Opinion: Roman Reigns' move to Smackdown is perfect for him and WWE
On last night’s edition of Smackdown, Vince McMahon announced the “biggest acquisition in Smackdown history” which turned out to be Elias. This was interrupted by Roman Reigns, who delivered a Superman Punch to McMahon and Elias. This move makes perfect sense and is good for both Reigns and WWE.
Firstly, before his absence last year fans had grown tired of Reigns and his character. No matter what WWE tried to do to get Reigns cheered as a babyface it didn’t work. However, since his return Reigns has been getting cheers for the most part.
After a while though, one would think that those cheers would turn back to boos again once Reigns returns to the main event picture and win the Universal Championship. Especially given the fact that Reigns has done everything and feuded with everyone he possibly can on RAW.
With the move to Smackdown, not only does Reigns have new faces to feud with, but it also gives him a fresh reboot. Before he moves back to the WWE title picture, most likely in the summer, Reigns can have short feuds with guys like Shinsuke Namakura, Russev, Cesaro (who seems to have split from Sheamus), and others.
When he is back in the main event scene, a babyface v. babyface feud with Kofi Kingston could be very interesting and the following feud with possibly Big E, Randy Orton, and Daniel Bryan would also be great. The point is this move is definitely better than having him on RAW feuding with Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, and the same old faces he had been feuding with.
This moves also makes sense for the WWE as well, since Smackdown is moving to FOX in October, they will want their biggest name on the show. Whether fans like it or not, that is Roman Reigns. He is the face of the company and any show that he is on will be pushed as the “A show”.
Also, look at all of the faces Smackdown added in the Superstar Shakeup. While they lost AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and The Miz, they gained new faces while keeping some of the big names they already had. Smackdown is positioned to be the main focus for WWE going forward, and Reigns is a big part of that.