WWE News: SmackDown star adamantly claims he did not attack Roman Reigns
What's the story?
Despite having long-term problems with Roman Reigns, Elias has claimed in a video on social media that he is not the person who orchestrated the attack on “The Big Dog” on the July 30 episode of WWE SmackDown Live.
In case you didn't know…
In what has turned out to be one of the biggest WWE mysteries of 2019 so far, Roman Reigns narrowly avoided being struck with scaffold and metal in the backstage area shortly before he was due to be interviewed by Kayla Braxton.
Buddy Murphy originally emerged as the main suspect behind the attack, as he was shown in the background after Reigns walked away, but WWE.com then provided an update which revealed that the incident was caused by an error that was made by an unknown forklift driver.
This has led people to speculate that Daniel Bryan, who has used a forklift in WWE before, could have been involved, while Reigns’ recent rivals – Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre, Elias and Samoa Joe – have all been touted as possible culprits.
The heart of the matter
Elias’ last WWE in-ring appearance came on July 27 at Smackville, where he lost an impromptu match against Kevin Owens.
Speaking in a video at a Baltimore Orioles baseball game, WWE’s resident guitarist claimed he was at home recovering from the match three days later, meaning there is no way that he could have attacked Roman Reigns.
“After my match at Smackville with Kevin Owens, I’ve been coughing up blood, so Tuesday night at SmackDown Live, I wasn’t even there. I was at home painting. And as the future of the WWE and the greatest acquisition in the history of SmackDown Live and all of WWE – those are Vince McMahon’s words, never forget it – and as the biggest musical act on the face of the planet, I’ve got bigger and better things to do than to mess with Roman Reigns.”
What's next?
Roman Reigns is currently without an opponent at SummerSlam, so there is a good chance that his attacker could be revealed on the August 6 episode of SmackDown Live to set up a match at the upcoming pay-per-view on August 11.