A Big Uh-Oh For Roman Reigns?

[Olan]

Does anyone think that Miz beating Roman last night for the IC championship is the WWE protecting the title in case they do have to suspend Roman? Not saying Roman is guilty or not but now they will not have to strip him if the allegation is true. Just a thought

 

[MasterDebator]

Does anyone think that Miz beating Roman last night for the IC championship is the WWE protecting the title in case they do have to suspend Roman? Not saying Roman is guilty or not but now they will not have to strip him if the allegation is true. Just a thought

Probably not. Didn't seem likely that Reigns would carry the IC championship, which would act as an albatross and unnecessary story-line addition for an upper-card wrestler heading into Wrestlemania season. Losing the belt frees up Reigns to possibly win the Rumble or wrestle for the right to face whichever champ is unoccupied by the rumble winner. Having him do either of those things as IC champ would be a waste of the title.

In terms of his time as IC champ, I think it's nakedly clear that WWE was trying to flip some Miz-haters into cheering Reigns in an attempt to not have their top babyface booed out of the building in Philly and possibly in NOLA. Lately, all Reigns does is face off with the only wrestlers crowds give more heat to than him. The strategy has worked insofar as headlines, live-show reports, and podcast pundits have all acknowledged that Reigns' reception(s) have been more favorable as of late, but this kind of fabricated booking won't, and can't, last. Eventually Reigns will have to move on from Miz and Jason Jordan and, as a result, WWE will revert back to the avoidance-style booking they've historically employed with Reigns. Furthermore, this is more evidence that the whole "Reigns gets a huge REACTION and that's all that matters" bullshit is nothing but a convenient spin-job that WWE force-feeds themselves in order to avoid the obvious. If getting Reigns "a reaction" was all they cared about, they wouldn't have booked him this way.

Also Enzo allegedly being a scumbag just did Reigns a big favor

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Is it weird that we're 6 days before the rumble and wwe didn't announce reigns as a participant in the rumble or any plans they have for him at the PPV. Normally he's always the first guy to announce either in the rumble or what his plans are for the rumble ppv and this year nothing. It's like if they forgot about him and will probably be just another guy announce as being in the rumble on the Pre show on Sunday.

I'm not saying that this as anything to do with the scandals he's involve in but I do find this weird that as of today, reigns doesn't have any plans for the rumble ppv.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

Is it weird that we're 6 days before the rumble and wwe didn't announce reigns as a participant in the rumble or any plans they have for him at the PPV. Normally he's always the first guy to announce either in the rumble or what his plans are for the rumble ppv and this year nothing. It's like if they forgot about him and will probably be just another guy announce as being in the rumble on the Pre show on Sunday.

I'm not saying that this as anything to do with the scandals he's involve in but I do find this weird that as of today, reigns doesn't have any plans for the rumble ppv.

It's really not that deep, it doesn't take a rocket scientist or a C average 9th grader in earth science to tell that Reigns is gonna be in the Rumble. Just because he hasn't been OFFICIALLY announced doesn't mean much, especially when not even half of the participants have been announced yet.

It makes sense for Reigns to not be a focal point. For one, the Rumble is in Philly... Philly doesn't like Roman Reigns. Philly REALLY DOESN'T like Roman Reigns. If you build around him as one of the major players, he's probably gonna get a worse reaction than just sliding him quietly in there.

Also, for Reigns himself. Assuming he's not winning, and I'm assuming he's not... you don't want to build the Rumble around him, only for him to lose and then presumably go into a bigger World Title match than the actual winner of the Rumble... that cheapens the victory and the match itself.

I don't expect his performance in the Rumble to be anything spectacular either, and his elimination will probably be random... which will only lead to more speculation regarding all of this but I don't think it's connected in any way.

 

[HORRORHOLIC]

Does anyone think that Miz beating Roman last night for the IC championship is the WWE protecting the title in case they do have to suspend Roman? Not saying Roman is guilty or not but now they will not have to strip him if the allegation is true. Just a thought

It was so they could get the belt off him and he can go on to defeat Lesnar. Something 90% of the fans DON'T wanna see

 

[d_henderson1810]

In the thread discussing Jey Uso's DUI arrest from this past weekend, I mentioned that it was possible that he might not face any major consequences depending upon how much stroke he has within the company and/or if he asked his cousin, Roman Reigns, for a favor? Well, if the story that's making rounds concerning Reigns is true, then he's got his own problems to deal with.

A man named Richard Rodriguez, who is said to have owned a gym in Miami called the Iron Addicts Gym, has implicated Roman Reigns as one of his clients in a steroid distribution ring. Rodriguez has named some of his other clients and they incude actors Josh Duhamel and Mark Wahlberg.

The DEA raided Rodriguez's gym in February of last year and accused him of being part of distribution chain that brought in imported Chinese goods, my guess being that these goods were the various chemicals required to create PEDs, and said goods were manufactured into steroids in Arizona which were then distributed in the Miami area.

A filmmaker by the name of Joe Bravo, according to what I've read, is working on some sort of special or documentary or something regarding the case of the Iron Addicts Gym and he recently conducted an interview with Rodriguez and one of his statements during this interview is where Reigns gets mentioned:

"At the end I'm just trying to clear my name and just make people well aware, there's a lot more people out there that were involved and are associated with my company that many individuals did not know. One of them in particular is a very famous wrestler by the name of Roman Reigns. He was originally introduced to me by one of the informants. I've probably heard his name in the past due to numerous videos that Jonny Bravo has done, and also some including myself on my own channels. He is a very down to earth person, however, a situation involved in which… often times when you're brought to trials - which I was not, I decided to take a plea - however, they disclose discovery. Discovery is basically the proof that they have against you. One thing, one part of the discovery is what's called tried and true statements, which is basically disclosing everybody whom the investigators or people that were investigating you have spoken to with regards to your company, with regards to you, with regards to any other co-defendants that are associated with the indictment. So, that's one of the reasons why I disclosed him."

Reigns failed WWE's Wellness Policy back in 2016, but it was reported that he'd tested positive for Adderall. Now matter how you look at it, this looks extremely bad for Roman Reigns. Even IF this guy is full of crap, there's no longer any such thing as innocent until proven guilty, especially if you're someone who has his or her life in the public eye. Of course, that begs the question of why, out of all the people in the world or out of all the celebrities much bigger than Foman Reigns, why would Rodriguez decide to go for Reigns? If he's just trying to save his own ass, why not name someone like John Cena or the Rock as a client?

Stories like this can make the Wellness Policy look bad because it feeds the continuous conspiracy theories regarding WWE protecting certain wrestlers, namely the ones that are known to be big favorites of Vince McMahon. The fact that Reigns is accused or named by this guy as a client, for many, will be all they need to condemn him without any sort of offer of proof, it's just how things are. It's not fair, especially if you're someone who hasn't done anything and is about to be, has been or in the process of being run over but that's sometimes just the way it is. .

Unless there's some legit offer of proof, it's possible that Reigns might not suffer any fallout. That might also depending upon whether this story has legs and becomes a hot topic of discussion, especially in the mainstream media, or if it virtually disappears after a couple of days. If it's the latter, no big deal as far as WWE is concerned but if it's the former, then they may have no choice but to consider alternate plans for Reigns and WrestleMania.

The "Vince playing favourites" rumor. You're only discovering this now?

I have suspected this for years. Vince has always protected certain wrestlers over others.

Did you notice that most of the people who failed Wellness three times and were sacked, were talent that was not doing much anyway at the time, and might have been future-endeavoured otherwise?

Look at Nick Dinsmore, for example. When he failed Wellness a third time, and was fired, he hadn't done anything on TV for a while. His run as Eugene had long played itself out, and there was no way of really bringing him back without reviving the character, whose shelf-life had passed its use-by date.

I bet that Dinsmore wouldn't have failed Wellness when he was having a big run as Eugene, and feuding with Triple H.

WWE have their drug-testing in-house. They are not classified as a "sport" under WADA, so therefore WADA or USADA don't test them, like they do other sports. Wrestling is considered "sports entertainment" and the drugs aren't considered performance-enhancing, as the results are predetermined anyway (steroids in wrestling are often more for "getting the right look"). So WWE use in-house testers, and I believe that Vince decides who gets tested and who doesn't.

I mean, I find it hard to believe that John Cena can lift Big Show with Edge on his back over his head at Wrestlemania 24, and yet hasn't failed ONE Wellness Test. You know why, because he is a main eventer and a role model to kids, so he can't be found to have failed a drug test. You can't fail a test when you aren't tested.

I mean, Triple H looks like someone who would fail Wellness, yet never did. It helps when you are the boss's son-in-law, and the guy who will be running the company down the track. Investors and sponsors don't want to deal with someone who has black marks for drug use.

See, examples of who fails Wellness, and who doesn't.

Here's some more. Jeff Hardy is probably the biggest name to fail Wellness three times and be released. This was after his feud with C.M. Punk, when he was main eventing. Do you want to know when he fails his third test? AFTER he told WWE that he wasn't going to renew his contract with WWE, and jump to TNA instead.

Randy Orton has actually failed Wellness FOUR TIMES, but one of the suspensions was reclassified as an incident in a motel room during a tour, and another was reclassified as well, because Orton is a main-eventer, future Hall-Of-Famer, son of HOFer "Cowboy" Bob Orton and also TNA would have signed him the minute WWE sacked him (like they did with Kurt Angle).

Paige failed Wellness twice last year, but this was when she wasn't on TV, had a neck injury, and the sex tape came out. Good thing it didn't happen when she was WWE Women's Champion, and when the Divas Revolution started.

Also, remember how that doctor was raided and a bunch of WWE superstars, NFL and other sports stars were found to be clients who were implicated in getting drugs from him?

Well, amongst those named, along with Rey Mysterio, Mr Kennedy and John Morrison, was Edge. Now, Kennedy got suspended and was no longer part of the "Vince's son" storyline. However, Edge served his 30-day suspension DURING his three-month injury layoff for an Achilles tendon. So, instead of sitting out an extra month, he served his when he was out anyway. I mean, Vince wanted Edge to come back and make money for him ASAP.

So, with all these examples, and others, do you now think that Vince plays favourites when it comes to Wellness. I wouldn't be surprised if Vince removed Reigns off-screen during his "suspension" to have the hate heat die down a bit on him, since the boos for him were at an all-time high then.

 

[d_henderson1810]

It's really not that deep, it doesn't take a rocket scientist or a C average 9th grader in earth science to tell that Reigns is gonna be in the Rumble. Just because he hasn't been OFFICIALLY announced doesn't mean much, especially when not even half of the participants have been announced yet.

It makes sense for Reigns to not be a focal point. For one, the Rumble is in Philly... Philly doesn't like Roman Reigns. Philly REALLY DOESN'T like Roman Reigns. If you build around him as one of the major players, he's probably gonna get a worse reaction than just sliding him quietly in there.

Also, for Reigns himself. Assuming he's not winning, and I'm assuming he's not... you don't want to build the Rumble around him, only for him to lose and then presumably go into a bigger World Title match than the actual winner of the Rumble... that cheapens the victory and the match itself.

I don't expect his performance in the Rumble to be anything spectacular either, and his elimination will probably be random... which will only lead to more speculation regarding all of this but I don't think it's connected in any way.

I don't think that Roman will win the Rumble, and a SD Live guy will win it instead, whoever A.J. is set to defend the title against at Wrestlemania 34.

I say this for the reason you stated, and also because RAW has Elimination Chamber this year, and I doubt that Brock will defend it there, so the Chamber could be a No. 1 Contender's Match, which Roman wins, and it takes the heat out of things a bit.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

There's a new video out, from WrestlingInc:

In the new video, Rodriguez said that he specifically named Reigns, Wahlberg and Duhamel to get a better plea deal. He said that there are bigger names that haven't been released that will be revealed in his documentary, even teasing that he might have some secrets on advisors in President Donald Trump's administration. Rodriguez said that Reigns was introduced to him years ago by a wrestling enthusiast. He also said that he will release "snippets of proof" in the next week of text messages, tracking numbers and addresses where products were shipped that will be tied to each of the accused.

"That information with us communicating with Roman via text messages will be provided to the appropriate party, which will then be disclosed prior to our documentary that's going to be filmed soon," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez added that his protocol with Reigns would change depending on "the varied times in which WWE wrestlers get tested."

--

I don't know, I still think the guy is full of you know what. There needs to be more proof than just texts and addresses. All of those things can be easily fabricated. There needs to be actual documentation for any of this to stick.