Roman Reigns Suspension: Master plan or Bad luck?

Roman’s bad run with fortune continues

Ever since the news of Roman’s suspension broke, the internet has been buzzing. Talks have broken among wrestling circles on the authenticity of this, as many considered even prior to this news that Battleground is way too small for a Shield Triple Threat to happen. Did WWE take us for a ride and dropped us headfirst?

This is not the first time Shane has botched something on mic. Maybe, the plan was to make the Shield Triple Threat on SummerSlam, but Shane botched it and WWE is taking drastic measures to salvage the debacle. In that case, is Roman taking the fall for the company?

Now that Shield Triple Threat is virtually impossible, what will be the state of Dean and Rollins? Will they go head to head at Battleground or will WWE keep them apart until a Shield Triple Threat can be made possible?

What if Roman had really been suspended for violating the wellness policy? Will the fans ever forgive him for getting suspended at an awful timing?

There are lots of questions buzzing in everyone’s mind. Let’s analyze a few of them in this article.


Why the suspension stands out?

My reaction, when I heard that Shield Triple Threat is in jeopardy

My first reaction when I heard the news of Roman’s Suspension was something so profane that i can’t put it down here. Nevertheless, I can say it was a huge disappointment to me as a fan as I have been waiting for it to happen for a long time and just when the cusp is cleared and when we are finally getting to the part that really matters, it has been made virtually impossible.

But later, as I sat down to process the information the above questions popped up. The first and foremost doubt that came to my mind was about the authenticity of the news. We all know that the WWE is a showman at heart. They create drama and they entertain people in the grandest way possible. WrestleMania is a living proof of it. So, the Shield Triple Threat was obviously something that is way too big to occur at Battleground.

But, it had been announced at Raw by Shane McMahon and Roman and Seth did deliver a top notch match at Raw. Less than 24 hours after the news was announced, Roman gets suspended. That, according to me, is way too convenient. This just gives WWE the very probable cause to wiggle out of the promise they made to the fans.

It is a common knowledge that Shane is not that comfortable on mic as Vince and Stephanie are. And Stephanie was not at Raw to bail out Shane if he indeed did a mistake of announcing it for Battleground instead of SummerSlam.

WWE could have kept the contract signing for the Triple Threat at Battleground and we wouldn’t have been bothered about it at all. True, there may be some grumblings that it is not happening soon. And a few of us would have argued about whether it was the right move to keep a contract signing at a PPV. But, we would have been happy to hear them finally fight.

This wouldn’t be the first time WWE actually built a match for two months either. Rock vs Cena was built for a year and this match has as much potential as that match, in my opinion. This match would have been even better considering Seth’s in-ring abilities, Roman’s power packed move-sets and Ambrose’s crazy style. This would have been a match that would have blended three different styles of wrestling and we wouldn’t have complained about it.

So, the news that the Shield Triple Threat would happen at Battleground was really odd even before Roman’s suspension was announced. Is WWE giving that little importance to a Shield Triple Threat – No Way!

Is Roman taking the fall for the company?

Is he taking the fall for the company?

Assuming that Shane has indeed botched the announcement, we can take a look at the suspension in this section.

If Shane has botched the announcement and as Stephanie wasn’t there to save the day, then WWE is in a huge fix. They have announced a salivating match that the fans had been waiting for it to happen for a long long time. It wouldn’t look good for the company to go back on their word regarding such a huge announcement and the only person who can believably do it is Vince McMahon.

Neither Stephanie nor Shane has created such a power hungry persona like Mr.McMahon to actually retract such a huge match and get away with it. Though Stephanie has done really nasty things as a power-crazed woman in the past, this is way too huge for her to get away with. And technically, Stephanie is tethering on the edge of being a babyface now.

They have been building both Stephanie and Shane as a babyface for some time now to garner the support of fans for the brand split. Hence, anyone announcing the retraction will have a severe backlash and WWE can't afford that this close to the split. So, announcing a retraction is out of the window.

How to salvage the situation without such an announcement? The only way to do it is to pin it on any one of the Shield members.

Seth has just returned from injury and pinning it on him will not help him. He has been off-TV for seven months and any more off-TV time will not help him much. Dean, on the other hand, has just become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Unlike Roman or Seth, he is universally popular. So, taking him off-TV makes no sense.

So, that leaves just one person and that is Roman Reigns. This scenario makes it more sense for Roman to take the fall and get suspended for 30 days.

Is this all WWE’s master plan? There is no way for us to know.

What if Roman got really suspended for violating the Wellness Policy?

It may be a long time before he holds the championship again

Though it is really hard for me to believe that, we have to consider this possibility too.

Why is this hard for me to believe?

Simple, the previous scenario I outlined makes more sense to me than the suspension. Roman actually wrestled prior to the day he got suspended. There were no backstage rumors on the issue. There has been no indication towards it prior to this. And Roman hasn’t shown any drastic improvement recently. I really doubt that WWE would have let Roman wrestle, that too the main event, if he was under suspicion of the violation of Wellness Policy.

So, even though I have a tough time believing that, giving the benefit of doubt let’s examine this possibility.

If in case this is true then Roman things don’t look good for him. Roman has been poised to take over the responsibility of being the face of the company from John Cena. This violation of Wellness Policy will surely hinder that process and earn him some serious heat from the top brass. They might even be hesitant to endorse Roman as a face any longer. This might be a huge missed opportunity for Roman.

If WWE is reluctant to push him after this as the face of the company, his main event spot may be in jeopardy, There are more than a few main event talents who don’t have Reigns’ problem with the mic. With such competition, it will be a very long time before he main events again. It will be a long road for Roman to reclaim the place he lost. It may never happen at all.

But, all is not lost for Roman. On the other hand, looking from a wrestler’s perspective, this might be just what Roman needs. His current gimmick is not going anywhere and fans have expressed very vocally against his push. He seriously needs some change in the way he is portrayed.

WWE was earlier reluctant to make him a heel. Now, if the incident is true, he is sure to earn some heat from fans for spoiling a dream match. WWE may well roll with the times and make him return as a monster heel and unleash him. Who knows, this might even get him the support of fans.

But, it will need some good booking from WWE Creative for it to happen.

What happens now?

What’s the state of the main event now?

Whether it is planned or not, Roman’s suspension has left the WWE in a tight spot. They need some really good booking to get out of this spot. And they need it immediately.

The biggest question is, what will happen to the main event now?

The most probable case is Seth and Ambrose going head to head at the main event. It would be a good way to rekindle their rivalry. Their rivalry was a really good when it happened the first time around and we can expect more such things in the near future. And Roman might return at the PPV and restart the build-up for SummerSlam.

And if you have noticed, I have been calling the possibility of Shield Triple Threat happening as virtually impossible, not outright impossible. Roman’s suspension ends just before Battleground. So, even if it is a long shot possibility, Roman may come and work the main event directly. But that would create more heat on Roman and it would be safe if you don’t expect him to win.

There is a possibility that WWE may have pulled off this suspension to keep Roman away from mic till the PPV. But, if that is the case, it is really a stupid decision to take.

Whether it is planned or not, the time away from the screen would definitely hurt Roman and he might need some sensible(not strong) booking in the future to return to the place he was before.

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