Roman Reigns has largely been off WWE television since his last in-ring appearance at Survivor Series 2025, where he competed in the Men’s WarGames match.
At the event, Reigns teamed with Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, and The Usos, but the group came up short against Drew McIntyre, Brock Lesnar, and The Vision. While Reigns has made limited appearances on WWE programming since then, he has not wrestled since the high-profile loss.
Now, there may be new clarity on when “The OTC” could be making his return.
Speaking on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio at F4WOnline.com, Dave Meltzer suggested that WWE may have accidentally tipped its hand regarding Reigns’ comeback through a television listing description.
According to Meltzer, a SmackDown program guide included language that explicitly referenced Reigns’ return, potentially spoiling the surprise ahead of time.
“Roman Reigns is going to be, who should be back pretty soon. I saw… okay, so on the… what’s it called—this little scroll. Scroll for SmackDown. Because it said, ‘How Maxxine Dupri tries to recover from her loss to Becky Lynch’ and ‘Roman Reigns returns.’”
Meltzer went on to explain that the wording reportedly came directly from WWE’s own materials sent out to listing services.
“That’s the thing that WWE sent to the TV Guide people… they sent it for SmackDown. So somebody just screwed up.”
As for the exact timing, Meltzer noted that the return could still shift slightly depending on scheduling.
“Yeah, so it could be the week after.”
If accurate, Reigns’ return could be imminent.
Assuming WWE hasn’t adjusted plans following the apparent listing slip-up.
