigns himself likes to talk about how he “carried the company” during WWE’s post-pandemic era. And if we’re being honest, he isn’t exaggerating. His 1,316 days as Universal Champion has to be among the best runs in WWE history. It says a lot about how good it was that Reigns even managed to go out on a high, teaming with The Rock to give us one of the most unforgettable main events in WrestleMania history.
Following that kind of showing was never going to be easy. But one year after Reigns’ last big return, it’s hard to shake the conclusion that his latest run didn’t really do justice to the levels of excitement that preceded it.
Having Reigns feud with Solo Sikoa was always the obvious move given the whole Bloodline dynamic, but it wasn't exactly dynamite television and certainly didn’t justify the decision to stretch the angle out over six months. How many permutations on the Bloodline civil war tag match did we get in the run-up to Survivor Series? Even then, the most exciting part was the surprise inclusion of CM Punk, who had nothing to do with the family feud in the first place.
When Reigns vs. Sikoa finally wrapped up on January's Netflix premiere of “Raw,” I figured we might finally get some new singles rivalries for Reigns. At the time, WWE were even teasing a potential rematch with Drew McIntyre given that “The Scottish Warrior” was out for revenge on the former Bloodline. The whole setup felt like a box-office rivalry in waiting — until it suddenly evaporated into thin air.
We did get the Reigns vs. Rollins vs. Punk triple threat at WrestleMania 41, of course. But for all the explosive potential, the build-up to that particular showdown felt rushed and the payoff concentrated mainly on Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman. The next night, Reigns was written off television again following a beatdown from Rollins’ new henchman, Bron Breakker.
Now we’re back to square one, with Roman set to make another return after a four-month absence. Given the two-night format of this year's SummerSlam, there’s every chance he ends up as the headline act on Saturday, as he teams with Jey Uso to take on Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. But will this year's return be better than last time around?
In truth, it’s a shame we’re getting another tag match, given what Reigns’ last run lacked most of all was a decent singles feud. Would it not have been more exciting to see Reigns go one-on-one with Bron Breakker, the man who took him out in the first place? Although that would mean the WWE having to decide which of the two would be pinned — a decision they seem desperate to avoid when it comes to their upper-card guys.
Given the circumstances, this year's match is also slightly overshadowed by the Reigns vs. Rollins rivalry, which remains one of the longest-running and most-celebrated storylines in modern wrestling. We know from WrestleMania XL and this year's Royal Rumble that WWE considers both men to have unfinished business — which begs the question why they didn't give us that match at this year's WrestleMania. (Indeed, we learned from Unreal, the new Netflix documentary on WWE’s backstage processes, that Reigns vs. Rollins was the provisional plan for this year.)
This stuff really matters, given that we know from Reigns' big interview with Vanity Fair in April that his time in WWE is coming to a close. Not only is Joe Anoa'i looking to break into Hollywood, but he has now put it on record that he wants to retire from wrestling by 2028 at the very latest. Based on his usual work-rate, that means we could have fewer than 10 Reigns matches left.
If that’s the case, isn’t it time WWE gave Reigns a feud he can really get his teeth stuck into? As well as Rollins and McIntyre, they’ve also teased us with the likes of Jacob Fatu and CM Punk. Reigns himself has suggested we’ll see him face Rhodes again to complete their trilogy. And then there's the granddaddy of them all — the match so big it almost derailed the entire plan for WrestleMania XL: Roman Reigns vs. The Rock.
Sure, getting “The Final Boss” aboard might take some work, but it isn't like WWE is short of options in the meantime. They just need to make a choice and stick with it, preferably by the time SummerSlam wraps up.
Until then, there’s a danger that this latest return goes the same way as the last one: A massive pop in the stadium on Saturday, followed by a handful of tag matches and cameos on the occasional “Raw” or “SmackDown” until Reigns takes his next break from the business.
A star as big as Roman Reigns deserves better than that — and in all honesty, so do we.
Category: General Sports
