WWE SummerSlam 2019: 5 ways Roman Reigns could get involved
Roman Reigns is among the high-profile absentees ahead of the 2019 WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view in Toronto, Ontario on August 11.
The four-time WrestleMania main-eventer had initially been expected to face Samoa Joe in a one-on-one match at the event. However, he now finds himself in a storyline where the identity of his mystery attacker is still unknown, leaving him without an opponent heading into the next ‘Big 4’ PPV on the WWE calendar.
On the July 30 episode of SmackDown Live, Reigns was due to make a SummerSlam announcement in an interview with Kayla Braxton when, all of a sudden, scaffold and metal fell down upon him in the backstage area.
Six days later, the former Shield member narrowly avoided injury again when he was forced to jump back into his car after another vehicle drove towards him in an attempted hit-and-run in the parking lot.
The go-home episode of SmackDown Live before SummerSlam ended with Buddy Murphy revealing that Rowan was responsible for the incidents, but Daniel Bryan has since claimed that his tag team partner has nothing to do with the situation.
Given Reigns’ star power, it is inevitable that he will feature at SummerSlam in some capacity, despite not currently being booked in a match, so let’s take a look at five roles he could play at the PPV.
#5 Roman Reigns vs. Buddy Murphy
Buddy Murphy has hardly appeared on WWE programming since being drafted to SmackDown Live in the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up, but it looks like that is all about to change following his shocking revelation last week.
If he is telling the truth about Rowan, then we can expect him to feud with the former Wyatt Family member, as well as Daniel Bryan, in the coming weeks. If he is lying, as Bryan suggested, then the Aussie has a ready-made rivalry in place with Roman Reigns.
Long-term, WWE appears to be building towards a match between Bryan and Reigns, so it is far too early for them to have a one-on-one encounter against each other at SummerSlam.
Short-term, perhaps we could see “The Big Dog” take on Murphy in an impromptu match on Sunday to keep this storyline going before next week’s Raw and SmackDown Live.