Despite months of building The Bloodline storyline and making Sami Zayn a popular babyface with fans, WWE have decided his match with Roman Reigns for the title will be at (what has increasingly become) a throwaway Premium Live Event before Reigns turns his attention to his “real” challenger in Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes (who I’d only give a 50/50 chance at beating him). Leaving him, or Rhodes if successful, no one else of main event caliber to feud with on the entire roster following Wrestlemania. How did we get here?
Introduced as a heel as part of the Shield, a faction which attacked countless superstars 3-on-1, Reigns was rebranded a babyface in the mid-2010s despite his strong history of being a heel and not being over with fans who often fought his push. After nearly half a decade of this failed formula, Regins was eventually turned heel and paired with Paul Heyman and the Usos (the only ones other than Zayn helped by the current two-year storyline) forming a new top heel clique: The Bloodline. Of course the major flaw in the storyline that WWE never wanted Zayn as a babyface champion, leaving no payoff for fans, is an entirely different problem worth discussion at a later date.
Since that point Reigns has been dominant (when he bothers to show up, as his appearances have continued to dwindle as his star has risen) beating an assortment of challengers who then either left the company or were pushed so far down the card they would never sniff the main event again. No one quite makes mid-carders like WWE and Roman Reigns. Creating the dominant champion Vince McMahon has been jonsing for since Hulkamania also recreated the same problems of 80s WWF with a champion so dominant no one else looks worthy to challenge him. With no Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, or even an Ultimate Warrior in sight, where do we go from here?
Despite recent loses by many of their wrestlers, AEW’s cupboards are full of main event talent who haven’t been hurt by those losses. You could easily see Jon Moxley (Roman’s Shield buddy who left WWE), Claudio Castagnoli (a fan favorite of WWE who was given one brief moment to shine after a decade in the company only to be squashed by Roman and sent to job to the likes of Ridge Holland and Happy Corbin), Bryan Danielson (who WWE never wanted as a main eventer, fighting fans at every turn, and who Roman smashed, stacked, and pinned along with Edge to wash his hands of both of them), Adam Cole (who WWE wanted to make a manager), Chris Jericho (whose latest career resurgence happened only after leaving WWE for Japan and later AEW), Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy (wrestlers who would never fit into the WWE mold), Keith Lee and Samoa Joe (who WWE saw as too fat), Kenny Omega, Ricky Starks, “Hangman” Adam Page, Malakai Black, Wardlow, and even Jack Perry, Konosuke Takeshita, Miro, Pac, and Hook all as possible future world champions. The AEW roster is teaming with main event talent. Where are those contenders in WWE?
Roman Reigns happened. The previously mentioned “beast” of the WWE has been consistently owned by Reigns since 2018 (often through the overuse of the ref bump). After hurting the credibility of other wrestlers himself (see Kofi Kingston), Lesnar has gone from dominant monster to Roman Reigns’ bitch (although that doesn’t stop WWE from still trying to promote him as a legitimate contender). There’s Bobby Lashley who is owned by Brock Lesnar, who in turn is owned by Reigns and therefore at least two levels removed from the top spot. And former main eventers turned forever mid-carders in AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre, and Finn Bálor (the first WWE Universal Champion who Reigns defeated when “God” apparently interfered on his behalf breaking the ring and destroying Balor’s credibility which WWE still to this day has yet to fully rehabilitate).
And while they have been building up Roman Reigns and The Bloodline storyline, WWE have let every other male wrestler twist in the wind with inconsistent storylines (and don’t get me started on wasting the talent of some of their female roster, such as Alexa Bliss, for years). The only other superstar who has gotten any kind of push in recent months is the returning Bray Wyatt which has been, to put it kindly, an unmitigated disaster which has dragged on for months without any development or advancement of story or character.
While Rhodes might be the immediate solution to solve the Reigns problem, the wreckage of Reigns’ reign has left quite a bit of rebuilding to do as WWE has made no effort to yet rebuild the former challengers into legitimate contenders for anything more than a mid-card belt (and, no, I’m not recognizing Judgement Day as either more than the middest of the mid). The only real challengers would be Seth Rollins (who has feuded for months with both Reigns and Rhodes forcing WWE into rehashing already stale storylines) or temporarily elevating a current mid-carder who doesn’t feel ready onl to get swallowed up like the rest, beaten immediately, and pushed back down the card potentially damaging legitimate runs later (see Finn Bálor). In essence, the problem of Roman Reigns, a monster of WWE’s own creation, remains unsolved.