Roman Reigns cemented himself as one of the greats with his WWE Championship run but after losing the belts at WrestleMania 40 to Cody Rhodes, he understandably decided to take some time off from the ring. He has been filming Hollywood movies in his off time, but it appears that there are plans in motion to bring back the “Tribal Chief” sooner than many expected him to. PWInsider’s Elite tier is reporting that Reigns is set to make a WWE comeback ahead of SummerSlam in Cleveland next month. The report indicates that at some point, Reigns was planned for a return two to three weeks out from the Premium Live Event, so if he doesn’t return on the night of the show, next week’s SmackDown could be his return date.ย
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Since WrestleMania, Solo Sikoa has taken on the mantle of the new “Tribal Chief” and assembled a new Bloodline faction comprised of himself, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa. Sikoa has been trying to convince the WWE audience and roster to “acknowledge him” as the group’s new leader, even taking jabs at Reigns. On this week’s episode of SmackDown, he explained that when Reigns eventually comes back he’s going to have to answer to Sikoa. Naturally in story, Reigns wouldn’t take too kindly to that, or the loss of Paul Heyman who was taken out by the group a few weeks back.
Rhodes accepted Sikoa’s challenge for SummerSlam and was immediately attacked by the group. Randy Orton tried to help save him but they were still left outnumbered and defeated. Reigns returning to prevent Sikoa from winning the championship thereby setting up another Bloodline Civil War Match for later down the road seems like the likely direction that WWE is headed.
What Matches Are Taking Place at WWE SummerSlam?
The SummerSlam card is rapidly filling up as the show inches closer and currently there are four title matches expected to go down at the event of the summer. The King and Queen of the Ring winners Gunther and Nia Jax have been penciled in to face Damian Priest and Bayley for their titles for quite some time but SmackDown confirmed two new titles matches, including Rhodes and Sikoa.ย
Logan Paul is expected to defend the United States Championship against LA Knight who has the contract printed up and signed, it just needs Paul’s signature of approval. There will likely be a tag team title defense of some kind as Johnny Gargano is a Cleveland native, and with Rhea returning in the middle of Liv Morgan’s title reign, a babyface Ripley against Morgan who has stolen seemingly everything from her is a WrestleMania caliber match. If WWE were to bring Ripley back now only to leave the most captivating story in the division off of the card would be as silly as it would be confusing.
Additionally, signs seem to be pointing to Drew McIntyre facing off against both CM Punk and Seth Rollins after Punk cost both of them the championship at Money in the Bank. Rollins had heated words for the injured star on WWE Raw, explaining that when he’s cleared he’s coming after him which is exactly the kind of thing McIntyre has said about Punk ad nauseam.
Stay tuned to Comicbook for updates on Roman Reigns and WWE.
