WWE Seemingly Delays Roman Reigns Return Plans

Reigns has been absent from programming since WWE WrestleMania 40.

By Liam Crowley

Roman Reigns has vanished. The Tribal Chief walked into WWE WrestleMania 40 as the most dominant champion in decades, reigning as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion for 1,316 days. Reigns teamed with his cousin Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on the first evening of the Showcase of the Immortals, besting Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins to ensure his title defense the following night would be contested under "Bloodline Rules," stacking the odds insurmountably in his favor. Despite the advantage, Rhodes overcame the obstacles and defeated Reigns, capturing the championship his father never held and beginning his run with the gold.

As Rhodes racks up defenses against AJ Styles and WWE United States Champion Logan Paul, Reigns is nowhere to be seen. The Bloodline has continued without him, with Solo Sikoa assuming leadership, but Reigns himself has operated exclusively off-screen.

WWE Delays Roman Reigns's Return?

roman-reigns-wwe-return-delayed
(Photo: WWE)

The Head of the Table's comeback is back to being uncertain.

Not long ago, Roman Reigns was advertised for the August 2nd edition of WWE SmackDown, the final episode of WWE television before WWE SummerSlam. Reigns appearing on that show would indicate that WWE had plans for him at the biggest party of the summer as well.

That changed in the last 24 hours. WWE's official website lists the August 2nd WWE SmackDown episode as not having any advertised talent, specifically writing that "featured superstar information for this event is not yet available." Even without named advertised talent, Randy Orton, WWE Women's Champion Bayley, LA Knight, WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill, and WWE Champion Cody Rhodes appear in the official header. Reigns remains absent.

This advertising change suggests that WWE has either delayed plans for Reigns's return or is already seeng strong ticket sales for the event and is opting to pivot Reigns's appearance from advertised to a surprise.

Related:

If it is the former, don't expect to see Reigns on WWE programming for the rest of 2024. WWE SummerSlam is the company's second-biggest show of the year, and given that Reigns typically only competes on the bigger premium live events, it feels unlikely that WWE would rather have his return take place at WWE Survivor Series, the biggest remaining premium live event after WWE SummerSlam.

If WWE is going in the surprise direction, expect Reigns to show face unexpectedly on the WWE SummerSlam broadcast itself, getting involved in whatever Bloodline-related contest is scheduled for the show. It would be a full circle opportunity as well, as Reigns debuted his Tribal Chief persona at WWE SummerSlam back in 2020.

Trending Now: