Roman Reigns made his grand return to WWE after several months away last weekend at SummerSlam. Fans were excited to see what “The Tribal Chief” and former record-setting WWE Champion had in store. He helped his former rival take down a member of his family, current Bloodline “leader” Solo Sikoa. He did make his intentions clear to Cody Rhodes as well, however — he hasn’t forgotten about the championship. Reigns will appear on this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown, seemingly to call out Sikoa and re-issue his claim as the head of the table.
Reigns won’t just have a one-off appearance this week, he is currently slated for several SmackDown appearances going forward, including when SmackDown returns to USA Network for the remainder of 2024. WWE and USA Network signed a new five-year deal to exclusively air the blue brand’s weekly television show beginning September 13. The deal will remain in place until 2029. The show has taken place on Fox since its initial move in 2019 and during that time Reigns’ career was in a much different state. After returning from his battle with leukemia, Reigns was the top babyface in WWE. Even so, it’s a time of his career he has often referred to as the “most miserable.”
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“I was ready to retire and once I fully removed myself by choice, not due to circumstances, that’s when I was able to be truthful with myself,” Reigns said during his A&E Biography special earlier this year. “That’s when I could really take an authentic genuine eye and look at what I’ve been doing and look at what I’ve done. That’s when I knew I just wasn’t happy with it. I still felt like I didn’t achieve what I had set out to do. I didn’t reach my potential, I was still under that ceiling, and it was time to break it” (h/t: Fightful).
As the pandemic continued on he became one of the most polarizing figures in WWE with his reinvented character that we have seen him portray ever since. During his time away from the ring he’s been spending time with family and dipping his toes into more Hollywood projects, including a film with Seth Rogen and Keanu Reeves.
Stay tuned to ComicBook for news and updates on Roman Reigns and WWE.
