Another Summerslam, another Roman Reigns returns. The old hands of this game will remember that exactly 12 months ago that “the tribal chief” made his big return to WWE after his post-wrestlemania interruption, offering a punch to the Sikaa solo jaw to put in place the fence plans of Summerslam 2024.
Admittedly, this year is not a total rehearsal, given that Reigns returned technically two weeks ago on “WWE RAW” and is in fact reserved in a match at the event of this weekend (unlike last year, when it was only a running-in with a big budget entry). But the overall atmosphere is clearly familiar, because WWE deploys the proverbial red carpet for one of its largest stars.
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What is the size of a Reigns affair? His somewhat sporadic appearances mean that he tends to enter and get out of our pro-Wrestling power rankings, which prioritize the wrestlers who have been active recently. But if we swore the biggest names in Star Power’s pro struggle alone, Reigns must be the top five.
Reigns himself likes to talk about how he “transported the company” during the post-paid-in-country era. And if we are honest, he does not exaggerate. Its 1,316 days as universal champion must be among the best races in WWE history. It says a lot about the quality of what Reigns even managed to go out at the top, teaming up with The Rock to give us one of the main most unforgettable events in the history of Wrestlemania.
Following this kind of watch was never going to be easy. But a year after Reigns’ latest return, it is difficult to shake the conclusion that his last round did not really do justice to the excitation levels that preceded him.
Having Reigns Feud with Solo Sikoa has always been the obvious movement given the dynamics of the whole line, but it was not exactly the television of the dynamite and certainly did not justify the decision to stretch the angle over six months. How many permutations on the Bloodline Civil War Tag match have we obtained in the series of survivors? Even then, the most exciting part was the surprise inclusion of CM Punk, which had nothing to do with the family quarrel in the first place.
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When Reigns against Sikoa finally ended during the Netflix premiere of “RAW” in January, I thought that we could finally obtain new rivalries in simple for Reigns. At the time, WWE even teased a potential revenge match with Drew McIntyre since “the Scottish Warrior” had come to take revenge on the old line. The whole configuration looked like a rivalry at the pending box office – until it suddenly evaporates into the air.
We obtained the Reigns against Rollins against Punk Triple Threat in Wrestlemania 41, of course. But for all the explosive potential, the accumulation of this particular confrontation felt rushed and the gain focused mainly on Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman. The following night, Reigns was again struck off on television after a beat of the new man of Rollins, Bron Breakker.
Now we are back at square one, with a novel ready to make another return after an absence of four months. Given the format of two nights from Summerslam of this year, there is every chance that he finds himself as a title of title on Saturday, while he equips Jey Usto to face Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. But will the return of this year be better than the last time?
In truth, it is a shame that we obtained another tag match, since the last round of Reigns was missing was a quarrel of simple decent. Wouldn’t that have been more exciting to see Reigns become head-to-head with Bron Breakker, the man who took him first? Although this would mean that WWE had to decide which of the two would be pinned – a decision that they seem desperate to avoid with regard to their guys from the upper card.
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Given the circumstances, this year’s match is also slightly overshadowed by the Reigns vs Rollins rivalry, which remains one of the oldest and most cellular scenarios of the modern struggle. We know of Wrestlemania XL and Royal Rumble of this year that WWE considers that the two men have unfinished affairs – which raises the question of why they did not give us this match to Wrestlemania this year. (Indeed, we learned from Unreal, the new Netflix documentary on the backstage of WWE, which Reigns vs Rollins was the provisional plan of this year.)
This thing is really important, since we know of the big interview with Reigns with Vanity Fair in April that his stay at WWE is coming to an end. Not only Joe anoa’i is trying to enter Hollywood, but he now said that he wanted to withdraw from the fight by 2028 at the latest. Based on its usual work rate, this means that we could have less than 10 reign games.
If this is the case, isn’t it the time WWE gave Reigns a quarrel in which he can really get to the teeth? In addition to Rollins and McIntyre, they also teased us with Jacob Fatu and CM Punk. Reigns himself suggested that we will see him face Rhodes again to finish their trilogy. And then there is everyone’s grandfather – the match so great that he almost derailed the whole plan for Wrestlemania XL: Roman Reigns against The Rock.
Of course, obtaining “the final boss” on board could take work, but it’s not like WWE is less options. They just need to make a choice and to stick to that, preferably when Summerslam ends.
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Until then, there is a danger that the latter return takes place the same thing as the last: a massive pop in the stadium on Saturday, followed by a handful of matches and cameos on the “crude” or the occasional “Smackdown” until Reigns takes his next break from the company.
A star as large as Roman Reigns deserves better than that – and in all honesty, too.
