Opinions

DeMarco: Booking Roman Reigns And His Return To WWE

Greg DeMarco

Since his WrestleMania 40 performance, WWE fans worldwide anticipate the return of Roman Reigns. But how exactly do you book it? It’s not as simple as you might think.

Roman Reigns delivered the greatest performance of his career on the biggest stage of his career–at WrestleMania 40. Despite being booked to lose his Undisputed WWE (Universal) Championship, Roman showed up in the best shape possible, was as cocky as ever, and made every effort to look unbeatable.

Why is that important? Because he lost. He built himself up to be unbeatable, and was beaten. He did everything he could to position Cody Rhodes in the best way possible to assume the unenviable task of carrying the WWE Championship after Roman Reigns–arguably the greatest champion in the modern era of WWE.

Since Roman has left, The Bloodline has seen it’s own transformation as Solo Sikoa has taken the reigns (pun not intended, but also not removed) and has many calling him The New Tribal Chief. Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa have joined the crew on SmackDown, and Jimmy Uso has been ousted (and is out with an injury).

Meanwhile, Jey Uso has been killing it on Raw, becoming one of the biggest stars in the entire company.

But Paul Heyman remains the most intriguing character of the bunch. “The Wiseman” is currently tied to Solo’s iteration of The Bloodline, but he’s made it perfectly clear this isn’t Roman’s Bloodline anymore–and he’d prefer that HIS Tribal Chief returned to his post.

So then it’s simple, right? You bring Roman back and insert him into The Bloodline storyline,

To quote the great Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend!”

The Bloodline is only half of the equation for Roman Reigns. He has two well defined storylines to handle upon return:

  • Roman Reigns and The Bloodline Saga
  • Completing the Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes Trilogy

Yes, Cody Rhodes beat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. But he didn’t exactly do it on his own, now did he? In fact, it took a roster full of babyfaces and legends to make sure Cody was successful in ending Roman’s monster run as champion. And that’s all fair and well, because it was outside interference that allowed Roman Reigns to retain his championship against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39.

So we’re even, right? Sure–but who wants to be even?

The world needs Roman vs. Cody 3. But most importantly, Cody Rhodes needs it.

And THAT, loyal reader, is how you bring Roman Reigns back.

WWE SummerSlam 2024: Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes 3

Triple H revealed that the King and Queen Of The Ring winners will get title shots at SummerSlam. It’s an easy assumption that Gunther will win that crown on the men’s side, keeping Cody open for the match with Roman.

The key to this match is keeping The Bloodline out of it. Make this main event a straight up match. No outside interference, no one even at ringside (except MAYBE Paul Heyman).

In order to pull that off, you likely have to keep The Bloodline off of SummerSlam completely. And the only person who can do that is The Wiseman himself.

To do this, you keep Roman Reigns off of television until he makes his entrance at SummerSlam. Let Paul Heyman do the contract signing, and agree to keep The Bloodline out of the building. Show Roman Reigns training (and do the same with Cody Rhodes). Push this like the epic battle that it is. It doesn’t need face-to–face confrontations or bloody beatdowns. The story has already been told.

And in the end, Cody Rhodes pins Roman Reigns, and the post-match handshake is so effective it can eclipse what Brock Lesnar did for Cody at the 2023 SummerSlam.

Enter The Bloodline

Once Roman Reigns has lost to Cody Rhodes, he makes his return to TV on Smackdown, where The Bloodline shows up mid-promo. Roman questions how Solo thinks he’s the Tribal Chief now, when Roman never passed it to him. It’s revealed that The Rock is behind everything, and it ends with an epic beatdown of Roman by Solo and Haku’s kids. Paul Heyman finally leaves Solo, and is only seen with Roman moving forward.

Form here you can reunite Jimmy and Jey, figure out what you’re doing with Jacob Fatu, and build to a fantastic War Games situation and eventual showdown between Roman Reigns and The Rock.

But the lynchpin to Roman Reigns and The Bloodline is a match between Roman and Cody Rhodes. WWE is great with letting things play out over time (and possibly too long at times), and there’s no reason to rush Roman back into The Bloodline. If they play their cards right, they get a showdown for the ages at SummerSlam, and then the continuation of what could go down as the greatest saga in WWE history.

Odds and Ends

I appreciate the fact that some of you actually hit me up to ask if I am still writing, of if I was a short-timer at NoDQ. The fact is I had a crazy few weeks, with our IZW event on May 11th to my son’s high school graduation, and my anniversary (this past Wednesday).

And a big thank you to the handful of NoDQ readers that got their tickets using the site’s promo code! Next time hopefully I get the chance to say Hi. I was the guy in the ring before intermission talking about our sponsors. Stay tuned for news on our upcoming event on August 24th–this is going to be one hell of an event. I will have more to share soon, including that NoDQ promo code. If you did attend in May, drop a comment and let me know what you thought!

Being so busy also means I wasn’t able t keep up with the great opinion columns at the site. However, this week we saw two great columns regarding the IWC, starting with JP Tokusen’s piece about the impending death of the IWC, to Mr. Tito’s thoughts on the underlying nature of the IWC since day one.

And while you’re enjoying your Friday/long weekend, check out my friends at the DWI Podcast as they get us ready for the King & Queen Of The Ring.

Until next time, remember to Always Use Your Head!