Roman’s Reign has become Unfair and Predictable

Earlier this week I posted an article about Roman’s Not So “Legendary” Reign. The article was met with both sides of commentary from the Internet Wrestling Community and it seems as my take was an unpopular opinion for some. This is a follow up to that article.

The topic is about Roman’s lengthy reign, but the context is also about the IWC feedback my last article received, the implications on the roster, the WWE Universe and why I previously suggested a championship restructure a few months ago.

Hostage Situation?

Smackdown has one main champion and it’s Roman Reigns. He holds the combination of two belts, the Universal Championship and the WWE Championship, unified to be the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Now, if you are a Smackdown superstar, where does that leave you? Roman has been made out to be “untouchable” at the top. The IWC feedback was “that’s why Raw has the World Heavyweight Championship”. Well that’s good, good if you’re a RAW superstar. If you remember, there is a brand split and Smackdown superstars don’t compete on Raw. While they were lenient with the brand split this past year or so, they seem to be committing to the brand split once again. Nick Aldis being brought in as Smackdown General Manager reinforces this. With separate GM’s and a “friendly competition” between shows. The recent Smackdown episode has a GM rivalry brewing. So, anyways, you can be a current Smackdown main eventer, and never have a chance at holding the title. Smackdown roster knows this. What do you think that does to the morale of the Smackdown locker room?

Predictability

The matches are now more predictable than ever because we know Roman’s lengthy reign isn’t going to end at a minor PLE. It will definitely not end on a Smackdown episode, if a title match were to ever happen. We know Roman isn’t going to have his “legendary” reign ended by just anybody. L.A. Knight is extremely over right now. At the time they challenged Roman, Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes were too. How did they fare? A notch in the loss column. One and Done, next. Building Roman Reign’s “legendary” title run was more important. At Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, most of the WWE Universe that watches regularly already knows L.A. Knight isn’t going to fare any better and the match is, once again, predictable … YEAH!

The IWC feedback also consisted of “that’s what makes it special” referring to Roman’s lengthy championship reign with minimal title defenses. While I understand that point to a degree, I again return to my aforementioned points. Predictability and it’s not fair to the rest of the Smackdown roster or even the WWE Universe (the people supporting the product).

An Idea

Back in May of this year, I wrote WWE championships restructure? Fans deserve better championship structuring

In this article I wrote the following:

My idea is simple. Keep Roman Reigns as Universal Champion. Allow him to remain on his part-time schedule. Basically just keep doing what he and the WWE have been doing. However, he would do it sans the WWE Championship. The World Heavyweight Champion will remain on Raw and the WWE Championship will remain on Smackdown. Each brand will then have its own real and true champion that will show up and put in work, the way a champion SHOULD. Roman can continue his farce as “being the best without putting in the work” mentality.

When Roman Reigns decides to show up and put in work, he can face an opponent determined by the WWE Universe. The fans would be able to choose an opponent from the Raw, Smackdown and NXT rosters. If the fan’s choice is a current champion, and that current champion happens to defeat Roman, they would vacate their current championship in lieu of the Universal Championship and a tournament can be held for the newly vacated title. Same process would continue for the Universal Championship going forward.

Final Thoughts

What are your thoughts? Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments below!