WWE Rumors: Roman Reigns Returning At ‘Monday Night Raw’ Tonight To Set Up ‘Payback’ Match

Two weeks ago, Braun Strowman destroyed Roman Reigns on WWE Monday Night Raw and put Reigns on the shelf. The WWE played it up last week by keeping Reigns off Raw while Strowman continued his path of rampage against WWE superstars. However, according to Cageside Seats, Roman will return to Monday Night Raw tonight and be involved in an angle with Strowman.

While some experts, such as WWE Hall of Fame commentator Jim Ross, pointed out that keeping Roman Reigns off television would sell the beating, the next WWE Monday Night Raw pay-per-view Payback takes place this weekend and the WWE needs to get the Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman match set up for that show.

At the moment, Sportskeeda reported that the WWE is looking at a possible special stipulation for the match this Sunday at Payback for Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. The reason for this is that the WWE wants to possibly have Braun win the match, but still keep Roman strong with the loss.

This is something the WWE has accomplished well in the past, putting a superstar in a match he will lose, but making it something like a table’s match. This meant that a superstar such as Roman Reigns would lose by crashing through a table but not eat a clean pin and remain strong coming out of the event.

The idea that the WWE is apparently looking at is a Stretcher Match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. The angle that sets this up came in the huge beating two weeks ago. Roman was placed on a stretcher and Braun attacked again. Roman Reigns was put in an ambulance, but Strowman tipped it over.

A Stretcher Match involves one superstar placing the other on a stretcher and then pushing them to an ambulance and loading them in for the win. This loss would still show that Braun Strowman could take down Roman Reigns enough to incapacitate him, but still wouldn’t force Reigns to eat the pin in the match at Payback.

Tonight on Monday Night Raw, the WWE announced that Braun Strowman will face Kalisto in a Dumpster Match, which was a challenge by Kalisto after Strowman dumped him in a garbage dumpster last week on Raw. According to Heavy.com, a Dumpster Match is one where a trash dumpster is outside the ring and the match ends when one person throws the other into the dumpster.

There are no disqualifications, count outs, submissions or pinfalls, and the only way to win is to put your opponent in the dumpster, almost the exact same as the Casket Match that The Undertaker made popular.

In the past, Dumpster Matches in the WWE took place at WrestleMania 14 (New Age Outlaws vs. Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie) and King of the Ring 2000 (Degeneration X vs. The Dudley Boyz).

There is little chance that Kalisto beats Braun Strowman on Raw. However, this is likely where Roman Reigns makes his WWE Monday Night Raw return to attack Strowman, either during the fight or after it ends. It also wouldn’t be a surprise to see Roman hiding in the dumpster for a sneak attack, although Reigns is more likely to come from out of nowhere for the surprise attack.

At the moment, the WWE rumors indicate that Braun Strowman will challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship, possibly at Extreme Rules. That means that Braun needs to win at Payback, which makes a special stipulation match make sense. It could also knock Roman Reigns out of title contention as he recovers.

Word is that Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns is still in the plans for WrestletMania 34. Paul Heyman planted the seeds for that earlier this month when he mentioned that Roman and Brock were the only people to beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Pushing that Roman Reigns confrontation off for a year means building new contenders and Braun Strowman seems to be the man the WWE have gotten behind.

[Featured Image by WWE]