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Roman Reigns’ New Nickname Means WWE’s Top Spot is Wide Open

By AJ Balano

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After Roman Reigns’ loss at Battleground, WWE inconspicuously dropped his tagline of ‘The Guy’. What does this mean for the number one spot in the company now?

At Battleground, the self-proclaimed ‘Guy’, Roman Reigns, returned from a much-maligned suspension, and went up against his former Shield brothers in arms, Seth Rollins, dubbed ‘The Man’, and the reigning, defending WWE Champion, Dean Ambrose, who jokingly referred to himself as ‘The Dude’. Ambrose would retain his title by cleanly pinning Roman Reigns in the middle of the ring; no controversy, no dirty tactics. Clean. The once indestructible, unstoppable juggernaut found himself being beaten fair and square for the second time in a month.

The following night on Raw, Roman took part in one of two Fatal 4-Way matches to determine the No. 1 contendership for the unveiled WWE Universal Championship; a match that would take place at SummerSlam against the number one draft pick for Raw, Seth Rollins. It would be a unique night for Roman, for various reasons. For starters, he was not given any mic time in the ring, resulting in him being unable to deliver his signature promo, “I’m not a good guy, I’m not a bad guy, I’m THE Guy”. Furthermore, the commentary team no longer referred to him as such. Finally, by the end of the night, Roman was pinned cleanly yet again, by main roster newcomer Finn Balor, effectively removing Roman from the main event picture.

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This past Monday night, Roman interrupted Rusev and engaging in an impromptu brawl with the incumbent United States champion. The segment confirmed two things: Roman Reigns was now challenging for the second-tier title on Raw; and that his de-push was real, descending from the headlining marquee attraction, down to the upper mid-card. He also did not say a single word on the mic, harkening back to his early Shield days when he was the silent bruiser of the triage. However, most interestingly, was the new nickname that was bestowed upon him by the commentary team: ‘The Big Dog’. When you add it all up, WWE has seemingly dropped Roman Reigns’ status as ‘The Guy’ altogether.

Is the spot of ‘The Guy’ wide open for the taking?

Now that Roman is going by the moniker of ‘The Big Dog’, what does this mean? Is the spot of ‘The Guy’ wide open for the taking? Leading up to SummerSlam, at the moment, Seth Rollins is the one closest who can lay claim to the title. As the overall number one pick of the Draft, Rollins can back up when he suggests that he is ‘The Man’ in WWE, a point he hammered in his confrontation with Finn Balor on Monday night. However, as the WWE Universal Championship is technically vacant at the moment, perhaps the top spot may end up going to Rollins’ opponent, Finn Balor? No matter which way you slice it, the position of the company’s top guy is currently available. It could be Rollins, it could be Balor, it could be any one of the superstars in the upper mid-card on the cusp of breaking through the other side such as Kevin Owens.

What it does mean, is that clearly, as of this moment, ‘The Guy’ is no longer Roman Reigns. Obviously paying the price for his untimely suspension, it will be interesting to see if Roman will be able to rebound from this monumental setback and work his way back to the good graces of the powers that be. Or will the WWE even let him get back to the summit, or just let him flounder in limbo for an extended period of time?

While Roman returned from his suspension with his character virtually unchanged, perhaps this indefinite time frame will allow him to develop a new gimmick for himself

It took Triple H nearly three years to become WWE Champion, when he was essentially guaranteed a push in back in 1996, however, it was taken from him and given to Stone Cold Steve Austin after Triple H’s involvement in the infamous ‘Curtain Call’. By the time he became champion, Triple H had evolved from his ‘Blueblood’ gimmick, to one of the founding members of D-Generation X, to finally becoming a star in his own right as The Game. While Roman returned from his suspension with his character virtually unchanged, perhaps this indefinite time frame will allow him to develop a new gimmick for himself.

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Given that Roman is now feuding with Rusev, will they make the Bulgarian Brute drop the title to the former chosen one? Or will WWE reinforce their punishment and remind Roman of his place and have him lose, despite a tremendous effort? It would seem unlikely that in the midst of his de-push, or punishment, however, you want to call it, that WWE would reward Roman with a championship run. The wrestling world was already in arms that WWE would allow Roman to compete in the main event of Battleground for the WWE Championship almost immediately after serving his suspension, and then again in the main event of Raw against Balor for a shot at the WWE Universal Championship No. 1 contendership. A win over Roman would do wonders for Rusev as the heel champion and add another feather to his impressive cap. In addition, a loss to Rusev would mean that Roman doesn’t necessarily have to be pigeon-holed as the United States champion and forced to stay in the upper-mid card for several months defending his title. A loss would allow Roman to keep moving up the card, setting up a road to redemption angle that could feature him in feuds with Sheamus, Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, and Sami Zayn.

The new Raw intro bumper at the start of the show didn’t even feature Roman at the end of it like it had normally done

At the end of the day, it has become readily evident that WWE has apparently moved on from the idea of Roman Reigns being their top guy. The new Raw intro bumper at the start of the show didn’t even feature Roman at the end of it like it had normally done; instead, it was the new Women’s Champion, Sasha Banks. The newly christened Big Dog who often talks about being in the big fight has perhaps the biggest fight in his career on his hands, and it isn’t against any singular opponent or for a prestigious championship. It’s an uphill climb to prove to the WWE management, Vince, and to the fans that he is worthy of being ‘The Guy’.

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Everything falls on Roman from here on out to reclaim his name. He isn’t getting any help from the higher ups anymore, he isn’t getting the benefit of the doubt from Vince anymore who green-lit his meteoric rise. He won’t have a stable to get the rub off of like he had with the Shield. He may very well no longer be on the talk shows or the commercials, and the fans have even more of a reason to despise him for who his character is and what he had done. He has to start over from square one. ‘One Versus All’ used to be one of Roman’s catchphrases, but from now on, if he is to make it back to where he was before his fall from grace, it literally will be one versus all.

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