SANTA MONICA, CA - JULY 19: Wrestler Roman Reigns attends the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Sports 2018 at Barker Hangar on July 19, 2018 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
Is Roman Reigns still a part of WWE?
WWE, of late, has been going to great lengths to pretend that Roman Reigns doesn’t exist at all.
One of the biggest superstars of the modern era of WWE, the Big Dog would have been the reigning WWE SmackDown champion if things had gone differently.
Inserted into a title feud with Goldberg ahead of WrestleMania 36, Reigns was tipped to defeat the former WCW man at the Show of Shows last month. But, he pulled out of the main-event clash due to health concerns amid the coronavirus crisis.
Having battled with leukemia twice, Reigns has been left with a weakened immune system, due to which he decided to withdraw from WrestleMania 36.
In his stead, Braun Strowman was inserted into the match against Goldberg, and inevitably the Monster Among Men beat the Hall of Famer to steal the belt.
Fair play to Reigns for putting his health concerns over everything else. But WWE seem to have taken it the wrong way.
Vince McMahon had reportedly instructed the commentary team to not mention Reigns’ name in any way on television post WrestleMania. On Monday night’s Raw though, WWE took this pretence to a whole new level.
Ahead of the 2020 Money in the Bank later this week, WWE put together a video promo showing successful cash-ins from the past to build hype for of the PPV event.
At #1, it included Seth Rollins cashing-in his briefcase in the WrestleMania 31 main event between Brock Lesnar and Reigns.
After Reigns and Lesnar had battled and bruised each other, Rollins came out of nowhere, curb-stomped Lesnar, who had been hit with a spear by Reigns. Then, he went onto pin Reigns to become WWE champion.
However, WWE, in Monday’s promo, completely edited Reigns out of the video, blacking out the moment when Rollins pinned him. Instead, they just showed the clip of the Monday Night Messiah with the championship belt in his hands.
It is one thing to drop any angles Roman was involved in, as it is unclear when he will return. But to go to such great lengths to deliberately erase him out of a highlights package brings into question if things are alright between the wrestler and the promotion.
Reigns hasn’t been seen on screen since March. As things stand, he has been allowed to choose his own return date. He will not be pushed into coming back by the company any earlier than he feels safe to do so.
It would be petty for even WWE’s standards to hold a grudge against someone who is immuno-compromised and as a result, decided to withdraw from WrestleMania. But then it’s Vince McMahon.
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