Top SmackDown Rumors: Details about Reigns' reported heat with former World Champion, veteran ignored by Aleister Black, Cena return (23rd May) 

Welcome to another edition of the top SmackDown rumors that could have a major impact on the blue brand. With WWE marching towards Hell in a Cell, SmackDown continued to give fans some stellar content this week.

In today's edition, we will take a look at what is in store for The Usos given all the confusion going on in the Reigns family. We will also take a look at the behind-the-scenes details of Roman Reigns' alleged heat with WWE legend Ric Flair, among many other interesting topics.

So without further ado, let us dive in and take a look at some of the biggest rumors and stories related to SmackDown:

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#5 Details on SmackDown's Roman Reigns' alleged beef with Ric Flair

Former world champion Ric Flair recently discussed his fears about rumors of SmackDown's Roman Reigns having a problem with him being true. Speaking to Conrad Thomson, Flair admitted that he was worried that Roman Reigns had lost respect for him because of the trademark issue he had with WWE and Becky Lynch.

The 16-time World Champion had tried to trademark the monicker ''The Man'' which WWE was using for Becky Lynch. WWE gained the rights to the term in 2020 but the legal issue led Flair to think that some young superstars may have lost respect for him:

''I was concerned that I had lost the respect of Roman Reigns,” Flair said. “When that whole ‘The Man’ thing went upside down, I had to file the trademark and whatever transpired, it means nothing now. I walked right up to him and said ‘Hey, it means a lot to me.’ You want the kids to look forward to you coming, not here he comes again.''

Ric Flair said that he had pulled SmackDown's Tribal Chief aside in order to talk about the issue as he did not want to have WWE's top guy having any heat with him.

#4 SmackDown's John Cena likely to return soon

SmackDown's John Cena was last seen at WrestleMania 36 in a Firefly Funhouse match against Bray Wyatt. Cena returned to Smackdown ahead of WrestleMania and then entered a feud with The Fiend.

There has been a lot of speculation on when The Champ will return to WWE. It is now being reported that the 16-time World Champion is looking to make a comeback soon.

As per Dave Meltzer of WON (via CSS), there is talk of John Cena making his return at WWE's first show with a live audience. It is speculated that the first show to have a live crowd in the audience will be a SmackDown in July:

The Wrestling Observer says there are ongoing talks of John Cena appearing on the first WWE show back with fans.

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#3 The Usos set to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships

Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso have finally been re-united after one year. Jimmy Uso had been out with an injury and made his return a few weeks back on SmackDown.

Even though it looks like Jimmy Uso is not on the same page as Jey Uso and his cousin Roman Reigns, the eventual plan is for The Usos to reclaim the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

As per WrestlingNews.co, the current plan is for The Usos to win tag team gold very soon. This could be the reason why Dominik Mysterio and Rey Mysterio became the champions, so that The Usos have a babyface team to beat.

#2 Aleister Black ignored SmackDown's Paul Heyman for 7 months

SmackDown's Paul Heyman revealed on Talking Smack that former NXT Champion Aleister Black ghosted him for the past seven months. Heyman said that despite trying multiple times to get in touch with Black since October last year, he was unable to do so as Black was seemingly ignoring him:

“This thing about ignoring Aleister’s involvement… bulls***,” Heyman said. “I’ll tell you why. I’m envious, and the reason why I’m envious is because I’ve been reaching out for Aleister Black for six, seven months now. I had ideas for Aleister Black, I had plans for Aleister Black. Ghosted me, couldn’t reach him. Disappeared, poof, thin air.”

Aleister Black finally returned to SmackDown this week and attacked Big E, setting up a feud between the two men.

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#1 Reason why SmackDown's Roman Reigns vs Cesaro main-evented WrestleMania Backlash

SmackDown's Roman Reigns and Cesaro had a spectacular match at WrestleMania Backlash for the Universal Championship. Reigns was able to beat Cesaro cleanly and retain his World Championship.

Interestingly, as per Dave Meltzer of WON, the original plan was for the WWE Championship match to main-event the show. It was a last-minute call by management to have Roman Reigns main-event the show as he is considered to be the biggest attraction in WWE today:

''The original idea was for the three-way for the Raw title to be the main event. The three-way Raw women’s title match wasn’t scheduled to open either. There was a push on the day of the show with the idea that Reigns is the only franchise player on the roster, and as such, he should either go first or last.''

The report also said that the WWE did not want the audience to feel burnt out for the main event if Reigns and Cesaro went first.