King: Roman Reigns Must Defeat Seth Rollins Without The Bloodline

Chris King explains why Roman Reigns must defeat Seth Rollins cleanly at SummerSlam to finally prove he is the better former Shield member.

‘The OTC’ Roman Reigns is set to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against his former Shieldmate ‘The Visionary’ Seth Rollins at SummerSlam in a highly anticipated match years in the making.

Fourteen years ago, The Shield took WWE by storm, causing chaos and havoc. They took down legends such as John Cena, Kane, and The Undertaker, just to name a few. The Hounds of Justice stood by principles, trying to right the wrongs in the company. The dominant trio ran roughshod until Seth Rollins drove the steel chair into his brother’s back. ‘The Architect’ continued his ascent to the very top, winning the MITB and ultimately cashing in at WrestleMania 31. Rollins stole Reigns’ moment right from beneath him and stole the world championship. Rollins was on the verge of facing Reigns in mid-2015 until he suffered a devastating injury. The Big Dog would fill his shoes and ultimately win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 32, while a wounded Architect watched from the skybox. 

Throughout the years, The Shield came back together, but I don’t feel like the brotherhood was as strong as it was after Rollins’ betrayal. Rollins and Reigns would go on their separate paths in WWE: The Visionary on Raw and The Tribal Chief on SmackDown. Reigns would become the Universal Champion and defend it with help from his Bloodline, which Rollins didn’t respect at all. At the 2022 Royal Rumble PLE, former brothers would clash over the title, and Reigns would be disqualified for not releasing his guillotine chokehold. The Visionary would be the only superstar that Reigns could not defeat cleanly. 

At WrestleMania 40, Rollins would sacrifice himself so that Cody Rhodes could end Reigns’ 1316 days as the Undisputed Champion. After The OTC returned as a babyface character and reunited his OG Bloodline, The Architect found a way to stick it to his former brother once again, ironically enough, at Mania in their triple threat. Rollins stole Reigns’ wiseman Paul Heyman and formed The Vision. Reigns had his hands full feuding with Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker. Meanwhile, The Visionary won another briefcase and pulled off The Ruse of the Century to become world champion again. In his title reign was short-lived as Rollins would injure his shoulder, forcing him to vacate the title. Similar to 2015, Rollins was forced to watch Reigns defeat CM Punk and become the new World Champion.

After Reigns successfully defended his title against Jacob Fatu on two separate occasions, The Visionary stepped up to his former brother and challenged him for SummerSlam. A confident OTC immediately accepted his challenge, as it would be perhaps one of the last times they could battle over the top prize, with a new crop of talent starting to burst to the top. Throughout their build-up it’s been only Rollins and Reigns with no outside interference. It’s been a truth-telling game of who’s number one and number two in the company. Rollins’ argument has been that The OTC needs help to win all of his matches, but it’s been the opposite this time around. No bloodline shenanigans have occurred since Reigns won the title, and I truly felt that SummerSlam would be no different. 

On this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, Solo Sikoa offered to help Rollins just like he did for Rhodes in order to eliminate The Bloodline from the equation, but why does he need help? If Reigns is going to prove once and for all that he’s truly number one in WWE, he must defeat Rollins without any help or shenanigans. It needs to be a clean finish that solidifies The OTC as the true champion, not just because of Rollins’ injury. Why does The Bloodline need to get involved if during Reigns’ title defenses he’s won on his own? I could understand if Fatu were getting involved in their in-ring segments or even the contract signing, but he hasn’t since The OTC told him to stand down. 

Does anyone else find this confusing, or is it just me? Reigns needs to defeat his former Shield brother on his own at SummerSlam to prove he’s the better superstar. No matter what!