Roman Reigns' road to WrestleMania went through Drew McIntyre, whilst his summer saw programmes with Shane McMahon and his current odd arrangement with Daniel Bryan, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. Having not returned before the Royal Rumble and missed SummerSlam completely, 'The Big Dog' has been the least active of the established topline crew for most of the year.
Have WWE waited on propelling him back to the top of the card because he's no longer 'The Guy' to Vince McMahon? Unlikely - he wasn't remotely bothered the first thousand times or so, right upto his last Universal Title victory in 2018. That year's SummerSlam raced off the air with new Champion Roman shot from such a low angle that you could barely see any braying masses behind him. Have they kept him out of high pressure situations so not to aggravate a more gradual recovery than he's letting on? Possibly, and more power to them if so, particularly with him already proving a powerful advocate for the Leukemia and Cancer treatment causes he's since attached his name to. Or is there something altogether more shocking happening at the very top level of the organisation?
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
