WWE Rumors: Roman Reigns will not be part of the WWE Backlash PPV

The undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is apparently not set to appear at the Backlash premium live event on May 6. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), Reigns was not scheduled to perform at Backlash as of Monday, but he is scheduled to wrestle at other premium live events in the coming months.

Reigns surprise defeated Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 39 last weekend, owing to intervention from Solo Sikoa, extending his reign as world champion to nearly 900 days. Rhodes challenged Reigns to a rematch on Monday’s Raw, but he rejected it. Reigns instead decided to team up with Sikoa versus Rhodes and a partner of his choice.

Brock Lesnar came forward and agreed to be Rhodes’ partner, but before the main event of Raw could begin, Lesnar savagely assaulted Rhodes, implying that he will face great obstacles before returning to Reigns. Given that WWE appears to be building for Rhodes vs Lesnar as the big event of Backlash, the business can afford to leave Reigns off the schedule.

Is Roman Reigns as well going part-time?

Reigns has worked a semi-part-time schedule in recent years, which means he wrestles at most premium live events but not all of them, and he isn’t always on WWE programming on a weekly basis. When Reigns takes a week or two off, it lets other Superstars shine, and this appears to be the case at Backlash.

This year’s Backlash will be extremely unique since it will be the first premium live event staged in Puerto Rico since the New Year’s Revolution in 2005.

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WWE Backlash to be hosted by Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny, a Grammy-winning singer, will host the night, and he may wrestle as well, with WWE hinting at a possible tag team bout between Bad Bunny and Rey Mysterio versus Damien Priest and Dominik Mysterio. WWE will hold King and Queen of the Ring in Saudi Arabia on May 27, Money in the Bank in London on July 1, and SummerSlam in Detroit on August 5.

All of them look to be massive events that would benefit from having Reigns defend his championship on the bill. Yet, there is enough interest around WrestleMania to keep Reigns off the Backlash card, which isn’t necessarily a terrible thing because it will allow Reigns some time away and the potential to be available for the remainder of the spring and into summer.

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