Backstage details on the future of WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns – Reports
The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns will defend the WWE Universal Championship against Riddle on SmackDown this week. The match was originally planned at Money in the Bank but was preponed for SmackDown. Reigns will appear sporadically after his match against Riddle.
WWE made Reigns the Unified WWE Universal Champion, hoping he'd appear on RAW and SmackDown. The Tribal Chief negotiated a new contract, allowing him to appear on fewer dates and only at big events.
As per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the Riddle and Reigns match was moved to SmackDown to help increase ratings. He also revealed what the future is for Reigns after SmackDown this week:
"The schedule for Reigns over the next three months is SmackDown on 6/17 against Riddle for the title, SmackDowns on 6/24, 7/8 and 7/22 (building for SummerSlam) and RAW 7/25 in Madison Square Garden. I’m surprised he’s not listed for the 7/29 SmackDown. He’s also booked 7/30 for SummerSlam and 9/3 for Clash at the Castle."
.@SuperKingofBros just kneed The Head of the Table!
#SmackDown @WWERomanReigns @HeymanHustle @WWEUsos https://t.co/J1paSBuAtf
Reason why major stipulation was added to Roman Reigns vs. Riddle
This week on RAW, Paul Heyman announced that if Riddle were to lose his match against Reigns on SmackDown, he'd never be able to challenge for the WWE Universal Title until Reigns is champion. Meltzer noted that the idea was to add a stipulation to make Riddle seem like a legitimate threat to The Tribal Chief:
"The stipulation is that if Reigns wins, then Riddle can never challenge for the title again as long as Reigns is champion. This was done because they had Riddle win over Zayn on 6/10 with the stipulation that Riddle couldn’t appear on Smackdown ever again if he lost, with the idea Riddle will win with an extreme stipulation in place."
Riddle vs. Reigns! NEXT WEEK on #SmackDown https://t.co/CofFK4hzfq
It's unlikely that The Original Bro will beat Roman Reigns on SmackDown. Although Reigns has very few dates in the coming time, he'll likely retain the WWE Universal Championship on SmackDown.
Suggested: Will Riddle be able to match up against Roman & win? Here's what former WWE writer Vince Russo thinks