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Roman Reigns’ Suspension Booking is WWE’s Ultimate Test

By Rob Wolkenbrod

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Monday Night Raw begins WWE’s ultimate test of how they use Roman Reigns, even though he will be nowhere in sight.

By now, wrestling fans are aware that Roman Reigns was suspended on Tuesday for 30 days due to a violation of WWE’s Wellness Policy. This news came out less than 24 hours after he was put into the WWE Battleground main event. Reigns and Seth Rollins will challenge Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

The Thursday, June 23 episode of SmackDown was the first show without Reigns. His name was mentioned at least once and was shown in a graphic for the Battleground main event. While this is notable, the blue brand is still irrelevant, as least, for the next three weeks, until the brand split. This makes Monday’s episode of Raw the beginning of the test for WWE’s promotion of Reigns.

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WWE is tasked with building a main event with a suspended star on live programming. While Ambrose and Rollins can hold the fort, Reigns’ absence will obviously be notable. However, seeing WWE have their performers address the elephant in the room shouldn’t be expected, especially for someone like Reigns.

That’s the thing, though. It’s “someone like Reigns”. The Big Dog has been groomed to become John Cena’s replacement, so he’s looked invincible for the past two years. Reigns rarely takes clean pinfalls, miraculously overcomes the odds, and can manage through Superstars hitting their best moves. It’s not even that, as Reigns has been made to be this clean figurehead for WWE. In a shred of irony, he was even on the front page of the company’s Wellness Policy corporate page. Add in his growing Make-A-Wish foundation list and his face appearing on almost everything WWE.

For all that WWE has made Reigns do, they aren’t going to ruin their own progress. It’s selfish, looks horrible for public relations and may turn off fans. However, keeping Reigns in the spotlight like nothing happened may be a sign of this being a “best for business” move for WWE.

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The test will begin on Monday night with Raw, which is the first of four flagship shows that the company has to use to build up Battleground. They will all be without Reigns too, as his suspension ends on July 21, just three days before the Sunday PPV. This may be Creative’s opportunity to get “creative”, but if WWE is going to make it like nothing happened to Reigns, then his likeness will be used without constraint to the fullest extent.

The climax of this test will be at the WWE Draft, which takes place on Tuesday, July 19. If Reigns wasn’t suspended, he probably would have been selected No. 1 overall for Raw or SmackDown. So without his presence, that shakes up the whole draft, but also may make the former world champion into a bigger star.

In 2002, Stone Cold Steve Austin walked out on WWE for a week. It turns out that the only episode of Raw he missed was the first-ever draft. Due to his situation, WWE made him a “free agent”, and able to choose which brand he wanted to wrestle for. Austin was an icon for the company and beloved by fans, so the impact of this booking decision wasn’t enormous. That’s not the case with Reigns.

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If anything close to this is done for Reigns, it will look like WWE making him a special case. He would get to go wherever he wants to, getting preferential treatment on TV, despite everything coming down to a booking decision. Getting the focus put on a Superstar coming off a 30-day suspension as he makes “The Decision 2016” doesn’t send a positive image to not only the fan base, but the other wrestlers in the company. Company ethics would come into play, which could make for an ugly scene behind the scenes, especially if most of the locker room is not using anything illegal. Why should someone who used a banned substance and was suspended be rewarded? How about the guy who worked his tail off to get to his position and didn’t do something against company policy? Wouldn’t this be the case in a typical workplace?

Then, there is the fallout of the situation.

Reigns will have a shot at winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Battleground. Suspension or not, he’s a believable candidate to win. There was a strange rumor floating around about Ambrose’s title reign being short. If that’s the case, we would see Reigns or Rollins win the belt.

Despite pinning Reigns clean, the Architect had a title reign that lasted 120 seconds after Ambrose cashed in. Would WWE just throw the title right back on the guy who couldn’t last more than a bathroom break with the strap?

Then, there is Reigns. If he wins the title back at Battleground, we could be in for a night of backlash, especially if does this as a babyface. Based on the past two years, there shouldn’t be any expectation of a heel turn, even if it’s necessary. Would WWE really be willing to turn the guy who is at the front of most of their promotional material bad? Probably not, and the results have been clear.

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This all falls on the back of WWE. The ball is in their court for the next three-and-a-half weeks to determine what to do with Roman Reigns. Part one is Raw. Part two is the draft. Part three is Battleground. Part four is the fallout. The similarity? All four are equally important.

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