5 major consequences of heel Roman Reigns as Universal Champion

At Payback 2020, Roman Reigns won his second Universal Championship and his fifth World Championship overall. Hopefully, this marks the start of a lengthy run for Roman Reigns, who has never had a World Championship run that's touched 100 days.

Roman Reigns' involvement at Payback 2020 was a bit odd, as he returned at SummerSlam to set up a Universal title Triple Threat match, after which he didn't even show up to the Payback main event. He appeared towards the end, signing the contract while the match was in progress and appearing late enough to beat 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman to capture the Universal Championship.

Not only is Roman Reigns the Universal Champion again after nearly two years, but he's now a heel - something that fans have wanted him to be for over five years now. While his popularity soared after his return from a battle with leukemia, WWE decided that the COVID-era would be a good time to finally turn the former golden boy heel.

Here are five major consequences of Roman Reigns' heel turn, Universal Championship reign, and alliance with Paul Heyman.

#5. Roman Reigns' heel turn could lead to rise of babyfaces such as Matt Riddle and Big E

One big opportunity that the Roman Reigns heel turn presents is the fact that there's a clear opportunity for more babyfaces to rise to the occasion on SmackDown. When looking at the Blue brand, Braun Strowman was the top babyface until SummerSlam, but even after Extreme Rules, his character became too vague to label as a babyface.

Roman Reigns is not on that side anymore, and it gives space for Superstars such as Matt Riddle and Big E to take the opportunity. The timing might work out well for Big E, who is enjoying his first singles run in years.

Matt Riddle appears to be a name that WWE wants to take their time in pushing and it makes sense since not everyone can become a main event star right away. Ultimately, it's going to take time, but if WWE is planning to have Roman Reigns as a top heel long-term, then this opens the door in a big way.