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Roman Reigns' Universal title opponent at Clash of Champions 2020 was supposed to be decided in a Fatal-4-Way match on SmackDown between Matt Riddle, Big E, Sheamus, and King Corbin.
While we thought that Big E would be the clear choice since Roman Reigns is a heel (and Matt Riddle is in a feud with King Corbin), it seemed obvious. However, that wasn't the case. Instead, Sheamus attacked Big E on SmackDown as he was getting ready to welcome back Xavier Woods and slammed him on the front window of a car - taking him out of the match.
In what seemed to be a bit of nepotism, Paul Heyman convinced Adam Pearce to put Jey Uso in the match instead. As we know, Jimmy Uso is out injured until early 2021. Jey Uso ended up winning the main event and will now face Roman Reigns in the Universal title match at Clash of Champions 2020. Here are a few reasons why.
#5. Big E isn't ready to face Roman Reigns yet
As great as Big E is, he's too early into his singles run to compete for the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. While he could certainly reach that stage in a year or so, WWE knows that Big E isn't ready for that spot just yet.
It's only been a month now since Big E has been competing as a singles star and to push him to face Roman Reigns would be a bit surprising and early. WWE knows that they could risk having fans turn on another potential babyface, which is why they went with an angle where Big E can feud with Sheamus and build himself up while Roman Reigns has an opponent that makes more sense for him.
#4. No other babyface on SmackDown is ready for Roman Reigns
One of the big issues on SmackDown right now is the lack of clear-cut, top babyfaces. The three biggest names on SmackDown are Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, and Braun Strowman.
While Tom Colohue revealed that Bray Wyatt is shifting towards a babyface turn, things aren't fully settled yet. He's now deep in his own storyline with potential involvement from Alexa Bliss, while Braun Strowman isn't exactly a babyface anymore.
Roman Reigns is now a heel and WWE needs to have different top babyfaces step up. Tom Colohue also revealed that the "ranking order" of babyfaces on SmackDown is Bray Wyatt, Jeff Hardy, Big E, and Matt Riddle. Jeff Hardy is the Intercontinental Champion and while he would have made sense as an opponent for Roman Reigns, he's now busy with Sami Zayn and AJ Styles.
WWE knew that they needed a solid babyface opponent that made sense and while he hasn't been a World title challenger, the timing works out for Jey Uso to be the babyface challenger to Roman Reigns.
#3. The family factor for Roman Reigns
We've said for a long time now that Roman Reigns' greatness will only truly be appreciated once he's done with his career. However, there seems to be a new wave of appreciation for Roman Reigns kicking in now.
Whether fans like to admit it or not, the Samoan family bloodline runs through Roman Reigns and it has a big factor in why he's so great. Paul Heyman's promo on SmackDown only furthered his importance of representing that bloodline and family - which in hindsight, was no coincidence that it was in that promo.
The story between Roman Reigns and Jey Uso was, is, and always will be about family. It's a significant part of both of their legacy (and Jimmy Uso included). What better way to start off Roman Reigns' Universal Championship reign than by emphasizing the importance of family and having it play directly into the title feud?
While it may come across as a friendly rivalry at first, things are going to change. We're going to learn a lot more about Roman Reigns' character in the next few weeks.
#2. An interesting new storyline and direction for the Universal title and Roman Reigns
The Universal Championship scene hasn't been particularly interesting since WrestleMania 36 and Roman Reigns is here to change that. Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt have been the two men that the Universal title has been centered around. Frankly speaking, it was far more underwhelming than many had expected it to be.
The feud simply never delivered in all three of their matches including the swamp fight, though it did well to advance the characters of Alexa Bliss, Braun Strowman, and Bray Wyatt. With that said, WWE likely knew that they needed a change in scenery and this is unlike anything we've seen before with Roman Reigns.
WWE could easily have put another top name with Roman Reigns, but they decided to change it up and take an interesting new direction with him and the Universal title.
It's going to be interesting to see how the feud ultimately plays out, but we feel that the match at Clash of Champions will serve one true objective that WWE is aiming for. More on the next page.
#1. To fully establish Roman Reigns as a heel
Roman Reigns has been and will be the guy of WWE. With John Cena long gone and only appearing occasionally, Roman Reigns has been the biggest full-time Superstar that WWE has by far.
WWE and Vince McMahon spent years trying to actively push Roman Reigns as John Cena's successor to the point where they tried to make him just like John Cena - but that didn't work.
With WWE now in the COVID-era and things having changed quite a bit, it appears that the hesitation to turn Roman Reigns heel is finally gone. However, WWE still hasn't fully established Roman Reigns as a heel. It would be easy for him to simply beat down a babyface, but they needed to be careful about which babyface it was.
Jey Uso makes a lot of sense in that role since he's a family member of Roman Reigns and it plays in well to his storyline and character development. Jey Uso might be a sacrificial lamb to establish Roman Reigns as WWE's biggest heel today.
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