The Reason Why Roman Reigns Is Wrestling At ‘Payback’ Despite Being ‘Injured’


Two weeks ago, Roman Reigns was carried out on a stretcher following a brutal attack by Braun Strowman. Later that night, WWE reported that, as a result of the attack, Reigns had suffered cracked ribs and a separated shoulder. But, Reigns will wrestle Strowman at next Sunday’s pay-per-view, despite the fact that, in storyline, he suffered two severe injuries.

Reigns was kept off of this past Monday’s Raw even though he did show up at the live events over the weekend. It’s unclear if he’ll make his return on this Monday’s show, or if we’ll have to wait until next Sunday to see him, but either way, his return is taking place far too early after Strowman’s brutal attack.

[Image by WWE]

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Strowman is scheduled to be the next challenger for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship, so it’s pretty clear that he needs to pick up a win over Reigns at Payback. However, at the same time, WWE doesn’t want Reigns to lose without an excuse, which is why they’re bringing him back this soon. Basically, the idea is that Reigns’ rushed return will be the reason for his loss to Strowman.

“So [Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns] is the main event. The idea is that Reigns comes back quick, so he’s got his excuse when he loses, and then he loses, then Strowman gets Lesnar.”

WWE’s planned main event for next year’s WrestleMania is Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship, which is why they’d like to protect Reigns in his upcoming match with Strowman. Also, you should expect another match between Strowman and Reigns following the Lesnar vs. Strowman match. In fact, we could see Strowman vs. Reigns again at SummerSlam, where Reigns will presumably pick up the win en-route to his match with Lesnar.

As previously mentioned, Reigns has appeared at a couple of WWE live events since his “injury” on Raw two weeks ago. His appearances have involved Braun Strowman, and they always end in Reigns putting the big man through a table, as the referees try to prevent it from happening. So we could see something similar to that next Sunday.

There is a rumor going around which suggests that some type of stipulation will be added to the Reigns vs. Strowman match which will allow Strowman to defeat Reigns without actually pinning him. The idea of a stretcher match has been thrown around, which makes sense. However, the fact that they’re already doing one stipulation match — Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt in a House of Horrors match — may prevent them from doing another one on the exact same show.

[Image by WWE]

As of right now, it looks like Reigns vs. Strowman will be the main event of next Sunday’s show, as the Wyatt vs. Orton match will not be for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Also, Brock Lesnar will not appear on the show, so there won’t be a World Championship match on the card.

Roman Reigns is being advertised for Monday’s Raw on WWE’s events page, so there’s at least a chance that he’ll show up on the television side of the show. He was advertised for last week’s show, but he didn’t appear on television, so the advertisement doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be on television.

WWE did just announce that the main event of Monday’s show will be a dumpster match between Braun Strowman and Kalisto, which stems from Braun putting Kalisto in a dumpster on last week’s show. So we could see Reigns get involved in that match to help build towards his big match on Sunday.

[Featured Image by WWE]

Share this article: The Reason Why Roman Reigns Is Wrestling At ‘Payback’ Despite Being ‘Injured’
More from Inquisitr