Roman Reigns says not having the WWE Universal Championship on Raw every week “is killing us”, hopes Brock Lesnar goes back to UFC after WWE SummerSlam

By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

Roman Reigns spoke with Brian Fritz of Sporting News and was asked about the importance of having the WWE Universal Championship on Raw every week. “It’s killing us,” Reigns said. “It’s killing us. It makes for better storytelling. It would be a better product. It would be a better show. When you have the diamond that everybody’s chasing, it gives everybody a GPS of where they are and where they’re trying to be.

“Not only that, it’s a driving force for live events. It’s a driving force for our Friday, Saturday and Sunday (non-televised events) when we don’t have a network special or a pay-per-view. It’s important to have that thing hanging up in the locker room in a tiny town in South Dakota on a Friday when people are not motivated. A young talent comes in and says the champ’s in here and the title is hanging up. I want that. It motivates people in some many different regards and that’s what we need. I’m to the point where I’ve won a bunch of different championships and the only reason I want that championship is because I haven’t won it and I want it on this roster. I want it at our shows. I want it in every town because it’s going to make everybody better.”

Reigns was also asked if he would prefer to see Brock Lesnar fight in UFC or stay in WWE after SummerSlam. “To be honest, at this point I’d love to see him just go fight in UFC because that’s where it seems his passion and where his focus is right now,” Reigns said. “We have a protocol here. We have a certain schedule and there’s a certain rhythm that makes this whole business work and, right now, I think he’s throwing us out of whack a little bit.

“Is it great exposure to crossover? Absolutely. We love having a big star like Brock Lesnar but, at the end of the day, sports entertainment has to look out for itself. We have to continue to do our business and continue to put on our show. I just feel like it would be a lot better served with that Universal Championship in someone’s hands like myself.” Read the full interview at SportingNews.com.

Powell’s POV: I agree with Reigns that having a championship defended as infrequently as Lesnar defends the WWE Universal Championship is damaging. In fact, it’s damaging to Lesnar at this point in that the fans resent him for not being around more. And while that plays into his current heel persona, I believe the time will come when fans will be happy to see him in occasional special event type of matches that don’t involve the championship. The interview is an interesting read as Reigns also makes his case for keeping his current ring gear, and goes into detail about why he feels his feud with Lesnar will ultimately be looked back on favorably.