Roman Reigns vs. Vince McMahon: 5 directions that the storyline could go next

One of the biggest moments from the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-Up came when Roman Reigns attacked Vince McMahon and Elias in the final segment of SmackDown Live to officially confirm his status as a member of the blue brand.

“The Big Dog” spent the previous three years on Monday Night Raw, during which time he won the Universal Championship, Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship and main-evented WrestleMania on another two occasions.

He then showed up on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live after Vince introduced Elias as “the biggest acquisition in the brand’s history”. Following a staredown with his boss, Reigns struck him with a Superman Punch before delivering the same move, as well as a spear, to Elias.

Heading into the next episode of SmackDown Live, WWE has tweeted that Reigns will face “major repercussions” for attacking Vince, while the company’s official website is even teasing that he could be fired.

My colleague Riju Dasgupta has already taken a look at five ways that the four-time WrestleMania main-eventer could be punished, so let’s run through five alternative directions that this storyline might go next.

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#5. Vince McMahon demands that Roman Reigns is arrested

Vince McMahon has taken a ruthless approach to Superstars misbehaving in the past. For example, one week before WrestleMania 35, we saw Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey leave the Monday Night Raw arena in police cars after all three women were arrested for attacking police officers.

In the case of Roman Reigns, he was even subjected to an arrest warrant before WrestleMania 34 when, three weeks prior to his match against Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship, he was handcuffed by officers in the middle of the ring on Raw after violating a suspension. This led Lesnar to appear and attack a defenceless Reigns.

Looking ahead to Tuesday’s SmackDown Live, it would not be a surprise if Vince pulled a similar move and attempted to have “The Big Dog” arrested. After all, we saw how well Vince’s authority role worked in the storylines involving Kofi Kingston and Becky Lynch before ‘Mania, so perhaps the WWE owner could be used again to help Reigns’ babyface character gain some momentum.

#4. Roman Reigns gets banned from Money In The Bank

Now that WrestleMania 35 has been and gone, the next big WWE pay-per-view on the horizon is Money In The Bank, which will take place on May 19 in Hartford, Connecticut.

Given that Roman Reigns never officially lost the Universal Championship when he relinquished the title in October 2018, it is no surprise that many fans are predicting him to win the 2019 men’s MITB ladder match to work his way back into world title contention, this time for the WWE Championship as opposed to the Universal Championship, on SmackDown Live.

If the four-time WrestleMania main-eventer really is going to face “major repercussions” for what he did to Vince McMahon, then repercussions do not get much bigger than preventing someone from winning the most prestigious title in WWE history.

Perhaps Vince could decide to ban “The Big Dog” from the upcoming event, allowing somebody else to establish themselves as a future world champion on either Raw or SmackDown Live.

#3. Vince McMahon fires Roman Reigns, but Triple H gets involved

There is not a phrase in the English language that Vince McMahon loves more than, “You’re fired.”

The WWE chairman has used his famous catchphrase to terminate the contracts of several WWE personnel over the years, from Steve Austin and John Laurinaitis to Eric Bischoff and Kurt Angle, and it is only a matter of time before he abuses his power-crazy position as an authority figure on Raw and SmackDown Live to fire yet another Superstar.

Will Roman Reigns actually be fired? Of course not, so expect some typical WWE shenanigans if Vince does indeed attempt to go down this route, with another authority figure (say, Triple H or Stephanie McMahon?) getting involved to prevent him from taking drastic action.

HHH has not appeared on WWE television since his victory over Batista at WrestleMania 35, but it is safe to assume that he will clash with the increasingly villainous Vince at some point in the next few months.

#2. Roman Reigns competes in a handicap match

Back in December 2015, Roman Reigns was involved in a similar incident with Vince McMahon when he struck him with a Superman Punch on the same episode of Raw that he defeated Sheamus to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

At the time, Vince was on a weekly mission to prevent Reigns from becoming champion by making him face League of Nations members Sheamus, Rusev, Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio. There was even one occasion when the Shield member faced all four of them in a handicap match on SmackDown, which he surprisingly won.

Perhaps WWE will attempt to recreate a similar storyline on the upcoming episode of SmackDown Live, with Vince choosing some of the top bad guys from the blue brand’s roster to take on Reigns in a handicap match.

Shinsuke Nakamura, with Rusev presumably by his side, is already due to face Kofi Kingston on Tuesday, but other bad guys including Elias, The Bar, Lars Sullivan, Buddy Murphy and Killian Dain are without rivals at the moment.

#1. Roman Reigns vs. Elias

Okay, so Roman Reigns is apparently going to face punishment for his actions last week, but what if WWE is hyping this up to be something much bigger than it really is?

Let’s not forget that Vince McMahon was supposed to reveal “the biggest acquisition in SmackDown Live history” last week and that person turned out to be Elias, so it would not be all that surprising if a similar trick was pulled this week and Reigns’ repercussion is simply a one-on-one match with Elias.

After all, it looks as though the two former Raw Superstars are going to feud over the next few weeks (why else would Reigns attack both Elias and Vince?), so perhaps the rivalry can kick-start with a singles match on their new brand.

A potential match between the two this early in the feud is unlikely to result in a clear winner, but it would certainly set the tone for the storyline if Vince gets involved and somehow prevents Reigns from winning.