Roman Reigns might have a shirt that declares him a needle mover for WWE, but recent Friday Night SmackDown ratings don't support that claim. From a booking standpoint, it seems as if Vince McMahon is taking the Brock Lesnar approach with The Tribal Cheif, attempting to turn his appearances into ratings-popping events that fans can't witness every single weak. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or something like that.
And WWE has certainly taken that approach with Reigns since he unified the major men's titles at WrestleMania 38. That event took place on April 3, and he's defended his championship just one time on television or premium live event, defeating Riddle on June 17. The only other time he's wrestled on TV since WrestleMania was at Backlash, where he was part of a six-man tag match alongside the Usos.
It doesn't seem like this strategy is working for WWE, at least in terms of popping the ratings with Reigns as a draw. In the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer had the following to say about Reigns' appearance on the July 8 episode of SmackDown: "SmackDown was an 0.47. Actually Dynamite, on Wednesday, beat SmackDown in 18-34. Which should never happen for a lot of reasons but it did... This week's show had Roman Reigns... Roman Reigns back wasn't a big needle mover. He was just there. It was just a number, you know. I would say as compared to the week before was a disappointment. But it's within the normal range of what I'd suspect this show to be doing right now."
There are a lot of ways to gauge whether or not a wrestler is working or not, and this one set of SmackDown ratings won't slow WWE's continuous push of Reigns. For the last decade, WWE fans have been able to count on three things: death, taxes, and Vince McMahon pushing Roman Reigns. It's still noteworthy that his appearances aren't bumping numbers for SmackDown, however. And it further solidifies Meltzer's recent statement that John Cena is WWE's last true needle mover.
That's not a knock on Reigns. He's in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime run as WWE Universal Champion. In case fans aren't aware, he's held that title for nearly 700 days, and it's tough to imagine him leaving SummerSlam without that title, regardless of what happens with Brock Lesnar and the looming threat of Theory cashing in his Money In The Bank briefcase. The writing would need to be creative, but there are ways to get the WWE Championship off of Reigns, so they have at least one wrestler actively defending major titles on premium live events. Of course, the lack of Reigns on the card didn't prevent Money In The Bank 2022 from being a smash hit for the company so who knows what they're planning for SummerSlam.
(If any portion of these quotes are used for an article, please give credit to Wrestling Observer Radio as the source and ScreenRant.com for the transcription.)
Source: Wrestling Observer Radio
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