WWE Rumor Roundup: SmackDown Superstar's push ends, real reason why The IIconics split up and more -Sept. 2, 2020

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Vince McMahon and The IIconics
Vince McMahon and The IIconics

Welcome to the WWE Rumor Roundup where we try and bring you the best news and rumors of the day. In today's edition, we take a look at why Roman Reigns teamed up with Paul Heyman and why he won the title of "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt within a week of his return.

We also look at why Keith Lee got a clean win over Randy Orton at WWE Payback. But before we get to all that, let's take a look at the two top headlines of the day.

WWE SmackDown Superstar's push ends

Braun Strowman's push on SmackDown has come to an end, according to Tom Colohue. "The Monster Among Men" won the WWE Universal title at WrestleMania and held it until WWE SummerSlam last week.

While talking to Korey Gunz on the live edition of Dropkick DiSKussions, Tom Colohue said:

“Next for Braun Strowman is down the card. He had a pretty good first title reign, it lasted four months. He only really feuded with Bray Wyatt. Yes, he had a match with The Miz and [John Morrison]. But he never really did much beyond that. For a first title reign, that's not bad. And there will be more in the future. He's shown that he can lead the company. Going forward, he will be in the upper midcard now, helping to put people over. We could see a feud with Big E coming in the near future.”

Tom Colohue adds that the absence of Roman Reigns allowed a lot of stars to get a push. Braun Strowman himself benefitted as he was inserted into the match at WrestleMania. He said:

“In Roman's absence, a lot of people were elevated. You see the rise of Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins in Roman's absence. You look at SmackDown now, Braun Strowman has taken that mantle but he's been kicked down the road. The Fiend, he's not going to be the face, but when it comes to the depth charts we heard about, the number one face of SmackDown is going to be The Fiend. And then in order - The Fiend, Jeff Hardy, and Big E has just overtaken Matt Riddle - who is now fourth.”

There is another WWE Draft coming up soon. It would be interesting to see if Braun Strowman remains on the blue brand or moves to Monday Night RAW to go up against the likes of Drew McIntyre, Keith Lee, and others.

The real reason why The IIconics split up on WWE RAW

Peyton Royce and Billie Kay split up on Monday Night RAW this week after they lost their match against Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott. The IIconics have been together ever since they made their way to WWE but will go their separate ways for the first time.

Some rumor suggested that both the Australian stars were going to leave WWE, but PWInsider Elite has rebuffed that. Per the report, the real reason is that Peyton Royce is set for a push as a singles competitor soon.

Mike Johnson reported:

“I was told by several people that Peyton Royce is earmarked for a singles push, they've decided that they wanted to push her, and this is not a case of Billie Kay leaving the company or anything like that. I was told that it's just they want to push Peyton Royce and try and go in a different direction with her.”
“As you noticed, Bille Kay kind of got wiped out on Raw Underground, so my guess perhaps they are going to take her off TV, or put her on SmackDown or somewhere else, but I am told that the reason this happened was not some immediate punishment or immediate issue. The decision was made that Peyton Royce was one of the people who was going to be pushed going further, and this was their means to an end.”

It isn't clear exactly when Peyton Royce will get her WWE singles to push but with The IIconics splitting up this week, it is expected to start in the next few weeks.

Why Keith Lee defeated Randy Orton clean at WWE Payback

Keith Lee stunned the WWE Universe this Sunday when he picked up a clean win over Randy Orton. Moreover, the match lasted just over six minutes, granting the former NXT Champion another highlight in 2020.

Dave Meltzer spoke about the match on the Wrestling Observer Radio. He confirmed that the move was to set up a feud between the two later on. Meltzer claims that Randy Orton will be win the title at Clash of Champions when he takes on Drew McIntyre.

The feud after that would be against "The Limitless" Keith Lee. The clean win at WWE Payback was just the stepping stone to a storyline that is bound to take place in October. He said:

"[Randy] Orton is winning the title from Drew McIntyre after all. They're setting up Orton-Keith Lee title matches as well. It wasn't a great match at all, but just him winning like that from a star-creating standpoint was a good move"

Clash of Champions takes place on Sept. 27. Drew McIntyre is set to defend his title against Randy Orton. "The Viper" defeated Keith Lee and Seth Rollins on Modnay Night RAW this week to earn the opportunity.

Why 'The Fiend' held the WWE title for just a week

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt won the WWE Universal Championship from Braun Strowman at SummerSlam. His latest reign lasted just a week as he dropped the title to Roman Reigns at WWE Payback this past Sunday.

The decision shocked the WWE Universe as the majority weren't expecting The Fiend to drop the title so quickly. On the live edition of Dropkick DiSKussions, Tom Colohue had some interesting backstage rumors on the subject.

He claims that the main reason why WWE put the title on Roman Reigns was to generate more heat on. WWE wants to push the former Shield member as a heel and wants people to boo him from now on. He said:

“As for why they [WWE] gave The Fiend the title - they wanted the face to lose. You're supposed to hate Roman Reigns. They're genuinely worried now that they've made him a bada**, everyone is going to cheer him. That's why in the ThunderDome, people were specifically instructed to boo Roman Reigns.”

As for the next storyline for "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, Alexa Bliss seems to be involved. The former WWE women's champion has been teased as Sister Abigail, but it isn't clear yet if she will take up that role in the future storylines.

Tom Colohue continued:

“When it comes to The Fiend , it's a bit more difficult to say. He should logically be stepping in the ring with Roman Reigns. The storyline that he has isn't with Roman, it's with Alexa Bliss. That's what has got most people interested.”

There is still a good chance that The Fiend will go up against Roman Reigns soon.

Why WWE teamed up Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman

Roman Reigns is now a Paul Heyman Guy. He has turned heel as well. The WWE Universe has been waiting for this heel turn for years now, and they finally got their wishes fulfilled.

Why Reigns teamed up with Heyman is still a mystery, but Tom Colohue has some interesting inputs. He reports that this was a plan five years ago but WWE scrapped it for various reasons.

Now that Brock Lesnar is a free agent and Heyman doesn't have another client on the active roster, WWE decided to team them up. He said:

"The planning for this technically started years ago but wasn't taken very seriously. [Paul] Heyman and Roman [Reigns] have had a long-term relationship. They've known each other and had massive respect for each other for a long time. Even five years ago, as far as WrestleMania 31, they discussed the idea of Paul Heyman in Roman Reigns' corner - wrecking things. Instead, they went through with four straight WrestleMania main events with Roman Reigns as a face. When it comes to this particular moment, it was very late in the day. People didn't know that Roman Reigns would be back until two weeks before SummerSlam, which is why they had to rush a heel turn for Braun Strowman. The decision was made at that moment to go all-in with this.
Especially now that Heyman is available. When Heyman was let go as the RAW Executive director, they [WWE] did mention that they would be focusing on his in-ring duties, but at the time, the only in-ring duty he had was Brock Lesnar. They were planning to bring Brock Lesnar back, but here we are now. Suddenly, there's no one for him to manage, now he's with Roman, now Roman is here, now Roman is a heel, now everything has changed."

As mentioned earlier, WWE wants the WWE Universe to turn on Reigns. The company also expects it to go the way things did for Becky Lynch. She went over with the fans after turning heel. WWE is expecting a similar thing to happen with the new WWE Universal Champion, as well.

Meet the man who called CM Punk the softest man alive HERE