Did WWE Pull Roman Reigns From Next Week's Raw?

It could prove to be nothing, but it looks like Roman Reigns won't be at Raw in Chicago next [...]

By Jeremy Snodgrass

It could prove to be nothing, but it looks like Roman Reigns won't be at Raw in Chicago next week.

Originally, WWE had advertised Reigns would partake in another Shield tag-team bout in Raw's main event. However, Reigns has been removed from WWE.com's promotion and the All-State arena ads. The venus is now promoting a tag match with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose taking on Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin.

It's hard to measure the significance of this but for now, consider us skeptical of this being consequential news. Even if Reigns misses Raw, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Right now, it looks like his best option for WrestleMania 35 is Drew McIntyre, and while that will be a fun match, it will lack in significance relative to the rest of the card.

Counting next week's episode, WWE has three more Raw's to appropriately build WrestleMania's narratives. With those remaining episodes WWE will have to devote plenty of time the Universal Championship and the Raw Women's Championship, along with the Batista/Triple H feud. As odd as it is to say, Reigns isn't exactly a priority for this year's WrestleMania.

Reigns did close out Fastlane this weekend in what was his first match in five months. The Big Dog left the company in October to fight off leukemia, In February, he returned to Raw with news of remission and just two weeks later he was in Fastlane's main event.

But WrestleMania is a much different show.

With Dean Ambrose's lame-duck status and Reigns' potential ring rust, a Shield reunion at Fastlane was an easy decision for WWE. Traditionally, that pay-per-view is little more than a WrestleMania warm up, and this year was no exception. However, WrestleMania has to be monstrous. Especially with FOX wanting to keep a keen eye on its billion-dollar investment.

While Reigns is guaranteed to wrestle on April 7, WWE will have to focus on the rest of the card. If McIntyre is the direction WWE goes, that match will be used to launch one of them in the Universal Championship picture and that being said, look for Reigns to lose to the Scotsman.

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