How Paul Heyman Fixed Roman Reigns

Except he did, under the most heartbreaking of circumstances, when in October 2018 Roman announced that the leukaemia he had suffered from in secret had returned.

Your writer and several others greatly enjoyed Roman's exceptional in-ring work throughout those years of criticism. Explosive and convincing, he was a tremendous brawler well capable of orchestrating the big fight feel. But they still felt removed from his presentation, even after Reigns made a euphoric, early return in February 2019. The response to his performances was far more polite, mercifully, but that didn't change the fact that he worked Baron Corbin for five f*cking consecutive months in a programme very literally premised on the notion that Roman was a canine of unusual size.

Reigns left again to watch over his family at the peak of the global crisis, but the old murmurs had begun to creep in before he did. Why was Roman allowed to just challenge Goldberg out of nowhere, people questioned.

Reigns returned, at SummerSlam, in a new heel role at his reported request. It was certainly newsworthy, but also not definitively anything. Nobody could tell whether he'd turned heel, for a start, or whether an unprovoked assault on and verbal burial of Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman was a babyface move because they were each so lame. His teeth were distracting. It was great to see him back, but who was he?

The introduction of Paul Heyman as cliffhanger to the subsequent episode of SmackDown confirmed matters. Roman was a heel.

CONT'D...(2 of 6)