Next week on Monday Night Raw, Roman Reigns is scheduled to have some sort of “big announcement” regarding his plans for SummerSlam 2017.
Obviously, WWE hasn’t spoiled anything, preferring to keep this as vague as possible so not only do they have the ability to change plans at the last minute, but we’ll all speculate for the coming days to try to figure out what will happen.
Well, you win, WWE, as we’re all curious, which brings us to this post, where we should take a look at some of the most likely scenarios set to go down for what this big announcement is supposed to be.
Free Agent John Cena
Ever since John Cena has been referred to as a “free agent”, this idea has been popping up. There has to be some reason why that’s happening and if it’s solely to allow him to wrestle a match against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam, then that would make perfect sense—at least as far as making up an excuse to cross brands.
Frankly, when it comes to the actual decision of doing this at SummerSlam, I would be disappointed. This is bigger than SummerSlam. This is the WrestleMania match that we should be getting next year. Even Michael P.S. Hayes suggested it on Table for 3! Plus, it would prevent the repeat of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, which I just can’t for the life of me imagine people really want to see instead of a variety of alternative options.
If we see Strowman being set up in any way to face Lesnar at SummerSlam as the main title feud for Raw, Jinder Mahal or Randy Orton defending the WWE Championship as the headlining match for SmackDown, and Reigns vs. Cena as a co-branded main event, then that’s the top of your card with a few other matches thrown in the mix that clearly won’t be as important in comparison.
Admittedly, it’s a little strange that Cena wouldn’t return until July 4th to have any sort of response to this, as Money in the Bank will have been completed and Great Balls of Fire won’t happen until July 9th, so that’s an odd placement for him to accept the challenge, but then again, there are two other potential ideas that could go down instead…
Challenging the Universal Champion
Reigns can put his name into the hat by saying he’ll challenge whoever wins the Universal Championship match at Great Balls of Fire, effectively setting up Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe or, let’s be honest, the match that really would happen: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar.
I’ve been extremely vocal not just above, but for months, that I do not want to see Reigns vs. Lesnar under any circumstances at WrestleMania 34 and I’m personally hoping this is the case for the announcement, as it would kill the chances of WWE building to that—or, at least, it would severely hinder the possibility that they’d do it.
Reigns has the type of credibility at this point that he can just say he’s fighting for the top title and people won’t question it. It isn’t as though Curt Hawkins is issuing the challenge or that suddenly, the marquee match for the second biggest event of the year will be headlined by HoHo Lun.
Since both Samoa Joe and Brock Lesnar are heels, this also doesn’t give away the outcome of their match at Great Balls of Fire, as either one could face Reigns—particularly as The Big Dog is kind of a tweener with the crowds as it is, anyway.
Calling Out Braun Strowman
I don’t think this one is as much of a possibility as the other two, mostly because I think we’ll be seeing Strowman facing Reigns at Great Balls of Fire instead. Honestly, I’m expecting this whole announcement segment to go down with Strowman coming out to say Reigns won’t make it to SummerSlam because he’s not finished with him yet, the two brawl, and a match is set for Great Balls of Fire to end the feud.
Actually, there’s a chance WWE doesn’t even allow Reigns to make the announcement at all. He could be attacked by Strowman in the midst of it or before getting the words out.
However, there definitely is an option out there for WWE to hold off on the Strowman vs. Reigns match until SummerSlam, giving Reigns something else to do in the meantime and keeping Strowman on the shelf to rest up a few more weeks.
Honorable Mentions
Those are the three outcomes I think have the only real chance to happen, but that doesn’t preclude WWE from going a different route and shocking us, so it doesn’t hurt to brainstorm some more oddball ideas.
For instance, Reigns can challenge for the Intercontinental Championship, putting a spotlight on that title and giving him a belt to carry for the next few months as an excuse not to be in the Universal Championship picture, if they do want to have Reigns/Lesnar at WrestleMania.
Another option around the rumor mill is that he could put out a challenge for Goldberg. I totally don’t buy into that whatsoever, but we do know that Goldberg mentioned Reigns as one of the few people he’d like to get in the ring with, so if he were to return, that makes sense as a big match at SummerSlam.
Lastly, the only other thing I can see happening is that Reigns could also issue some sort of open challenge for legends who want to test whether or not it’s his yard, which could either bring about the aforementioned Goldberg match or maybe something else. Kurt Angle, anyone? I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.
So what do you think it will be, and what are you hoping to be announced? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below!
