While pretty much everyone agrees that WWE’s ongoing Bloodline is great, there remains some criticism of putting both Raw and SmackDown’s top men’s singles titles on Roman Reigns.
It’s served the story well, and the image of the Tribal Chief with the WWE and Universal belts is a cool one. It’s also not without benefits, such as the opportunity it’s given the company to elevate the United States and Intercontinental championships. But especially with Reigns not working a full-time schedule any more, the lack of brand-specific champs does pose a creative/promotional challenge — especially for the three-hour Raw.
Triple H and his teams seem to be aware of those issues. Recent rumors about the company’s WrestleMania 39 plans indicate they hope to have a separate WWE championship match on night one in SoFi Stadium, while Roman faces The Rock (if Dwayne Johnson’s schedule allows it). How they’ll get there isn’t clear.
Per this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE’s at least considering what has to be considered a “nuclear option”. It’s not the plan at this time, but Dave Meltzer writes:
“… there remains a lot of talk of creating a second title for Raw (or SmackDown if they switch brands with Reigns or if someone beats Reigns) in 2023.”
Obviously, this brings up more questions than it answers. The knee-jerk reaction is this would be a very lazy way to handle the situation, and it very well could be. But perhaps there’s a storyline explanation that could make introducing a new belt make sense?
That they’re even considering another title probably means we shouldn’t expect to see Roman be beaten for a belt any time soon, though.
Thoughts?
