Roman Reigns Suspended for Violating Wellness Policy

[Fnord]

Source: F4WOnline

As noted, WWE announced today that Roman Reigns has been suspended for 30 days for his first violation of the Wellness Program.

"I apologize to my family, friends and fans for my mistake in violating WWE's wellness policy," Reigns wrote on Twitter. "No excuses. I own it."

It was announced on last night's RAW that Reigns would be facing Seth Rollins and WWE Champion Dean Ambrose for the title at WWE Battleground on July 24 in Washington D.C. Reigns' suspension will end on July 21st, days after the WWE Draft, however several days before WWE Battleground.

Dave Meltzer reported today on a breaking news audio on F4WOnline.com that WWE knew about the violation before last Sunday's WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view. It was noted that top officials knew about the violation before the Battleground main event was announced on last night's RAW, which would indicate that WWE may still go ahead with the match as planned, even though he wouldn't be able to appear on any television before the pay-per-view.

[Cory]

Just what I feared, and said before I highly doubt Vince and co. we're naive enough to NOT know what was going on with their darling here.

They were afraid of him looking weak and getting shit on the entire run for Mania especially in smark towns so they kept him off TV pretty much the entire road to wrestlemania run.

He was going to be the weak link on the mic during the buildup to the triple threat, so this protects him.

Unbelievable.

The fans don't want him, his house shows we're doing worse than Ambrose's. Time to move on here you stubborn old fuck, treat him like every one else that has fucked their push up and have him feud for the US title and re-brand himself, unless they're afraid of him changing his gimmick because without the D'Lo Brown body armour he's softer than Baron Corbin and without the big moan taunt before his punch, you could actually here the boos clearer before fans shit on the coming predictable finish.

[Black Death]

well that pretty much explains the him dropping the belt now at MITB

[Duckman]

When's the MMA inspired tainted supplement defence going to come out?

This actually could be a blessing in disguise for Roman because they need to do something with him - complete character over haul and an immediate heel turn spring to mind.

[The TeeJ of Philly]

Roman seems like a weed guy.

And He's not going anywhere in terms of push. He's still going to be there at the top when he comes back.

[Mike Powers]

So he's not a good guy, he's not a bad guy, he's the weed guy?

[Jon]

So he's not a good guy, he's not a bad guy, he's the weed guy?

*crickets*

[Mike Powers]

*cues laugh track*

[Rob]

I admin a Facebook group with a few thousand guys. I've seen a variation of that joke close to 100 times so far haha.

[Duckman]

You don't get a 30 day suspension for weed in WWE.  You get a $10,000 fine.  Apparently the guys in the company who like a smoke call it the weed tax.

[T-Bonizzle]

He lost clean at MitB. That was his real punishment...

[Duckman]

Will be interesting because his 30 day suspension is up before Battleground.  So he'll be off all TV for the build that, and the draft on 19th July, but back in time for the PPV.

One of the ideas that's been floating around, in order to get 2 champions on each brand, is that Rollins and Reigns pin Ambrose at the same time at Battleground, then both have legit claim to be champion.

Will WWE go ahead and get the Title back on him as soon as he's back and continue to push him as the top star and face of the company?  My money says they scale him back slightly and wait till Summerslam before doing the big shove again.

Will be an interesting month to see how all this plays out and who the champion/s are at Summerslam and which brand each guy ends up on.

The fact does remain that Reigns from a business point of view has been a failure as his run on top has lead to record low TV ratings and house show attendances dropping for the shows he headlines - compared to the Cena shows.  He also gets booed out the building on TV and PPV, and it's now happening at house shows more regularly.  Cena gets more of a mixed reaction these days, but at the house shows is usually 95% cheers and he shifts a ton of merch.  WWE need to do something because people seem to genuinely hate Roman and it's not changing no matter how they book him.

I'd hope WWE would take this moment to do something with the guy (heel turn is an absolute must) because while he's not the next Rock, Austin or even Cena, he does work hard, has a good look and could be a star at the level of an Orton or Edge.  A top star, but not THE top star.

[T-Bonizzle]

He is so much better as a heel, they need to let him do it instead of trying the Stone Cold anti-hero act. That's what they're trying to recreate and it's not working. The moments when they have just let him be an asshole has been the moments he's shined.

[Duckman]

I did notice they've now let him respond to the crowd booing instead of just smirking and pretending it's not happening.  Giving them back some verbal abuse of his own is a total heel move and like you say, it totally works for him.