WWE News Roundup: Top name to bring back old gimmick? Legend criticizes current feud; Roman Reigns' new record (January 16, 2022)

We're back with the latest edition of WWE News Roundup.

Not too long ago, John Cena spoke about possibly bringing back his old gimmick whenever he returns to the company next. A wrestling legend had some criticism for a current SmackDown storyline.

Meanwhile, Roman Reigns created a significant record due to his dominant run in WWE. Mickie James has spoken about how the deal for her upcoming Royal Rumble appearance came together.

Additionally, we have details regarding what went down between Reigns and Seth Rollins following the latest episode of SmackDown.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at these news stories.

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#5. John Cena comments on the possible return of his "Doctor of Thuganomics" WWE character

While most fans associate John Cena with the pure babyface character that made him famous over time, his Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick has popped up across recent WWE history.

At WrestleMania 35 in 2019, he appeared as the rapping rebel to confront Elias. Cena reprised this role at The Show of Shows in 2020 as well.

Speaking on the Pardon My Take podcast, the 16-time world champion seemed quite open to the potential comeback of his rapping gimmick:

“Over the years, you’ve actually seen more of the good [version of] ‘Doctor of Thuganomics’ than over the past 10 years. The appearance in the Firefly Funhouse match, the appearance at WrestleMania with Elias. It’s almost like that character has taken on a sense of nostalgia itself. So when it shows up, it’s a thing that gets people excited. So, never say never," said John Cena.

Although a future appearance from the Doctor of Thuganomics isn't out of the question, it remains to be seen when exactly Cena will return to the company.

The veteran did say on The Ellen Show that despite his uncertainty over making it to WrestleMania 38, he isn't 'done with WWE by a long shot.'

#4. Dutch Mantell questions when Naomi and Sonya Deville's storyline will conclude in WWE

Sonya Deville and Naomi have been feuding for months in WWE at this stage. However, a singles match between both women is yet to occur.

The on-screen reason behind this is that Deville — an on-screen official — has enough power to avoid a showdown against the two-time SmackDown Women's Champion. Instead, she has thrown numerous obstacles in Naomi's path to delay the inevitable.

Dutch Mantell isn't a fan of the company dragging this feud on SmackDown. Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk, he questioned when fans would witness the payoff to Deville undermining Naomi's run as a competitor:

"When are they going to pull the trigger on this? How long has this been on now? We b**ch about this every week but they [WWE] continue to do it. They're going to take it all the way to SummerSlam. They're going to try to get there, and I guess they can get there because they've got (several months) out of it so far, right? And you know it's there. All they got to do is touch it. Now what are they going to do? I have no idea," said Dutch Mantell.

While the two women have never gone one-on-one against each other as part of their current feud, they fought in five singles matches back in 2018.

#3. Roman Reigns breaks Brock Lesnar's WWE record

Roman Reigns reached 500 days as WWE Universal Champion a few days back. Brock Lesnar, his current rival, had the longest run with the title at 503 days. Interestingly, it was The Tribal Chief who ended that reign back in 2018.

But Lesnar's record no longer holds moving forward in 2022. Not too long ago, Reigns surpassed him to become the longest-reigning Universal Champion of all time.

He won the title back in August 2020, defeating The Fiend and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match. Since then, The Head of the Table has conquered top-tier talents like Edge, Daniel Bryan (now Bryan Danielson in AEW), John Cena, and even The Beast Incarnate himself, among many others.

It should be interesting to see how long he can hold on to the Universal Championship.

Reigns' upcoming title defense is against his former Shield partner, Seth Rollins, at Royal Rumble 2022. Meanwhile, Lesnar's threat to Reigns hasn't just gone away ever since their match at the Day 1 show got canceled.

It's still possible that the two longest-reigning Universal Champions could duke it out at WrestleMania 38.

#2. Mickie James discloses how her upcoming WWE Royal Rumble appearance came about

WWE fans have been reasonably excited ever since the promotion confirmed that Mickie James would be in the 2022 Women's Royal Rumble match.

James recently told Ariel Helwani that the company's Head of Talent Relations, Johnny Laurinaitis, reached out to IMPACT Wrestling Executive Vice President Scott D'Amore to initiate talks regarding her Royal Rumble appearance:

"Johnny (Laurinaitis) reached out to Scott (D'Amore) to first just talk to him professionally because… this has never really been done before by them. So definitely, they talked first to see if this was going to be something because they’ve worked together, IMPACT worked together with WWE in the past for other things, you know, for when Flair went in the Hall of Fame and Christian Cage and all that stuff, so it wasn’t unforeseen that it could possibly happen," revealed Mickie.

The IMPACT Knockouts Champion added that Scott D'Amore reached out to her to see if she had any interest in entering the Women's Royal Rumble. According to James, there had been talks about keeping her upcoming appearance in the multi-person contest a surprise:

"So I think that’s why Scott first reached out to me to see what my interest was. And then obviously, we were all able to make this happen somehow. And I think it was going to be a surprise, we talked about having it as a surprise. But you know, the announcement [and] the response back from the announcement kind of has blown my mind," added James.

One of the many reasons Mickie James' return to Vince McMahon's company has got everyone talking is because of the controversial circumstances surrounding her release last year.

However, with the 'Forbidden Door' seemingly being opened by WWE, it remains to be seen who else will step through.

#1. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns had a six-man tag team match after WWE SmackDown

This week's SmackDown saw Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins coming face-to-face ahead of their WWE Royal Rumble clash. Both men engaged in a verbal back-and-forth before The Usos attempted to ambush Rollins.

While The Visionary dodged the attack to conclude the live broadcast, he headed towards the ring to confront Reigns afterward. Even then, a brawl didn't transpire between the two men.

However, the post-show events did lead to a six-man tag team contest featuring the Universal Champion and The Usos against Rollins and The Viking Raiders. The latter trio emerged victoriously to end their dark match on a positive note:

While Seth Rollins teaming up with babyfaces might seem a bit unusual on the surface, The Visionary himself appears to be somewhat of a babyface in his latest feud with Roman Reigns.

He also fought The Bloodline during a January 15th SuperShow in Fargo, North Dakota. Only this time around, Rollins defeated the faction with Big E and Kofi Kingston — two babyfaces — by his side.