Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is once again putting The Rock's name into the atmosphere.

The Tribal Chief mentioned his cousin and other legends when cutting an in-gym promo following the Bloodline's six-man tag victory over RK-Bro and Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania Backlash. 

"When it comes to the Bloodline, when it counts, you can count on us. I don't care who's in there. You can put Randy Orton with anybody. You can put Drew McIntyre with anybody. Put John Cena in there. Throw the Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, The Rock—anybody—and the Bloodline is gonna smash them every time." 

While Reigns has mentioned The Rock in several shoot interviews with publications over the years, this is one of the few times when the undisputed WWE Universal champion has mentioned The Great One by name while in character.

There has been near-constant speculation about The Rock showing up for a match against Reigns at WrestleMania 39 for years. Neither Reigns nor The Rock have cast aside the possibility when asked.

With SummerSlam approaching in two months, it's possible Reigns is starting to plant the seed for a Rock return.

Or it's equally possible he was just throwing out a list of legends in a non-scripted promo. You be the judge. 

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Roman Reigns Contract Update

Roman Reigns cut a cryptic promo at a Newark house show in Trenton, New Jersey, over the weekend, sending fans into a frenzy speculating over his future with WWE. 

"I've been here a couple of times in the past 10 years. I'm starting to work into a new phase in my career, and I honestly don't know if I'll be back here again," Reigns said in the promo. "If that's the case, I just wanna say thank you for all these years of support."

Reigns was also cryptic about his future in a video posted to WWE's Twitter account Monday afternoon, saying (2:15 mark) t he wasn't "going anywhere, unless I am, who knows?" 

The good news? It seems Reigns' WWE career isn't stopping anytime soon.

The bad news? Fans may be seeing a whole lot less of him on the road.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio said Reigns recently signed a new contract that calls for him to work "far less dates." Meltzer did not know how many house shows Reigns would be doing in the future, but his new deal will allow him more freedom to pick and choose when to work.

Even as WWE's live touring schedule remains a big part of the company's brand, their television deals are the backbone of their revenue. Reigns eschewing house shows is probably in his and WWE's long-term interest. Their biggest star takes fewer bumps, which keeps him healthy longer and available to extend his run as the Head of the Table potentially well into his 40s.

Reigns is 36 and has a family. The overwhelming odds are he'll want to be cutting down his travel and work larger house shows and television dates.

Charlotte Written Off WWE TV

One star we won't be seeing much of for a little bit? Charlotte Flair. The former SmackDown women's champion was given a storyline injury after her loss to Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania Backlash, with WWE saying she suffered a "fractured radius."

Fightful Select confirmed the injury was designed to write Flair off television as she prepares to take a break from the company. Meltzer further confirmed the storyline injury was put in place so Flair could take time off for her wedding.

"If you do a broken arm injury, you're going to have to be out of action for at least a couple months," Meltzer said. "Or else it's kind of a stupid injury to do, because it would be so fake if you say you broke your arm and you're back in four weeks."

Flair recently revealed to Ariel Helwani of BT Sport that she plans to marry Andrade El Idolo this summer. 

“We have a [wedding] date. It’s this summer in Mexico, I have my dress,” Flair said. “I think Manny (Andrade) would be a little angry if I walked down the aisle with my title. He was like, ‘Mami, for the wedding, I do not want your hair to look like Charlotte.’ I was like, ‘what does that mean?’ Just less makeup, he likes the fresh face.”

It's unclear when the actual date for the wedding is, but we shouldn't expect to see Charlotte on television anytime soon as she celebrates with her new husband. 

Don't be surprised if that also means a break for Andrade from AEW programming as well.

Trish Stratus Could Return in GM Role, Wants to Be a Heel

It does not appear we've seen the last of Trish Stratus in WWE. The Hall of Famer has been increasingly open about a potential return and recently spoke at a For the Love of Wrestling panel about her desire to play an on-screen authority figure.

"I would gladly accept that role. I always think—like I said, to go back, it has to be something challenging, something different, something different for you guys," Stratus said. "You know, you just don’t wanna see me being a babyface, kicking butt, winning championships, boring, right? I always say if I go back, the one thing I’m missing is a heel run, so that would be kind of fun, you know?"

Stratus has not wrestled a match since losing to Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam in 2019. Based on her comments, if she were to return, she does not want it to be a one-off retirement match, either.

If Stratus were to become a regular part of WWE programming, it would be a fun little wrinkle that could give her a way to write her own exit. Edge is two years older than Status and is currently deep in the midst of a heel run; he doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

Of course, WWE already has a heelish authority figure running things right now in Sonya Deville. 

A little fantasy booking idea: Have a returning babyface Stratus replace Deville, then have Stratus turn heel once the nostalgia pop starts to wear off. That would allow Deville to move back to a full-time role in the ring and makes sense in kayfabe given she's been reprimanded for abusing her power several times in recent weeks.

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Roman Reigns hinted his time in WWE may be heading toward its conclusion after his match at Saturday's live event in Trenton, New Jersey.

Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre in the main event and then grabbed the microphone to address the fans, per Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News.

"I've been here many times, you know what I'm saying? I've been here a couple of times in the past 10 years. And I'm starting to work into a new phase in my career, and I honestly don't know if I'll be back here again," Reigns said. "If that's the case, I just wanna say thank you for all these years of support."

Reigns (real name Joe Anoa'i) is a former college football player at Georgia Tech who had short stints on the NFL rosters of the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars.

The 36-year-old Florida native signed with WWE in 2010 and worked his way through the company's developmental system before arriving to the main roster in 2012 as part of The Shield alongside Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley).

After a successful run with The Shield, which became one of the best factions in wrestling history, Reigns has embarked on a successful singles career that's taken off over the past few years with a dominant Universal Championship run.

He's held the belt since August 2020, a span of more than 600 days, and he unified WWE's top titles with a victory over WWE champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38 last month.

Now the question is whether Reigns may follow in the footsteps of his cousin, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, by using the popularity gained from WWE to head for Hollywood.

Of course, it's always possible Reigns' comments are part of a storyline where he'll continue to tease a WWE exit only for The Rock to return from the acting world for a feud, possibly at SummerSlam in July or a more extended arc that concludes at next year's WrestleMania.

He could also be testing the waters to see whether a Hollywood exit angle could generate some extra heat for a potential feud with the recently returned Cody Rhodes, who WWE would want to operate as a major babyface within that scenario.

So, while it's possible Reigns' remarks in Trenton are a shoot and he's truly unsure whether he'll make another wrestling stop in the city, there are a lot of variables in play. WWE also knows those type of comments would generate major headlines leading into Sunday's WrestleMania Backlash event.

Reigns will team with the other members of The Bloodline, The Usos, to take on McIntyre and RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) in a six-man tag team match at the first pay-per-view show since Mania.

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Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38 to unify the WWE and Universal championships, but don't expect the complete elimination of Raw and SmackDown brand identification in the near future.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported Friday (via Colby Faria of Wresting Inc.) that both Fox (SmackDown) and the USA Network (Raw) want Superstars who only appear regularly on their respective shows.

"Both networks kind of want unique rosters. You can do some of that back-and-forth, but Fox in particular really wants, kind of, exclusivity on their guys," Meltzer said.

It's fair to wonder whether those concerns from the networks had an impact on Sunday's 2022 WrestleMania Backlash card.

Originally, a unification match for the Tag Team titles was scheduled between Raw champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) and SmackDown champions The Usos, who are part of The Bloodline with Reigns.

Between Reigns' triumph at WrestleMania and that scheduled showdown, it was starting to feel like WWE was trending toward the possible end of the brand split.

Instead, the match was altered to become a six-man tag match also featuring Reigns and Drew McIntyre with no titles on the line.

Another sign the brand split is likely to continue came Monday when H. Jenkins of Ringside News reported the WWE draft remains on the tentative schedule for September.

If the company was going to remove the borders between Raw and SmackDown, a draft creating two separate rosters wouldn't be necessary.

So, while some fans within the WWE Universe would have likely enjoyed more freedom of Superstar movement between the shows, it sounds like the networks prefer keeping the more exclusive style in place.

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