As the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns appears on both Raw and SmackDown. He just won’t be on the former more than once this summer.
Reigns’ reduced schedule has been common knowledge for some time now, even as he holds both of the company’s most prestigious titles. It’s been reported that he would only be making occasional TV appearances leading up to some of WWE’s biggest summer events, and he won’t even be on the Money in the Bank card on July 2.
He is expected to be prominently featured at SummerSlam on July 30, which is no surprise since it’s WWE’s second-biggest show of the year. With that in mind, he’ll be a part of the Raw earlier that week — but it will be the only time fans will see him on Raw all summer.
That word comes from Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, who says the timing and venue are why this particular episode (h/t to GiveMeSport for the transcription) has been penciled in for a visit from the Tribal Chief.
The only time Reigns is going to be on Raw is the Raw from Madison Square Garden. That’s his only Raw booking, the only time the champion will be on Raw pretty much the whole summer.
If that turns out to be the case, it leaves Raw without some serious star power for the next few months. The show is without both Randy Orton and Edge at the moment, though the latter’s injury is part of a storyline after he was kicked out of The Judgment Day. Cody Rhodes will be out for a while as well, recuperating from surgery to repair his torn pec.
SmackDown will see Reigns much sooner, as in this Friday, as he defends the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Riddle. Since Riddle has been seeking some retribution on behalf of Orton, the expectation is that he’d lose this bout, which would set Orton up to return the favor and lead up to his own showdown with Reigns at SummerSlam.
But plans are subject to change, and that’s certainly been true in WWE in 2022. For now, anyway, the Raw at MSG is set to be even more highly anticipated than it would normally be, and might be the only time we see Reigns live on USA until the fall.