In a summer of what is expected to be filled with twists, turns and memorable moments, I can’t say that today’s news was something to be expected.
In what can only be described as the most shocking out of the ring news in quite some time, Roman Reigns has been suspended for 30 days after a violation of the WWE Wellness Policy. The news broke just two days after Reigns lost the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Seth Rollins at the Money in the Bank Pay Per View show and less than 24 hours after the Battleground main event of Reigns vs Rollins vs Dean Ambrose was made.
Rumors are going around that WWE officials knew about the policy violation before the Money in the Bank show started. This is probably what led to Reigns dropping the title. On Raw, Ambrose made the comment to Reigns that “He would have cashed in on him too.” He said it in his little mischievous way that kind of tells me those may have been the original plans. This would have been a great first step for the overdue Roman Reigns heel turn.
More on that in a minute.
First, though, let’s go back to the fact that the failed test was known before Sunday night. If they knew that Reigns tested positively before the pay per view, then it is pretty safe to say that they knew about the impending suspension last night when the Battleground main event was made (look at a calendar if you don’t believe me – Sunday comes before Monday).
I know that WWE has had some questionable booking decisions made in recent memory, but I don’t think even they would announce this big of a main event that they weren’t planning on delivering on. Conveniently the suspension ends just days before Battleground. A triple threat match with The Shield has been towards the top of the wrestling fans’ wish list for quite some time now. One of two things will happen, it happens at Battleground or, if Reigns is pulled from the match and the announcement was just a planned tease, then the only logical place the match can happen from there would be at WrestleMania.
When Reigns does come back, changes will need to be made to his character. WWE made it public that Reigns is suspended so whether they use an injury angle on the show or whatever, the fans know what happened. This would be the perfect time to start to make Reigns the heel that he could excel at right now!
Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns being good friends but both going for the top prize at the same time got me thinking. This is a very similar situation to one we saw in 2003. Brock Lesnar, the WWE Champion, and Kurt Angle had formed a close friendship after their WrestleMania main event match a few months prior. Angle ended up pinning Big Show in a triple threat match to take the title off of Lesnar. For obvious reason, Lesnar was less than thrilled at his friends recent success since it cost him the title. Brock would align himself with Mr. McMahon and become the top heel on SmackDown.
This could be the exact same scenario that we could, and should, see now. Reigns can play off like he is happy that his friend won the championship that he once held, but inside his anger can be building up to one big blowout. With this suspension, you can add in the “you weren’t there for me when I needed you” line as well.
It needs to happen! It should have happened already! Despite what a lot of fans think, Reigns can indeed wrestle and he can be a top star. It just doesn’t make sense to go against the grain. The fans want to boo Roman, so go with it! It could very well launch Reigns to a huge career.
Obviously Reigns himself has some thinking to do over the next 30 days for what he did, but WWE and the creative team has some thinking to do as well.