Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion, but already, his title reign is showing the same signs of predictability that the final year of his record-breaking 1,316-day title reign did. The Tribal Chief ruled over WWE with an iron fist between August 2020 and April 2024, defeating all comers, sometimes twice over, as he continued to cling to championship gold.
While the reign certainly was epic, the final year of the four was somewhat mundane. Fans were already conditioned to the fact that Reigns would hold the title right up until WrestleMania 40, providing a whole year in which fans couldn’t truly invest in his title defenses as they knew who would walk out as champion before the opening bell rang. Just four months into Roman’s latest reign of terror, similar problems are beginning to surface.
WrestleMania’s Empty Marketing Promises
The tagline following that iconic poker promo for April’s WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas was “It’s anyone’s game.” But that certainly isn’t the case when it comes to Roman Reigns. He won the World Heavyweight Championship from CM Punk as expected, before then twice defending the gold with back-to-back predictable victories against Jacob Fatu at Backlash and Clash in Italy. While that tagline about it being anyone’s game, poker chip and all, was a slick tagline, it was also, based on recent booking trends, not remotely true.
For an example of actual unpredictability, look at the popular online casino Ignition Australia, and its Zone Poker, which shuffles Australian players to a fresh anonymous table the instant they fold, keeping every hand alive and every pot genuinely contestable. You never know who you’ll be up against or how play is going to unfold when you engage with this kind of game.
There’s also the Jackpot Sit and Go format, where a surprise multiplier can inflate a modest entry into a payout 1,200 times its size. Now compare that to Roman Reigns’ current World Heavyweight Championship reign, which has offered fans almost no comparable suspense, and if the dirt sheets are anything to go by, none is coming any time soon. Fans who live for unpredictability are more likely to find it at the card table than in the wrestling ring right now.
The expectation at the moment is that Reigns is on a collision course with breakout star Oba Femi at WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia next April, a clash that will certainly whet the appetite. The only problem is, Mania is still eight months away. Between now and then, contenders will be lining up, and every time they do, fans will already know the outcome before the challenger steps up to face Reigns. The OTC will continue to retain his title, and nothing will derail his clash with Oba.
So, who are the superstars that are most likely to be cannon fodder for the Tribal Chief across the next eight months? Here are two men that we can see being fattened up and fed to Roman Reigns between now and next April.
Solo Sikoa
Roman Reigns has made no secret of his preference to work with his real-life family members on WWE TV. Back in 2020, he feuded with Jey Uso over the Universal title, twice beating his cousin and elevating him to main event status simply by association. This year, that blueprint has been followed once again after back-to-back clashes against another of his cousins, Jacob Fatu, with the Samoan Werewolf also seeing a surge in popularity, despite two straight world championship defeats. Now, Solo Sikoa looks to be the next in line.
Reigns’ former Bloodline enforcer has arrived out of nowhere to become one of the most beloved babyfaces on WWE TV in recent weeks. His ridiculing of his real-life older brothers, The Usos, has become one of the most entertaining aspects of Monday Night Raw, but a loss to Jey on August 10 means that Solo must now be “delivered” to the Tribal Chief.
Fans will have to watch on in the coming weeks to see how the ongoing storyline plays out, but considering Solo’s recent raucous fan reactions every time he steps into an arena, a clash against Reigns for the title certainly wouldn’t be the wildest of predictions. The only problem is, any title challenge will almost certainly end in defeat, no matter how much love fans continue to shower Solo with.
LA Knight
LA Knight has been here before. Throughout that final year of Roman’s four-year Undisputed WWE Universal Championship reign, the “Megastar” was one of the men fed to the Tribal Chief to keep the champion busy in the months preceding WrestleMania 40 and Cody Rhodes’ impending coronation. Knight was white hot, and arenas erupted every time his music hit. Then, he lost in resounding fashion in Saudi Arabia, and it has taken him three years to build his stock back up.
Now, unfortunately for him, the same blueprint could well be set to play out. After Reigns successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam, Knight was the first to greet the champion on Monday Night Raw. He immediately clamored for a title shot, and he immediately addressed exactly what happened three years ago, namely Reigns cutting out Knight’s legs from under him and killing any momentum he had worked hard to build up.
So, could history be about to repeat itself? Well, Knight is red hot once again, and Reigns needs challengers to keep him busy until next April. Chances are the two will collide, and the Tribal Chief will once again retain the title, leaving Knight in no man’s land once more.
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