[Report] Backstage Details On If WWE Is Planning To Turn Roman Reigns Heel

After a five-month hiatus, Roman Reigns made a thrilling and unexpected return at the end of SummerSlam on Sunday.

Reigns attacked Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman immediately after the Universal Championship match, in which The Fiend emerged victorious.

On the ensuing edition of Monday Night Raw, WWE confirmed that the three men will face off in a No Holds Barred triple threat match for the title at Sunday's Payback pay-per-view.

Many interpreted Reigns' return and attack on Wyatt and Strowman as a possible heel turn. But is he actually about to make the unexpected transition to bad guy?

On the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast, Sportskeeda's Tom Colohue explained that WWE isn't actually planning to turn Reigns heel. Rather, this was simply a minor change to his character, with Reigns now carrying "an edge."

Colohue said that Reigns was "intentionally out of character" for the big moment. He pointed out that this isn't a new "version of Roman Reigns," noting that we saw this side of him during his feud The Undertaker.

"We are still at Roman Reigns with an edge," Colohue said. "And Roman Reigns is one of those characters, much like a Charlotte Flair, much like a Finn Balor, who is simply at that plateau where his character is so well established that there is no face or heel...he doesn't have to have an alignment either way."

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Reigns was scheduled to face Hall of Famer Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36. However, he decided to remove himself for safety and health reasons amid the COVID-19 pandemic. WWE replaced him with Strowman, who defeated Goldberg to win the title.

WWE reportedly has a plan for Reigns to eventually win the title off of Wyatt, perhaps as soon as this Sunday at Payback. Only time will tell if WWE decides to finally turn Reigns heel, or if he'll stay in between a heel and a face, as Colohue suggested.

WWE Needs To Turn Reigns Heel, Eventually

Reigns, of course, often received the heel treatment from fans when WWE began pushing him as the company's No. 1 babyface in 2015. But he never pulled off a true heel turn, and WWE simply has to go through with it eventually. One can argue that Reigns' wrestling persona is better suited for a heel character anyway. WWE doesn't seem keen on turning Reigns heel just yet, but they have to do it at some point in the future.

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