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What's the story?
Roman Reigns may be away from the WWE spotlight as he undergoes treatment for Leukaemia, but the Big Dog still manages to be in the news every week.
There is no timetable regarding Reigns' return as of this writing, but new speculation from Wrestling Observer states that the former WWE Universal Champion could make a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble.
In case you didn't know...
Reigns shocked the world on the RAW episode of October 22nd, 2018 when he revealed his previously unknown battle with Leukaemia and relinquished the Universal Championship in order to take some time off.
However, WWE hasn't shied away from mentioning the name of the polarising star as the WWE Universe have been constantly reminded about his accomplishments and current predicament on WWE programming on a weekly basis.
He was mentioned on this week's RAW itself and the folks at Wrestling Observer couldn't help but analyze what's could be in store for the near future.
The heart of the matter
When asked whether Reigns would show up at the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV, Dave Meltzer responded by not ruling out the possibility. He said that Reigns is currently vacationing in Hawaii and is also devotedly spending time training.
Meltzer added, "It’s not like he’s confined to a hospital bed or anything like that. The last I heard he was training in Hawaii so he’s not at home or maybe he is now, but he wasn’t last week.”
Reigns was recently spotted making a public appearance with retired pro boxer Joseph Parker and as things stand, is solely focused on his leukaemia treatment. In a recent interview with Wrestling News, Braun Strowman said that Reigns' recovery is going according to plan and that his on-screen rival is taking it one day at a time.
What's next?
Don't expect Reigns to get physical at the Rumble even if he does appear as there is still a long way to go before that happens. WWE would want to set up a big storyline to facilitate the return of its poster boy and would ideally build it up in a proper manner.
Reigns can show up at Royal Rumble on January 27th in a non-wrestling capacity to maybe give an update regarding his on-going treatment.
It would certainly be a newsworthy moment of the night but it's highly unlikely to happen.
