Roman Reigns Says Universal Championship's Absence is 'Killing' Raw

By now, it's hardly novel to bemoan Brock Lesnar's near invisible reign as Universal Champion. But Roman Reigns just uncorked a thoughtful take on the matter.

Both Reigns and Kurt Angle have been vocal about the detriments of Brock Lesnar's convenient schedule as Universal Champion. However, in an interview with Sporting News, Reigns takes a deeper dive into the criticism and discussed why it's so important to have WWE's top title routinely featured on WWE television.

"It's killing us. It's killing us. It makes for better storytelling. It would be a better product. It would be a better show. When you have the diamond that everybody's chasing, it gives everybody a GPS of where they are and where they're trying to be," he said.

There's no question that the Universal Championship would anchor Raw. It's happened before — Kevin Owens proudly rocked it on his shoulder for a few weeks. But outside of his term, the big red belt has never been a fixture on Raw.

"Not only that, it's a driving force for live events," continued Reigns. "It's a driving force for our Friday, Saturday and Sunday (non-televised events) when we don't have a network special or a pay-per-view. It's important to have that thing hanging up in the locker room in a tiny town in South Dakota on a Friday when people are not motivated. A young talent comes in and says the champ's in here and the title is hanging up. I want that. It motivates people in some many different regards and that's what we need," he said.

The Universal Championship could certainly serve as the North Star of Monday nights, but first Lesnar must be defeated. While Reins will enter SummerSlam as a favorite, there are no guarantees he'll leave Brooklyn as Champion.

"I'm to the point where I've won a bunch of different championships and the only reason I want that championship is because I haven't won it and I want it on this roster. I want it at our shows. I want it in every town because it's going to make everybody better," he said.

While many fans may be reluctant to cheer Reigns as top dog, WWE would finally be able to close the book on his feud with Lesnar. SummerSlam will be their fourth title match in three years, but it feels like this story has been running much longer. At this point, fans may be ready for a change of scenery and are likely willing to tolerate the polarizing Reigns at the helm of WWE for the rest of 2018.