Despite outlasting 29 other superstars, the reaction to Roman Reigns winning the 2026 men’s Royal Rumble is a mixed bag. Reigns is a part-timer at best these days, declared days ahead of the Rumble and didn’t hype his participation up on television. WWE’s lack of investment into their younger stars is coming around to bite them and it’s frustrating, to say the least.
The 2026 Rumble had many young guys primed to take over the WWE someday soon: 21-year-old Je’Von Evans, Oba Femi, Royce Keys (formerly Powerhouse Hobbs), Bron Breakker, Trick Williams. And yet, somehow none of them are ready to lead WWE into the future. Evans lasted 40 minutes before being eliminated by Randy Orton, Femi has all the tools to be the next big thing. He racked up five eliminations and (sort of) mixed it up with Brock Lesnar. Even though Lesnar eliminated him just to get eliminated himself 30 seconds later during Jey Uso’s yeet festivities. But I digress. Trick Williams was in the match less than 10 minutes but maximized his minutes as much as possible. The debuting Keys pretty quickly eliminated Damian Priest, a major player on WWE Raw.
Reigns is the safe option. He helped create one of the biggest wrestling stories ever. He moves tickets and is a huge spectacle; the mainstream star WWE desperately needs. However, how much longer can WWE rely on a generation of stars closer to the end of their careers than the beginning?
“I give the people plenty of time. These young talent, they say we hog all the TV time,” Reigns said this week on The Pat McAfee Show. “They’ll complain about one thing, and then I leave an opening, I give them plenty of space to create whatever type of superstardom they want. Get over, kids. Get over. You know what I mean? And we’re two years here now, and we haven’t advanced. We haven’t evolved.”
And he’s not exactly wrong, but it’s also not really his fault either. It lies a lot on the booking, and since WrestleMania 40, WWE has been in a slow-moving downward spiral. I wouldn’t say WWE: Unreal paints the creative team in the greatest light. Sure, WWE feels bigger than ever with the Netflix and ESPN deals, but fans are growing increasingly frustrated with the booking malpractice.
There’s no denying that CM Punk vs. Reigns is intriguing. There’s over a decade of history there to explore — it’s one of the biggest title matchups you can make in the current landscape. But Reigns won’t be there forever as a fail-safe.
The post Roman Reigns Is WWE’s Fail-Safe (And That’s Not a Good Thing) appeared first on VICE.
