Roman Reigns Pulled From His Advertised TV Appearances After WWE Backlash

Roman Reigns isn't going to be around for WWE in June after being taken off the promotional material of every Raw taping slated for the month.

Roman Reigns Pulled From His Advertised TV Appearances After WWE Backlash

Roman Reigns [via- Cageside Seats]

Roman Reigns was advertised to appear on every Raw taping through May and June as of last weekend. However, he’s been pulled from all June dates in a baffling change. Moreover, it’s been reported via the Wrestling Observer‘s Daily Update section that ‘The OTC’ isn’t scheduled to be at the Night of Champions PLE in Saudi Arabia on June 27.

That’s why WWE took him off the Raw tapings building towards it, as there was no reason to put him on TV when he’s not going to work the said premium live event in Riyadh. There will be more to it should Reigns lose the World Heavyweight title to Jacob Fatu this Saturday at Backlash.

But if it’s the other way around and he retains that strap, he still wouldn’t make any TV appearances in June unless anything changes. It has evoked criticism within the wrestling community on the internet that’s trashing the current world champion for resorting to his part-time status despite vowing otherwise.

‘The Head of the Table’ proclaimed on the WrestleMania 42 post-show that he would be there all summer to fix “all this part-time crap.” Since dispatching CM Punk at WrestleMania for his seventh world title win in WWE, Roman Reigns reunited with his cousins, The Usos, on Raw after Mania.

Just as the three of them got back on the same page, Jacob Fatu emerged to declare war against Reigns. The latter gave Fatu a week’s time to think through his rash decision, but ‘The Samoan Werewolf’ remained hellbent on challenging him.

In fact, Fatu even used the Tongan Death Grip to squeeze the air out of Reigns’ lungs last Monday. Regardless of what happens in their match at Backlash, Reigns is currently on track to appear on all editions of Raw in May starting from tonight’s taping in Omaha.

This would leave him with three more dates in this month, the tail end of which is when WWE will head to Turin for Clash in Italy on May 31. One should definitely expect ‘The Tribal Chief’ to have a meaningful presence at that show, factoring in his scheduled Raw appearances leading to WWE’s PLE debut in Italy. He’s then reported for an entire month off in June and would likely return in time for SummerSlam.

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Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu to sign on the dotted line on Raw

As announced by GM Adam Pearce on social media, Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu will sign the contract for their title match at Backlash this weekend on Raw. ‘The Samoan Werewolf’ has been unhinged of late, causing chaos every time he gets to it. He singlehandedly destroyed Solo Sikoa‘s MFTs two weeks ago on SmackDown.

Jacob Fatu and Roman Reigns on Raw
Jacob Fatu and Roman Reigns on Raw [via- WWE]

This past Friday, Fatu linked up with Royce Keys in a backstage segment, where the erstwhile Powerhouse Hobbs talked about their history and how he’d be rooting for him in his quest for glory. The pep talk came across as an effective dynamic to add to the Fatu-Reigns story.

Fatu and Keys were then ambushed by Sikoa and the towering Talla Tonga, who was made to go through the commentary desk at the hands of Fatu in the dying minutes on SmackDown. After wiping out Tonga, Fatu walked right through The Usos in a strong message to their cousin, Roman Reigns.

It would be interesting to hear what the erstwhile leader of the Bloodline would have to say to Fatu when they meet on Raw this week. Unlike other members of the Anoa’i lineage, the ‘Samoan Werewolf’ doesn’t look like someone who would bend to Reigns’ demand of acknowledging him as his tribal chief.

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