WWE's Reported Plans for Roman Reigns and Universal Championship

On Monday, WWE confirmed that Roman Reigns' first Universal Championship defense will come at Hell in a Cell against Braun Strowman. But apparently, his next challenger has already been decided.

Sports Illustrated reported on Wednesday that Reigns is likely to retain his big red belt at HIAC because he's currently slated for a "lengthy" run a champion. But once he rids himself of Strowman, the next man up is believed to be Drew McIntyre.

It's worth noting that SI has been quite wrong on other speculative reports, but McIntyre is a name that makes sense. He was last seen putting boots to Reigns as Raw closed and has been a consistent enemy of Shield comrade Seth Rollins, so WWE does have a working foundation.

Even more, since graduating from NXT in April's Superstar Shake Up, McIntyre's name has been rumored to eventually enter the Universal Championship picture and SI's report looks to bring those rumors to fruition.

This story is developing...