After defeating CM Punk for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 42, Roman Reigns promised fans that he'd be working a full-time schedule in the coming months.
However, after recently being advertised for WWE's June shows, the OTC has unexpectedly been pulled from all of them. Following The New Day's release over the weekend, this has led to largely baseless rumours about Reigns potentially clashing with TKO over his current contract.
The prevailing theory is that TKO has pushed Reigns to restructure his deal, leading him to walk away from the company. Now, though, we have an update from Dave Meltzer, who explains why things have changed.
"Regarding Roman Reigns being pulled from June TV dates that were announced, the reason we were told is that he’s not going to be on the Saudi Arabia PPV and thus there was no reason to do the TV's building that show," he explained. "If he loses the title next week, of course, that would be a change, and there will be more to the story."
"If he retains, that’s probably all it is. But Reigns is no longer scheduled for any television in June," Meltzer added, confirming he's no longer set for the June 1 RAW in Turin, June 8 in Paris, June 15 in Baltimore, and June 22 in London.
However, Reigns is currently scheduled for the May 11 RAW in Knoxville, the night after WWE Backlash, suggesting an injury angle or something along those lines could be planned for the Head of the Table after he clashes with Jacob Fatu.
"I bring this place back to relevancy. I reset the standard. I already set the standard. It got screwed up. Somebody got to come in and re-fix it, and that’s what I would do," Reigns said shortly before WrestleMania. "If I lose to CM Punk at WrestleMania, I don’t belong in the WWE anymore. I think if I were to lose on Sunday, I’d say my work is done."
We'll see what the future holds in store for Reigns, but it doesn't seem at all likely that he's gearing up to part ways with the company. If anything, his well-publicised cancer battle could be why he's not planning to travel overseas with WWE in June. Stay tuned for updates.