With Brock Lesnar being away from the scene, the creative team of WWE Raw needed a main event star with a title in hand. So, there’s nobody better to do the role other than the franchise player of the company, Roman Reigns.
So, he ended up winning the Intercontinental Championship from the Miz. The former champion was busy filming ‘The Marine 6’ movie for the earlier part in December.
This title win slowed down the momentum of The Shield on Monday Night Raw. They were back onboard as a popular demand to rule the yard as a team. But, apparently, they are eyeing on separate titles that put their status in jeopardy.
However, for now, they will stick together as per updates from Seth Rollins although Dean Ambrose has been ruled out of action. Roman Reigns will continue to be the main-eventer with the IC title in his hand. His rivalry with Samoa Joe has already been started, and it is expected to go forward for the weeks to come. The Big Dog defeated Elias in an open challenge match for his title after which the former NXT Champion showed up to deliver a major statement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4tkYdnf1T4
He attacked the champion on the ramp to officially start the rivalry. According to the reports of Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there’s a reason behind this feud. The officials consider Samoa Joe as the one to take the title away from Reigns in the near future. It will also establish him as a strong heel on the roster.
As per the updates from the veteran journalist, Royal Rumble is the most appropriate PPV where we will see marquee match between Reigns and Samoa over the Intercontinental Championship. It might be the show where the former NXT Champion wins his first singles title on the main roster dethroning Reigns.
The reason behind this title change is that Roman Reigns is still in the creative planning for the Wrestlemania 34 main event. His match against Brock Lesnar at the show of shows for the Universal Championship is fixed at the biggest event of the year. So, he will lose the mid-card title to move forward to the Universal title picture and go up against the beast incarnate.