Roman Reigns

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW.

Uncle Howdy Could Be Bo Dallas

For the first time, the mysterious Uncle Howdy spoke during Friday night's edition of SmackDown.

As Bray Wyatt cut his promo to close the show, Howdy interrupted Wyatt in a seeming attempt to pull him back to the dark side of his personality.

Wyatt has been presenting his new character largely as "himself" over the past few weeks, speaking on how much he appreciates fans and how they brought him out of the darkest period of his life. The promos have included some real-life elements, including allusions to the death of people close to Wyatt, while also clearly teasing something more sinister in the works.

One possible clue as to Uncle Howdy's identity was spotted by fans Friday night, with the earring Howdy was wearing looking similar to the one worn by Bo Dallas—Wyatt's real-life brother–wore during his WWE run.

The earring could be a red herring, and Wyatt's done a great job of keeping the mystery alive as his return approaches the one-month mark. That said, we're starting to get to the point something tangible needs to happen, so a battle of the brothers to start out Wyatt's return to WWE could be an interesting way to keep him out of the title picture.

Logan Paul Plans to 'F--k Up' Reigns in Saudi

It's a pretty good time to be the Paul brothers.

Jake Paul moved his boxing record to 6-0 with a unanimous-decision win over Anderson Silva, while Logan Paul is set for a one-on-one clash against Roman Reigns at Saturday's Crown Jewel live event.

In typical Paul family fashion, Logan says he's ready to shock the world in Saudi.

“Truthfully, I keep to myself. I imagine there are a few wrestlers who have a problem with me going for the title in my third match and that’s ridiculous, and I acknowledge that," Paul said on the TimboSugarShow podcast. "But I don’t acknowledge The Tribal Chief, and I’m going to f--k him up in Saudi Arabia.”

Listen. We all know Logan Paul isn't winning this match. WWE did not build Reigns into one of the most dominant champions in pro wrestling history to feed him a YouTuber. If they did, it would be one of the most catastrophic decisions in wrestling history.

Cody Rhodes remains the overwhelming favorite and most logical person to ultimately unseat Reigns as WWE champion. The Rock, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn all have arguments in their favor, but ultimately, Rhodes accomplishing the dream (pun intended) is too good of a story to pass up.

That said, it's almost equally certain that Logan Paul will put on a better match than anyone expected. He's looked largely sensational in the ring during his short WWE run, displaying a combination of athleticism and selling ability that puts him far beyond most people wrestling only their third match.

Reigns is more than capable of carrying this match and making it something worth talking about Saturday afternoon.

But, please, a note from the peanut gallery: Allow Reigns to beat Paul clean. Do not force chicanery on to a match that should have a pretty straightforward finish. Please.

Karl Anderson Will Not Participate in NJPW's Battle Autumn

To the surprise of no one, New Japan announced Karl Anderson will officially not defend his NEVER Openweight Championship at this weekend's Battle Autumn event. The match will be replaced by a non-title match between Yujiro Takahashi and Hikuleo.

Anderson's status for the event was pretty clear from the moment The Good Brothers returned to WWE and reformed The OC with AJ Styles. With a match against The Judgment Day coming up at Crown Jewel, there was no way for Anderson to realistically be in Japan and Saudi Arabia in the course of the same weekend.

"NJPW holds its champions to the highest standard of professionalism. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by this matter," New Japan said in a statement.

It's unclear if Anderson plans to defend the championship at a different date.

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Conflicting reports have surfaced regarding a potential on-screen rivalry between undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns and the recently returned Bray Wyatt.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc's Marco Rovere), Reigns vs. Wyatt is an idea that has been discussed internally within WWE because of the strong reactions Wyatt has garnered since returning at Extreme Rules this month.

Fightful Select (h/t Rovere) later reported that a WWE creative source said Reigns vs. Wyatt is not being considered currently. The source reportedly said, "Where would we go from there?" with regard to a Reigns vs. Wyatt rivalry, and that the company "learned from the Fiend run" that the angle wouldn't work.

Reigns is the top star in the company, and he is on the verge of being champion for 800 consecutive days. That is essentially the length of his run as a heel as well, and it has succeeded in making him more popular than ever with the WWE fanbase.

Despite being a three-time world champion and one of WWE's most popular Superstars of the past 10 years, Wyatt was shockingly released last year amid a flurry of budget cuts.

He remained a free agent for over a year, but the door for his return was kicked open when Vince McMahon retired from his roles as chairman, CEO and head of creative.

Triple H became head of WWE creative in place of McMahon and went to work on bringing back several Superstars who had been released from the company. To this point, Wyatt's return has been the biggest of all.

Anticipation for Wyatt's return was built up over several weeks with "White Rabbit" vignettes and clues via QR codes. When the return finally happened, it was heralded as one of the greatest and most memorable moments in recent WWE history.

Fans have shown their appreciation for Wyatt's return by making him the top merchandise seller in the company ahead of Reigns and The Bloodline, per Meltzer (h/t Shivangini Rawat of Ringside News).

It can be argued that Wyatt has already been re-established as the top babyface in WWE, perhaps making him the ideal foil for Reigns at some point.

For now, the Wyatt character seems to be battling his inner demons rather than another Superstar, while Reigns is preparing to defend his title against Logan Paul at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 5.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Don't expect to see Roman Reigns back on TV every week anytime soon.

That said, he'll be a pretty regular fixure for at least the next few weeks.

Mike Johnson of PW Insider reported Reigns is currently slated for the Oct. 28 SmackDown and Oct. 31 Raw ahead of the Crown Jewel live event. The undisputed WWE Universal champion is also slated for the Nov. 11 and Nov. 18 SmackDowns ahead of Survivor Series, though he's not currently slated for the Nov. 25 go-home show.

The schedule would imply Reigns is slated to work the next two Premium Live Events, which makes a ton of logical sense. Reigns is scheduled to go one-on-one against Logan Paul in Saudi Arabia, and the War Games setup for Survivor Series this year would feel incomplete without the Head of the Table.

With WWE set to take a PLE break between Survivor Series and January's Royal Rumble, Reigns will likely go heavy into part-time mode in December and early January before setting up his Rumble program.

Reigns has worked an increasingly sparse schedule since WrestleMania, cutting out a majority of the live-event touring dates. He has wrestled just five times on television or a PLE since WrestleMania.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).