WWE faces critical Roman Reigns decision in 2023 — here’s how to get it right

The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.

Watching Roman Reigns lose his first television match not by disqualification or no contest since December 2019 last Friday on SmackDown was a reminder of the enormous booking decision WWE faces in 2023.

Sami Zayn getting pinned by Kevin Owens to hand him and Reigns a loss felt like the first sign The Tribal Chief is no longer completely untouchable. It could mean we are entering the next phase of The Bloodline’s story, as Triple H will likely be tasked with taking at least one world championship off of Reigns with him being pinned or submitted. The WWE title makes the most sense since that is the specific belt Cody Rhodes said he returned to win and Reigns’ historic reign is based on the Universal championship.

No matter how much you prop up the United States championship, Raw and its top guys have certainly taken at least a small hit with Reigns tying up both belts. So how do you get there, who should become champion and what role does The Rock play in this?

To me, there are three clear ways you can go out about this. One, you put Reigns in a ladder match at the Royal Rumble for both belts with Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins or some combination of them. Reigns and Rollins both go up to the top of ladder. Rollins comes down with the WWE championship and Reigns falls with the Universal championship. Reigns still isn’t pinned, you fairly split the belts up and Rollins and Reigns still have unfinished business. In a perfect world, Rhodes wins the Royal Rumble, beats Rollins at WrestleMania 39 in Hollywood and Reigns beats The Rock to retain the Universal championship.

The second way to do it is you keep those same three guys, and repeat the WrestleMania 2000 angle where Kurt Angle defended the European and Intercontinental championship in the two-fall, triple-threat match. Angle lost both belts, but Reigns would retain the Universal championship and not get pinned to lose the WWE championship.

Thirdly, you could have the Royal Rumble winner — likely Rhodes — say he just wants to face Reigns for the WWE championship since that is the only one that matters to him. But that sort of diminishes the Universal championship, the one which began Reigns’ run. Then have Rock or someone else face Reigns on the other night of WrestleMania for that belt. Rollins, Rhodes and McIntyre have already been rumored for the triple-threat match on Night 1 of WrestleMania if Rock is available. Reigns should leave the event with at least one belt.

The one I haven’t heard is WWE could add some serious adversity for Reigns. You have him defend the Universal championship against Kevin Owens early at the Royal Rumble and then have him enter the rumble match itself at like No. 20 with the winner becoming WWE champion. You have Rollins, Reigns, Rhodes and McIntyre be the final four and Rollins wins. Rhodes will have to win the Elimination Chamber to get his WrestleMania title match with Rollins. This scenario only works if Reigns has The Rock to face. 

To me, the ladder match is the most dramatic, least obvious scenario Reigns will lose a belt, the least convoluted and lets Rhodes still have the big return and Rumble win moment. (You could always use the Elimination Chamber to decide who challenges for the IC title.)

It’s the biggest decision facing WWE and Triple H entering 2023 along with having to figure out who potentially beats The Usos (Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens), Bianca Belair (Rhea Ripley, Alexa Bliss) and Gunther (Johnny Gargano, Sheamus). The Bloodline is WWE’s most compelling story since Daniel Bryan’s “Yes Movement” and they can’t afford any missteps.

Flair for the dramatic

It’s easy to cringe at Charlotte Flair returning after seven months to defeat an exhausted Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown women’s championship in 40 seconds to become a 14-time women’s world champion and be right back on top. Yes, Flair constantly being in the title picture is exhausting. She has spent 888 days as a singles champion on the main roster and more than 1,200 if you count in her time as NXT women’s champion. That’s more than three years. I get it.

But wrestling needs more true surprises and what unfolded on SmackDown was exactly that. There was very little rumblling of Flair returning and she and husband Andrade were posting vacation photos on their social media just hours before. Also, because of Flair being over-pushed all these years, she hasn’t always gotten the love from the audience her talent deserves. Seeing Charlotte use a modified version of dad Ric Flair’s entrance music, getting cheered and truly embraced by the crowd when she went into it to celebrate her win felt like a pretty poignant moment in her career.

The question now is can that excitement and goodwill around Flair be turned into a fruitful babyface run for the first time, or was it all an indictment of how much the audience is tired of Ronda Rousey and happy to see her lose the belt? Has WWE now moved on from Rousey being a singles champion for a while? While I do think her match with Gonzalez — including the really unique finish — was one of the best of her second run, Rousey has now lost titles twice after defending them in the past six months. Liv Morgan cashed in Money in the Bank on her and now Flair’s return.

https://twitter.com/WWEonFOX/status/1609007783457837056

I’d much rather see Rousey and Baszler become dominant women’s tag team champions than forcing Rousey into a title match at WrestleMania. I’d be down for Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley and/or Alexa Bliss. (Lynch vs. Rousey and Belair vs. Ripley is the layup, but not sure Flair’s return allows that to happen unless one is a straight grudge match.)  

The 10 Count

You can make the strong case that this year’s Wrestle Kingdom is the second true opening of the “Forbidden Door.” New Japan’s WrestleMania-level show at the Tokyo Dome on Wednesday will feature talent signed to AEW (Kenny Omega, FTR), WWE (Karl Anderson) and Stardom (Kairi and Tam Nakano). We are also expected to get Sasha Banks’ first wrestling appearance since she walked out of “Monday Night Raw” in May.

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It appears WWE is going to treat The Bloodline a little bit differently in 2023 based on what transpired on “Monday Night Raw.” There was, at least for me, some nWo vs. WCW-like vibes in the locker room’s disdain for them. Solo Sikoa is being built perfectly.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1609025978780602371

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We got a really strong promo from Sting on Darby Allin before his TNT title match with Samoa Joe. Exactly what your veteran mentor should be saying. Sting tapping Allin on the shoulder to make sure he talked to Tony Schiavone was a great touch. Like hey kid, show the man some respect. Let’s hope AEW keeps diving in with them in this more substantive way and treating them like more than stunt men.

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It’s hard to know what to think about AEW’s CM Punk situation. Dax Harwood made a plea for CM Punk and The Elite to work things out and Punk responded “Duh” to it in the comments of The Wrestling Podcast’s Instagram post. Then there is the Wrestling Observer report that Chris Jericho and other top stars promised the locker room Punk would not be brought back to AEW. Dead end or elaborate work? You be the judge.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1610138826634317824

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While I still completely disagree with Austin Theory cashing in his Money in the Bank contract for the United States championship and losing, WWE and Triple H have helped him rebound nicely. A win over Seth Rollins in the main event of Raw was another solid step forward.

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Wendy Choo had already earned an NXT women’s championship opportunity, but her victory over Cora Jade this week felt like her most important so far – especially with a shift to a more serious persona.

I may not have needed to see seven matches between The Elite and Death Triangle, but we did need to see last week’s Falls Count Anywhere version, which was easily the strongest one so far. Game 7 is upon us.

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Seeing guys like Ethan Page and Kip Sabian getting to contribute on Dynamite is refreshing. It couldn’t come at a better time with the refreshed look coming this week. (Also, who had Big Bill and Hook having a moment on their dance card?)

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This Bray Wyatt-LA Knight-Uncle Howdy storyline got even more bizarre. But having Howdy attack Bray creates more questions than answers, so that’s not a bad thing. Wyatt vs. Knight face off in a Pitch Black Match at the Royal Rumble. I’m a little tired of Wyatt in gimmick/cinematic matches even after all this time between them. But we will see.

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So are we going to find out that Dominik Mysterio did all that tough talk after spending 15 minutes to an hour in “prison?”

Extra: John Cena still comes across as a big deal and still is a joy to watch perform even if he just did his Five Moves of Doom and saw his bald spot be one of the biggest stories afterward.

Extra, Extra: RIP to the great Don West. The former TNA and Impact broadcaster passed away at the age of 59 last week. Condolences to his family and friends. Also, a belated congratulations to AEW’s William Morrissey and Lexy Nair on their engagement.

Wrestler of the Week

Shinsuke Nakamura, WWE, NOAH

Yes, Charlotte Flair had the big return and title win, but no one had a cooler moment than Nakamura. He returned to Japan to face the icon The Great Muta in his last singles match during his retirement tour at the NOAH The New Year 2023 show at the famed Budokan Hall on Saturday. It’s something that wouldn’t have been possible under the old WWE regime. Nakamura, a legend in his own right in Japan, got an epic entrance fit for a superstar and defeated Muta, by using his opponent’s signature poison mist against him to set up a Kinshasa for win.

“I have been killing for this feeling for a long time,” Nakamura said afterward. “As a professional I can’t stop, really. Thank you for the miracle.”

Match to Watch

Jay White (c.) vs. Kazuchika Okada, IWGP World Heavyweight championship (Wednesday , New Japan World, 3 a.m.)

White, at 4-1 all-time in singles matches against Okada, has had the number of his former Chaos mentor. The current leader of Bullet Club won the belt from Okada at Dominion back in June and wants nothing more than to kick the six-time champion and the promotion’s biggest star to the back of the line. For Okada, it’s about silencing White, moving one behind Hiroshi Tanahashi in world title reigns and ending the event dedicated to the late Antonio Inoki as champion.