During last night’ edition of Raw , Roman Reigns lost the United States Championship to Chris Jericho only a few weeks before facing Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal title at the WWE Royal Rumble , but Reigns may have a bigger issue on his hands. Dropping the U.S. title to Jericho was a formality for a few reasons, but the most important thing is that he’s likely walking out of San Antonio as the WWE Universal Champion.
On paper, that isn’t a bad thing for him. His United States title run didn’t have much momentum because of Roman adding prestige and importance to the championship. Reigns has been chasing the WWE Universal title for the past few months, which made the United States Championship an afterthought. Roman Reigns holding the U.S. title was unnecessary to the rivalry with Jericho and Owens, but that’s not the real problem.
The bigger problem is the WWE Universe isn’t going to like the idea of Roman being given another WWE World title run, especially heading into Wrestlemania. It’s plausible for WWE to be thinking about putting Reigns in his third straight main event on the grandest stage of them all, but do the powers that be want to see another Wrestlemania conclude with a record WWE crowd booing Roman Reigns out of the arena?
The fact is Roman Reigns had a great year. He main evented Wrestlemania 32 in a match against Triple H where he became the WWE Champion in front of over 100,000 people. It wasn’t perfect, but it was historic. His suspension from WWE’s Wellness Policy over the summer was a big speed bump to get over, but his feuds with AJ Styles, Rusev, and others elevated him as one of WWE’s best overall performers.
However, the WWE Universe continues to shame him, which leads to things like branding him the “worst” wrestler of the year. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the WWE fans don’t like about Roman Reigns. A lot of it comes from WWE pushing him too fast when they wanted someone else. Many people believe all Roman needs is a heel turn, but Vince McMahon refuses to turn him Reigns because he’s still such a draw as a face.
It seems Roman Reigns will have a complex dynamic with the WWE Universe for the rest of his career. But heading into Wrestlemania 33 , the fans may have found a way to be heard that could keep Reigns out of the main event on the grandest stage of them all. According to a recent report , WWE created a poll asking the WWE Universe who they want to see in the main event of Wrestlemania and the results were surprising.
The WWE Universe is strongly behind AJ Styles being in the main event because he had 40 percent of the vote. However, Roman Reigns only had four percent of the votes on the poll. It’s an old saying that numbers don’t lie. The WWE fanbase doesn’t want to see Reigns in the main event of Wrestlemania for the third year in a row. Will the fan’s backlash be enough for WWE officials to listen and keep him out of the main event?
It has been reported that WWE officials are planning for Roman Reigns to defend the WWE Universal title against Braun Strowman at Wrestlemania . It’s unlikely that would close the show, but it has been rumored that Vince McMahon is interested in Reigns vs. The Undertaker. That would likely close Wrestlemania 33.
Eventually, WWE officials or the WWE Universe will change their mind on Roman Reigns. With John Cena, it was the fans who had a change of heart, but it took many years to get to that point. The truth is that WWE officials will never relent as long as the money continues to roll in, so Roman Reigns being in the main event of W restlemania is likely to happen a lot over the next decade. The WWE Universe will have to accept that.
[Featured Image by WWE]
