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WWE News: Roman Reigns Reunites The Shield On ‘Tribute To The Troops,’ But Will He Be Traded To ‘SmackDown’?

By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published on: 02:19 PST, Dec 15, 2016

Roman Reigns is nothing if not a superstar, and whether he’s a face or a heel, he’s quickly earning the respect of the fans. So when the latest WWE news reports suggested that he would be performing in A Tribute to the Troops, fans — and supporters of the military — were thrilled. But that good news was quickly tempered by the reports that Reigns might be traded to SmackDown. So the question remains, is it true?

According to a WWE news report from UPI, last night, Roman Reigns and Big Cass faced off against Kevin Owens and Rusev at the annual Tribute to the Troops event. Named “the most patriotic event of the year,” the WWE performs this event in honor of the active military troops. It’s exclusively for them, though highlights from the event are frequently set for rebroadcast. This year, the main event featured Reigns and Cass against Owens and Rusev and gave the audience a chance to see a preview of Roadblock: End of the Line.

After the show, Reigns tweeted that it was an honor to perform at an event specifically designed for the nation’s active military.

Wrestling fans got a special treat, too, when The Shield was finally reunited (skip to the 40-second mark).

However, according to the latest WWE news report from the Inquisitr, Raw fans aren’t going to have much more time to enjoy Reigns on their screens, as he’s being traded to SmackDown Live. (AJ Styles, too, is reportedly going to defect to Raw from SmackDown Live.)

Reportedly, this has less to do with Reigns and more to do with AJ Styles; the WWE, and Vince McMahon, absolutely loves Styles but has a more adversarial relationship with Reigns. Therefore, McMahon is happy to do whatever it takes to make Styles happy, and because Raw currently is faring better in the ratings than SmackDown and Styles wants to get in front of more eyes, he wants to go to the Red Brand.

But the latest WWE news report from Forbes suggests that we won’t be seeing a Shield reunion on a permanent basis because Seth Rollins feels like he’s playing second fiddle to Roman Reigns.

SmackDown Live is currently the home of Dean Ambrose, so it’s highly unlikely that Dean Ambrose is going to be traded to the Raw brand (though, if the report about Reigns going to SmackDown is true, the full Shield reunion will be one step closer to happening). But Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns are the perfect frenemies, even if they don’t realize it now.

“Instead of demonstrating the sense of urgency that the character needed, Rollins’ babyace turn was done seemingly in slow motion. After losing a series of world championship matches to Owens, most recently a poorly rated main event on Raw where 11.6% of viewers tuned out in droves from the first to the third hour, Rollins is nothing more than a secondary babyface. If this was a fantasy football roster, he’d be a low-upside WR2. The fact that a damaged, whiny heel disguised as a babyface is the second on WWE’s good-guy depth chart says more about WWE’s lack of believable heroes than it does about Rollins himself.”

What do you think of this latest round of WWE news? Leave your thoughts about the latest WWE news reports and whether Roman Reigns will be traded to SmackDown in the comments below.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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