WWE Wellness Policy - 6 Wrestlers Badly Derailed (And 4 That Prevailed)
3. Derailed - Roman Reigns
A huge, huge, huge blow for company and performer and at the very worst time, Reigns' 2016 suspension took the almost self-deprecating faith WWE had in him and relegated the next star pupil to bottom of the class overnight.
After his big WrestleMania WWE World Title win and hugely gratifying follow-up programme with AJ Styles, it was the absolute worst timing to be shelved for 30 days, and large swathes of the audience were positively gleeful at the prospect of seeing the company Chosen One suffer the career blow.
Losing the title clean to heel Seth Rollins the day before the suspension was announced, Reigns took to Twitter to apologise to fans, immediately 'owning' the suspension and vowing to get right back in the mix as soon as he was allowed.
WWE had other plans. Demoted to US Title-level stories, Roman found himself taking more pins in a 5-month period than he probably had in his entire WWE career that came before it. His trajectory in 2017 improved, but recent rumours about his links to a multi-million pound steroid ring may again have an understandably negative impact on his career as Vince McMahon's ultimate golden boy.