Roman Reigns will challenge Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship at Roadblock: End of the Line. The expectation is Owens will retain his championship but the latest rumors suggest that Reigns could be the Universal champ heading to WrestleMania 33.
According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required), Reigns will not win the Universal championship at Roadblock: End of the Line. The current plan for him is a feud with Braun Strowman for the U.S. title.
The Owens-Reigns feud is only a filler since Finn Balor and/or Chris Jericho is expected to begin programs with KO. On the other hand, Reigns has not established himself as a great U.S. champion just yet. He has only defended the title twice, one in the rematch against Rusev and versus Chris Jericho last week on Monday Night Raw.
However, Alfred Konuwa of Forbes believes that the WWE should put the Universal championship on Reigns. He added that The Big Dog needs to hold the title until WrestleMania 33 while also giving six reasons why it needs to happen.
The first one is the Raw women's championship overshadowing the Universal title. Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair are telling an incredible story in the final chapters of their rivalry. The second is Reigns still has the look of the next face of the WWE.
The three-time WWE champion still gets booed by half of the audience but the most important thing is he gets reactions. Next reason is to avoid Reigns winning another Royal Rumble match while also pointing out the Strowman is not ready to face The Big Dog.
Konuwa also mentioned that the upcoming Owens-Jericho feud does not need the Universal title to be successful and entertaining. And finally, he suggested a Triple Threat Match for the title a WrestleMania 33.
"There are several scenarios that can take place between now and WrestleMania that end up with Goldberg, Lesnar, and Reigns in the WrestleMania main event," Konuwa said.
"And while I am not a fan of Triple Threat main events at WrestleMania, WWE at least needs to show it has enough faith in somebody from its full-time roster to stand toe-to-toe with its two biggest attractions," he added.
Nevertheless, these are just purely speculative and mere suggestions for the WWE. Check out the video below to see Reigns defend his U.S. title against Jericho in an episode of Raw.