5 Reasons Roman Reigns Should Stay On SmackDown (& 5 Why He Should Go To Raw)
The 2020 edition of SummerSlam ended on a surprising note. After Bray Wyatt won the WWE Universal Championship from Braun Strowman, The Fiend suddenly ate a spear from Roman Reigns, returning after half a year of inactivity. Sporting a new heel persona and with Paul Heyman as his manager, Reigns managed to beat Wyatt for the Universal Title the following week at Payback.
In 2020, holding the Universal Title means that The Big Dog is strictly a SmackDown Superstar, but should he really stay there? Or would he be a better fit on WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night Raw? Let’s look at both shows and evaluate why Roman Reigns is a great fit for both.
10 SmackDown: The Network Show
In the US, SmackDown airs on Fox, one of several major broadcast networks, meaning that fans with a TV and digital antenna can watch the show for free instead of paying for cable. If WWE wants to re-establish Roman as a top guy by presenting a badass heel persona, it would be best to put him on a show that gets in front of more eyeballs, and thus has been getting higher ratings as of late.
9 Raw: The Flagship
Regardless of how many people watch SmackDown, it’s still considered the "B-show" by many. The blue brand circa 2020 is long past its days of being the sensation it was around 2002-2003 or even the “land of opportunity” era of 2016-2017. Meanwhile, Raw has been the flagship show since the 1990s, always on Monday nights and never moving across the week. It makes just as much sense to put Roman Reigns on what many fans consider the “main” show.
8 SmackDown: Needs Top Stars
SmackDown is full of talented wrestlers, but how many “stars” does it have? AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, The Miz, and Daniel Bryan are holding it down in the midcard, most of The New Day is injured while Big E is being set for a big singles run, and the main event scene seems to be just Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman.
SmackDown needs Roman Reigns to help anchor it more than Raw does, as the former already boasts Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Rey Mysterio Jr., and Drew McIntyre as its big guns. Reigns being there would just further clutter the main event scene.
7 Raw: Needs Higher Ratings
If you’re the type of wrestling fan who obsesses over TV ratings for some reason, you’ll know that SmackDown usually draws more viewers than Raw. Part of it is a broadcast vs. cable thing, but Raw also has been experiencing a ratings slump over the past couple of years, hitting some record lows as of late. Despite how controversial he is with hardcore fans, Raw could definitely use a star like Roman Reigns to drum up more interest.
6 SmackDown: Lots of Bruisers
Roman Reigns’ whole shtick is that he hits dudes with an array of strikes before absolutely wrecking them with his signature Spear, a moveset that’s best employed in hard-hitting matches with big dudes that also hit hard. Good thing that SmackDown boasts a nice lineup of big dudes capable of hitting hard like Sheamus, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, and Big E. With Reigns on SmackDown, the main event scene could turn into a pretty fun NJPW-esque NEVER Openweight style division.
5 Raw: Raw Underground
Raw currently boasts a segment that sets it apart from its blue cousin: Raw Underground, a recurring segment where Shane McMahon hosts his own shoot-style backroom fight club. It was met with some confusion at first, but it’s proven to be kind of fun, if a little silly and overproduced, and Roman Reigns would be perfect for it. Imagine an episode of Raw where they keep cutting back to Raw Underground and it’s just Roman Reigns spearing challenger after challenger the whole night. Dabba-Kato won’t know what hit him.
4 SmackDown: Won’t Trade Spots with Drew McIntyre
If the rumors are to be believed, Roman Reigns is going to hold the Universal Championship for a good long while, so any sort of draft or “Superstar Shakeup” would mean trading the top belts across brands. Thus, Roman going to Raw would mean that Drew McIntyre, the current WWE Champion, would have to go to SmackDown.
McIntyre and his championship reign has been one of the bright spots of this era of Raw, so it would be a shame to see him go to SmackDown just so Reigns can be on Raw.
3 Raw: The Fiend Won’t Mess Up His Veneers
When Roman Reigns made his shocking return at SummerSlam, fans were quick to notice that The Big Dog had some Big Dentistry done during his time away from WWE television. Specifically, he was sporting some huge and incredibly distracting veneers. On SmackDown, Reigns will have to wrestle The Fiend, whose big signature submission is the Mandible Claw, which attacks the mouth. Reigns likely paid a lot for those veneers, so maybe he should jump ship to Raw before the Fiend does some serious dental damage.
2 SmackDown: His Eyeballs are Safe
Then again, Roman Reigns isn’t safe on Raw, either. His old Shield compatriot Seth Rollins has bought into his own hype and has evolved into a heel character called “The Monday Night Messiah”, a cult leader with a tendency to blind opponents with the corners of the ring steps when he’s not gouging out eyeballs outright. Reigns may become a movie star once wrestling bores him, and it’d be a shame if he went to Raw and lost one of those windows to his soul. Best to stay on SmackDown, Big Dog.
1 Raw: Keith Lee Rematch
One of the highlights of the 2019 Survivor Series was the finish of the three-way men’s elimination tag match, which had NXT’s Keith Lee going up against Roman Reigns, representing SmackDown, after everyone else had been taken out of the match. Lee impressed in what would become a losing effort for his team, but fist bumped Reigns. Now that Keith Lee is on Raw, Roman leaving SmackDown would mean a very high chance of getting an awesome follow-up to that Lee/Reigns confrontation, which would be totally worth it.
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