5 Reasons why Roman Reigns winning the Universal Title at Payback might have been a mistake

Roman Reigns defeated Braun Strowman and The Fiend to win the Universal Title at Payback in what can be called an interesting move.

While WWE did do a great job of protecting The Fiend and not having him take the deciding fall in the match, Roman Reigns winning seemed to undo everything the company was working towards with the Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman storyline.

With that being said and Roman Reigns now the Universal Champion, here are five reasons the move might have been a mistake. As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below and tell us if you think Reigns winning was a good idea or not.

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#5. The Fiend losing momentum

Where does Roman Reigns' win at Payback leave The Fiend?

The Fiend is one of WWE's most popular entities and while he still has the support of his fan base, they too wish that The Fiend's loss to Goldberg and to Braun Strowman were all just a nightmare. They probably also wish he didn't just lose the Universal Title one week after winning it back.

Unfortunately for The WWE Universe, that is exactly what happened to The Fiend and it seems rather anticlimactic after how long he spent trying to get his title back. In fact, it almost felt like the last couple of months of him chasing the Universal Title was all a waste if they were just going to give it to Roman Reigns a week later.

In the end, The Fiend needs to get his momentum back, and losing the title in unspectacular fashion twice is not a way to achieve that. Furthermore, losing two matches is enough to make him lose momentum going forward, which is going to be very hard to make up.

#4. Roman Reigns winning leaves Strowman directionless

What does WWE do with Braun Strowman after taking two losses in a week?

Roman Reigns winning the Universal Title at Payback sent shock waves through the WWE and also undid one of the most promising heel-runs in the process. Of course, WWE didn't really seem to have a solid grip on Braun Strowman's heel turn to begin with, but they were at least in the process of working it out.

In fact, between Strowman throwing Alexa Bliss to the floor like a piece of garbage and slamming Bray Wyatt several feet down onto a concrete floor, there was a lot of potential there. Unfortunately for Strowman, he took the deciding fall against Roman Reigns at Payback and is now directionless as a result.

In the end, Strowman was just starting to show potential as a heel and it would have been nice if WWE was able to play up more of the history between him and The Fiend. Maybe it would have even given fans some tangible answers as to why the swamp changed him and at least given him a soft spot to land.

#3. Roman Reigns won the title too soon

Maybe WWE should have waited a while before putting the title on Roman Reigns?

What was the point of putting the Universal Title on Roman Reigns at WWE Payback? While the obvious answer was to have Reigns win back the title he never lost and turn heel in the process, that still doesn't explain why WWE would do it only one week after The Fiend won at SummerSlam.

Not only does that leave The Fiend with another subpar title reign, which is bound to anger quite a few fans, it also really takes away from the magic that WWE could have created between Roman Reigns and The Fiend. It might have even been one of the best feuds of the year if WWE would have paced it out properly.

In the end, WWE had a storybook ending with The Fiend winning the Universal title at SummerSlam but turned it into a nightmare by putting the title on Roman Reigns so quickly. The biggest problem with all this is that the title change could have worked if WWE would have waited a while and built it up correctly

#2. Roman Reigns could hurt WWE heading into the Fall

Did Roman Reigns victory at Payback do more harm than good?

It's no secret that the fall months of the year are some of the toughest for WWE in terms of ratings, which makes the move to have Roman Reigns as champion a little surprising. Furthermore, WWE were in such a good position with The Fiend as champion that putting the title on Roman Reigns seemed counterproductive.

Instead, WWE has an angered fan base that wanted to see The Fiend retain his title, a failed heel turn for Braun Strowman, and a Roman Reigns heel turn that might have come a little late. The last one could be salvageable based on how the company plays it up from here, but all of this was avoidable.

In the end, all WWE had to do was have The Fiend retain his title at Payback, use that to anger Roman Reigns and build up their feud from there. At least that way, fans have a champion they actually want to see, Roman Reigns could serve as an excellent heel on SmackDown and Strowman could play a part as well.

#1. Roman Reigns returning didn't help ratings

Not even Roman Reigns can save WWE's ratings.

Believe it or not, reports are suggesting that not even the return of Roman Reigns has ended up helping WWE's ratings. Not only is that a bad sign for a Superstar that is supposed to be the company's top guy, but it is also a very harrowing sign for the pro wrestling business as a whole.

With that being said and WWE hell-bent on making Roman Reigns a heel champion, it looks like fans are just going to have to get used to it. Also, maybe WWE has plans to put the title back on The Fiend at some point, especially with him now being a babyface, and this is all just one intricate tale being told.

In the end, the storyline between Roman Reigns and The Fiend is salvageable and all WWE would have to do is pull the right strings to make it happen. For example, what if WWE brought Alexa Bliss into play, started using The Fiend to explain Roman Reigns' heel turn, and make this the biggest feud in WWE history.