Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Roman Reigns, wrasslin, wrestling, wwe
Will Roman Reigns Announce His Return to WWE at Raw Tonight?
As WWE ratings continue to sink year over year and the company faces the competition of AEW and Tony Khan's checkbook, Vince McMahon is pulling out all the stops to turn things around. That includes calling up a bunch of superstars from NXT, shaking up the creative team, hiring new producers, and, if things work out the way they look right now, bringing Roman Reigns back.
Reigns will make an appearance on Raw tonight to update the WWE Universe on his battle with Leukemia, which forced him to relinquish the Universal Championship and take a break from WWE to recover back in October. And tomorrow, he's set for an appearance on Good Morning America to make an important announcement.
Does this mean Reigns has defeated Leukemia and is ready to get back in the ring? That certainly seems to be what his trainer believes…
Of course, even if Reigns has beaten Leukemia and is ready to begin his journey back to the top of WWE, that doesn't necessarily mean it will happen right now. This could be an announcement about a future return to take place later, sort of like the way studios release trailers to let people know they're going to release a trailer. But elite pro wrestlers have also been known to return from injuries sooner than regular people, as Reigns' predecessor, John Cena, has shown time and again. It's not outside the realm of possibility that Reigns is ready to go right now.
If Reigns really is ready to return, it would certainly have a big effect on this year's WrestleMania. A 3-way match between Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch has been the favorite to main event the show, with Seth Rollins taking on Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship. But if Reigns is on the way back, especially looking so strong after overcoming this challenge, then all bets are off.
Reigns has struggled with earning the support of fans for years, mainly as a reaction to WWE's booking more than anything about Reigns himself. But when he announced that his Leukemia had returned and he would need to leave to fight it, the crowd was solidly behind him for the first time since his days in the original run with The Shield. A Reigns return would kick off a new phase of his career, one in which the underdog babyface overcoming the odds storyline would actually be applicable, as what bigger underdog struggle could possibly exist than one against Leukemia? Finally, Reigns could ascend to the role of beloved babyface that WWE has desired for him from the beginning.
But what would that mean for Becky Lynch, or more directly, Seth Rollins? Well, there's just about one more hour before we could find out.