WWE Rumor Roundup: SmackDown Superstar's push ends, real reason why The IIconics split up and more -Sept. 2, 2020
Welcome to the WWE Rumor Roundup where we try and bring you the best news and rumors of the day. In today's edition, we take a look at why Roman Reigns teamed up with Paul Heyman and why he won the title of "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt within a week of his return.
We also look at why Keith Lee got a clean win over Randy Orton at WWE Payback. But before we get to all that, let's take a look at the two top headlines of the day.
WWE SmackDown Superstar's push ends
Braun Strowman's push on SmackDown has come to an end, according to Tom Colohue. "The Monster Among Men" won the WWE Universal title at WrestleMania and held it until WWE SummerSlam last week.
While talking to Korey Gunz on the live edition of Dropkick DiSKussions, Tom Colohue said:
“Next for Braun Strowman is down the card. He had a pretty good first title reign, it lasted four months. He only really feuded with Bray Wyatt. Yes, he had a match with The Miz and [John Morrison]. But he never really did much beyond that. For a first title reign, that's not bad. And there will be more in the future. He's shown that he can lead the company. Going forward, he will be in the upper midcard now, helping to put people over. We could see a feud with Big E coming in the near future.”
Tom Colohue adds that the absence of Roman Reigns allowed a lot of stars to get a push. Braun Strowman himself benefitted as he was inserted into the match at WrestleMania. He said:
“In Roman's absence, a lot of people were elevated. You see the rise of Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins in Roman's absence. You look at SmackDown now, Braun Strowman has taken that mantle but he's been kicked down the road. The Fiend, he's not going to be the face, but when it comes to the depth charts we heard about, the number one face of SmackDown is going to be The Fiend. And then in order - The Fiend, Jeff Hardy, and Big E has just overtaken Matt Riddle - who is now fourth.”
There is another WWE Draft coming up soon. It would be interesting to see if Braun Strowman remains on the blue brand or moves to Monday Night RAW to go up against the likes of Drew McIntyre, Keith Lee, and others.