5 reasons why Roman Reigns should lose the Universal Title before facing John Cena

The plan for SummerSlam seems to have been John Cena vs Roman Reigns for the Universal Title. After The Champ officially returned to WWE by confronting the Tribal Chief at Money in the Bank, it looked very much like that was the plan.

However, on this week's SmackDown, Roman Reigns turned down John Cena's challenge for a match at SummerSlam, and instead chose to accept the challenge of a recently returned Finn Balor.

This is an interesting move from WWE because it adds uncertainty towards the path to SummerSlam. One of the reasons for doing so could be to remove the Universal Title from Roman Reigns.

There are many reasons that WWE might want to do this, here are five reasons why Roman Reigns should lose the Universal Title before facing John Cena.

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#5. John Cena would be able to win the match against Roman Reigns without breaking Ric Flair's record

One of the main problems with the feud between John Cena and Roman Reigns is that nobody actually thinks that John Cena is going to beat Roman Reigns for the Universal Title.

The Champ certainly is a big enough star and a good enough wrestler to do so, but there are a few problems with him winning the match. WWE's end goal seems to be Reigns vs The Rock and that simply loses a lot of its appeal if Reigns loses to Cena.

The other big issue is that if Cena were to win he would overtake Ric Flair's record for total number of world title reigns, which is something that WWE might not want to do.

But if you can get the Universal Title off of Roman Reigns in a way that doesn't hurt The Head of the Table then you can go ahead with the John Cena and Reigns match with fans being a bit more uncertain about who will come out on top.

#4. It creates a power imbalance between Roman Reigns and the Usos in the Bloodline stable

So far in the prolonged storyline between Head of the Table Roman Reigns and Jimmy and Jey Uso the Universal Champion has held all of the power in the Bloodline.

However, if Reigns were to lose the Universal title before The Usos lose their SmackDown Tag Team Titles, it creates an imbalance between the group where the leader doesn't have gold, and the henchmen do.

It would be interesting to see how Reigns handles this shift in power and will add an extra element to the family drama that has been a highlight of SmackDown for quite some time.

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#3. It allows the Universal Title to be used to build up other WWE Superstars whilst Roman Reigns vs John Cena happens

Let's say WWE has Roman Reigns lose the Universal Title to Finn Balor because John Cena costs him the match in some way. This enables them to have a new Universal Champ in Balor, but also to continue the feud between Cena and Reigns.

What this then means is that they have turned one storyline into two, and can now have two matches at SummerSlam. A Universal Title match between Finn Balor and a challenger, as well as a grudge match between The Tribal Chief and the Leader of the Cenation.

#2. It would be a great way to push Big E into the main event without having to wait for the Roman Reigns and John Cena feud to finish

Big E is the current Mr. Money in the Bank after winning the Money in the Bank Ladder match, however, given that WWE seems poised to have Roman Reigns vs. John Cena at SummerSlam for the title, it seems he won't be cashing in on SmackDown anytime soon. Unless, of course, WWE doesn't.

There's a scenario where Big E cashes in on Reigns before the Tribal Chief is due to take on John Cena at SummerSlam. Perhaps he does so after the Finn Balor match, perhaps Cena attacks Reigns, or perhaps the Usos turn on Reigns. Essentially there are many ways you can have Big E cash in successfully on Reigns without hurting him too much.

WWE could then have Big E defending a world title at SummerSlam, which would be a huge moment for him and keep their big marquee match between John Cena and Roman Reigns. It's a win-win

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#1. It would be a massive shock to the WWE Universe for Roman Reigns to lose the title.

Roman Reigns is undefeated in 2021 and looks set to continue willing well into next year. Consequently no-one truly believes that Reigns will truly lose the Universal Title, against Finn Balor or John Cena.

But that's exactly why WWE should consider having Reigns lose his title before taking on John Cena, because it's the last thing anyone would expect and it would lead to a big moment for the WWE Universe and intriguing storyline steps to follow.