Why Roman Reigns' return could reportedly stall Big E's singles push
Roman Reigns' return was a welcomed one, with The Big Dog turning heel for the first time in six-and-a-half years. Apart from just the heel turn, Roman Reigns' overall presence on SmackDown was undeniable and the main event scene certainly missed him.
WWE wasted no time in inserting Roman Reigns in the Universal title picture and with Paul Heyman now by his side, he's a 2-time Universal Champion. A month before that, WWE began to push Big E as a singles star after Kofi Kingston stated he would be out for six weeks with an injury.
Big E's singles push has been going well so far, with the multi-time tag team Champion getting a constant spotlight on SmackDown. However, Tom Colohue revealed on Dropkick DiSKussions that Big E's singles push may have been stalled:
Meanwhile, Big E's push seems to have been stalled with the Sheamus roadblock. Hopefully, that will be the beginning of something rather than the end of something. But, just continuing to throw him up against the same people is starting to get a bit stale. Kofi is back soon, and at that point, I can see Big E returning to the tag scene because as per usual, they need tag teams.
How did Roman Reigns' return impact Big E's plans?
Colohue added that it wasn't that anyone lost confidence in Big E, but there was a plan and that Roman Reigns' return may have thrown a wrench in those plans:
I don’t think anybody has lost confidence with Big E. A lot of pf people have continued to tell me that he is one of the most popular guys backstage and one of the most popular guys with the idea of getting a solid push out of it. That’s the one thing a lot of people really want to make happen. When it comes to his individual push, I’m not sure whether this was initially the plan here. It was said in interviews that there was a plan and it was explained to him what that plan would be, but going forwards, it’s hard to see that what is happening now is really long-term planning. Now it could be that Roman returning threw a wrench in things as it as done for a few people but when it comes to that big Big E push, I think we’ve all been waiting for it for a long time and for me, this is good enough.
It's interesting that Roman Reigns' return may have had something to do with it. One would imagine that with Roman Reigns now being a heel, Braun Strowman having turned heel and 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt now in a character limbo, it would encourage WWE to start pushing newer babyfaces.
Regardless, we believe that Big E will eventually get his time as a singles star once it's all said and done. The New Day might be one of WWE's greatest tag teams, but nobody can deny Big E's potential as a singles star.