Roman Reigns has been the most dominant and most pushed WWE wrestler for nearly a decade, but should his reign as Undisputed Universal Champion be cut short at Clash at the Castle on Saturday?
Aug. 30 marked two years Reigns has held the Universal Championship. He won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 38 against Brock Lesnar on April 3, and he has been carrying both belts ever since. His current reign is a culmination of years pushing Reigns as a main event star, and fans would agree his current gimmick as the “Head of the Table” is the best work of his career.
Not only is Reigns a double-champion but his real-life cousins, The Usos, are as well, holding the Raw and SmackDown tag team titles. They won the former at Money in the Bank on July 18, 2021, and they unified the titles on the May 20 episode of SmackDown. The trio are collectively “The Bloodline” and have been a dominant force in WWE, along with Paul Heyman and Sami Zayn, who has become an honorary “Uce.”
Reigns has defeated every challenger put in front of him, clean, and while WWE’s numbers haven’t fallen, the product has felt stagnant. Even Reigns himself has started to appear on fewer shows, and he has every right to take time off to spend time with his family. But because he has both titles, it leaves those chasing the belts to bide their time fighting The Usos or Zayn.
For those who haven’t been tuning into WWE rumors, you might be wondering why Reigns has been so dominant and has both titles. Well, the plan for WWE is a big WrestleMania main event featuring Reigns against his other real-life cousin, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. This is still the plan for WWE, according to The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.
WrestleMania 39 takes place April 1 and 2 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The story would likely be Reigns trying to prove he is the “head of the table” by taking on a high-profile member of the Anoa’i family in The Rock. Of course, having The Rock at WrestleMania would be a massive draw, but it’s a big gamble to assume he would be available to wrestle.
He’s still the biggest name in Hollywood, and he’s running the XFL, so he’s got a lot on his plate. Despite, this, WWE has put all its chips in on a Reigns versus Rock match, and the rest of the roster has suffered as a result.
There are simply no credible challengers to Reigns at this point. Drew McIntyre will face Reigns on Saturday at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, but is it worth McIntyre winning and breaking up Reigns’ record reign as champion? While McIntyre is a good wrestler and a former champion in his own right, I don’t think so.
Sure, Karrion Kross’ debut hinted at him challenging Reigns, but I’m not a believer in Kross’ potential as a main event star, so he’s out for me.
The only possible contender would be Cody Rhodes, who is recovering from surgery to repair a torn right pectoral tendon, which will keep him away for nine months. This puts the former All Elite Wrestling star in line to return at Royal Rumble. This would likely be a solid backup WrestleMania event if The Rock is unable to wrestle.
However, until then, Paul “Triple H” Levesque will have to get more creative in booking the other mid-card titles because it doesn’t seem like Reigns will be losing his Undisputed Universal Championship anytime soon.
