During the last few months, Roman Reigns has run roughshod through the very best that SmackDown has to offer. From the likes of Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, stacking and pinning both Edge and Daniel Bryan at this year’s WrestleMania, and wrestling in a clinic with Cesaro at WrestleMania Backlash, it seems as though there are no more challengers left to acknowledge The Tribal Chief.
With the rumour mill constantly churning out a potential Brock Lesnar return, as well as rumblings about the WWE Draft (supposedly) taking place on August 30th and September 3rd, who could be some potential upcoming opponents for Roman Reigns to challenge for the Universal Championship en route to SummerSlam and potentially beyond
Reality: “The Tribal Chief” vs. “The Rated R Superstar”
Edge made a shocking return to WWE yet again on the June 25th edition of Friday Night SmackDown, beating down Roman Reigns, spearing Jimmy Uso through the barricade, and demanding (and receiving) a championship match at Money In The Bank.
Completely blowing past the demands of Seth Rollins, who was supposedly next in line for a shot at Reigns’ Universal Championship, it makes sense theoretically since Daniel Bryan was thrown into the mix with the original WrestleMania plans, axing the scheduled one-on-one match between Roman and Edge after the latter won the 2021 Royal Rumble and made his intentions known.
However, it’s fairly obvious what’s going to happen, Seth Rollins will undoubtedly cost Edge the match, thus leading them into a program for SummerSlam, and sometimes predictability isn’t so much of a bad thing, as that showdown screams match of the year contender.
Just imagine a world where we get a double swerve: not only does Rollins cost Edge the match, but what if a surprise appearance by the former face of the company closes out the show, John Cena makes a shock return to ambush Roman Reigns, which leads us to our next potential showdown.
Dream: A Match With John Cena Just Makes Sense
Simply put, if WWE wants to put butt’s in seats, look no further than to book John Cena vs Roman Reigns at the biggest party of the Summer. These two men already have history, when Cena and Reigns were entangled in a war of words in 2017, where Cena verbally obliterated Roman on the mic every chance he was given.
The two would go on to clash at No Mercy that year, with Reigns coming out victorious, but Cena undoubtedly still looking like the much bigger star. At the time, it was clear that Roman had not found his footing with the character he was portraying, even though he was one of WWE’s more polarizing Superstars.
Fast forward to the present day and we have ourselves the badass version of The Big Dog that the WWE Universe has long clamoured for since the former member of The Shield went solo.
The mafia boss variation of Roman Reigns that we’ve seen play out on WWE television for almost a full calendar year, a man who has now settled into his own, against a primed and eager-to-return John Cena back in front of a live audience would make for must-see television, not to mention that both competitors would most likely bring out the best in one another and tell a story in the ring that’d be match of the year worthy indeed.
Possibility: Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Edge in a Triple Threat
The reason why this is left for last and as a possibility is due to the simple fact that it’s more than unlikely that WWE books a Triple Threat Match for the Universal Championship yet again, especially for one of the company’s biggest pay-per-views. It would seem like all too familiar territory putting Reigns and Edge in another three-way for a championship bout, yet it would make sense if Rollins were to interfere in what would most likely be the main event of next month’s second pay-per-view of the year with fans in attendance.
All three men have history, Rollins once threatened a vulnerable Edge in the middle of the ring years ago with a steel chair to his neck whilst taunting John Cena, Reigns and Edge clashed at WrestleMania earlier this year, and both Rollins and Roman were teammates and foes once upon a time.
There are a plethora of potential detours in which WWE could take the direction of this multi-layered story, the ability to intertwine past events with the present to make a personal rivalry between all three Superstars as well as providing themselves stories to tell for perhaps the remainder of the year is right at their fingertips, and I’m sure all parties involved would be able to deliver unlike any other Superstar currently on the roster.
However redundant it would be to schedule yet another championship triple threat, it would without question be a marquee match-up that would definitely sell tickets to what is arguably WWE’s second-biggest show, the party of the Summer, WWE SummerSlam.