What’s the story?
It's rare that Roman Reigns loses in a singles match, and even rarer for him to lose clean. However, he was defeated by Samoa Joe in their second encounter on the latest episode of RAW. We find out why WWE decided to let The Big Dog take a clean loss.
In case you didn't know...
Roman Reigns' announced that he would be taking on the winner of Brock Lesnar vs Samoa Joe at Summerslam and be challenging for the Universal Championship. This saw Samoa Joe come out and the two had a match set up for later in the night. Joe did win the match, albeit distraction from a returning Braun Strowman.
The heart of the matter
The reason why Samoa Joe defeated Reigns was definitely to make him look strong going into his bout with Lesnar at Great Balls Of Fire. This doesn't necessarily mean that Joe will win, as the rumoured plan still seems to be for Lesnar and Reigns to face off at WrestleMania 34.
As for Reigns challenging at Summerslam, it could be possible that the Ambulance match between Strowman and Reigns at Great Balls Of Fire will be a #1 contendership match. Strowman was reportedly Lesnar's original Universal title challenger at GBOF until his injury. It looks like WWE may still be pushing the Lesnar-Strowman match forward for Summerslam.
It should be noted that Samoa Joe has been very well protected since joining WWE’s main roster, being pinned only once by Seth Rollins. However, he’s almost certain to face a second defeat at the hands of Lesnar.
What's next?
Samoa Joe will face off one more time with Lesnar next week on RAW. Lesnar is not advertised for the Great Balls Of Fire go-home show.
Author's Take
If WWE insists on doing Lesnar vs Roman 2 at WrestleMania 34, then it would be a better idea for Lesnar to be stripped of the title some point during his reign and have Roman Reigns become Universal Champions sometime before WrestleMania.Reigns retaining at WrestleMania 34 can be a coronation in itself. It's better as RAW will have a full-time champion again and it won't hold up the main event scene on the red brand for an entire year.
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