Paul Heyman Ties Christian's AEW Debut Into the Edge vs. Roman Reigns Storyline

Paul Heyman has been the consistent highlight of Talking Smack ever since he joined SmackDown's post-show as a co-host. This week was no exception, as Heyman even managed to connect Christian's surprise arrival in All Elite Wrestling to the ongoing storyline between Roman Reigns and Edge over the Universal Championship. Christian made his surprise comeback after a seven-year retirement during this year's Men's Royal Rumble and even had a reunion with Edge in the ring. However, "The Instant Classic" then revealed about a month later he had signed a multi-year contract with AEW by arriving at the Revolution pay-per-view last Sunday.

"Edge, your best friend in this world knew he was going to become Roman Reigns' target just to get into your head," Heyman said during the show, warning Edge about challenging Reigns for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania. "And what did he do? He ran away before Roman Reigns could target him. How many of your 'Christians' need to convert before you realize it's not smart to piss off Roman Reigns? You, Edge, have pissed off Roman Reigns. You want to be the special enforcer? You want to involve yourself in Roman Reigns' match against Daniel Bryan? Why? Because you know it's an easier fight against Daniel Bryan than it is against Roman Reigns."

Reigns will defend his title against Daniel Bryan at next week's Fastlane pay-per-view. The next edition of SmackDown will feature a match between Edge and Jey Uso, and the winner of that bout gets to be the Special Guest Enforcer for the title match.

Christian revealed in interviews days after his arrival what brought him to AEW.

"Anytime there is a life-altering decision, there is a lot of thought," he said while on Renee Paquette's Oral Sessions Podcast. "I didn't have a lot of time to think about this but what I really needed was the best platform for me — I got a second lease on life here to showcase (myself) but also help. Where could I help the next generation? That's what I felt at AEW. In my initial talks with Tony, the first conversation we had, we talked for two hours. From that initial conversation I was like, 'Man, I didn't think it would go that well.' It came together pretty quickly after that. We hit it off, we had the same feeling as far as where he saw me and what I could bring to the table and how I could help the roster and the show. That was intriguing to me and I like a challenge. It wasn't an easy decision, but it also wasn't a hard decision. There was something intriguing about being able to be hands-on with everything and having that challenge. It felt like the right situation. There's nothing wrong with WWE and how they do things."