After a stunning and abrupt end to his first WWE Championship run, we are hearing of backstage disappointment with how Big E’s reign unfolded. Plus, The Usos offer an update on Roman Reigns’ status.
Backstage Disappointment With Big E Reign
2022 started WWE’s year off in a big way, with Brock Lesnar becoming the new WWE Champion. Now, there is some backstage disappointment to how Big E’s reign went.
To be clear, the feedback does not seem to reflect any disappointment with Big E himself.
Rather, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the disappointment lies with how WWE booked Big E’s reign.
As in, they dropped the ball…again.
The report comes from Fightful, following Big E’s stunning loss on Saturday at Day 1.
Looking at that match, it was bound to cause some disappointment, as it was constantly growing.
What initially was Big E facing Seth Rollins one on one, gradually added Superstars.
It was capped off by the unexpected addition of Brock Lesnar on Saturday, due to Roman Reigns being out with COVID.
Once Lesnar was added, it seemed one of two outcomes was likely.
Either Big E could get a signature win, propelling him into the Road to WrestleMania…
Or, Brock Lesnar would do what Brock Lesnar does.
As we all know, Lesnar left Atlanta once again holding the gold.
The backstage disappointment is understandable. It seems WWE had no clear direction with Big E ever since he cashed in.
As powerful as he is, he lacked a major signature win in his reign.
On top of that, it seemed his promos were all over the map, and the varying tones didn’t always work.
Best guess is what happened Saturday was done because Vince McMahon has a new vision for his WrestleMania title matches, and Big E didn’t factor in.
Or, perhaps he does, and this is the company’s way of building him up even bigger, giving him a huge ‘Mania moment?
We can dream…
The Usos On Roman Reigns’ Status
Speaking of Day 1 and champions, following their match, The Usos provided some insight on Roman Reigns’ status.
As we all know, the Universal Champion was forced out of his Day 1 battle with Brock Lesnar due to testing positive for COVID.
With his removal, WWE shifted Brock Lesnar into the WWE Championship match, leveraging Brock’s “free agent” status.
And with that move, Lesnar is now the champion on RAW…which makes things interesting moving forward.
Also means we don’t know how long we will wait to see a Lesnar-Reigns-Heyman payoff…
source: custom, WWE India twitter screenshot
But, that’s a future topic.
For now, fans may be wondering what Reigns’ status is. There was understandable concern given the Tribal Chief has missed time before due to health issues.
After the show, Jey Uso spoke with Sports Illustrated about things, and one question landed on Roman Reigns.
Uso said it “felt weird” not having Reigns there, but he was sure he would be back soon.
Jey indicated that Roman was likely at home, relaxing and taking it easy. While not any official diagnosis, that is still encouraging to hear.
Not that anyone close to him would leak it if the champion was suffering from a bad experience with COVID. However, if things weren’t going well, I feel like Uso would have offered no comment at all.
With the path to a Lesnar match now cloudy, given what happened in Atlanta, it will be interesting to see when Reigns returns…and who is next for the Head of the Table.
