Why Roman Reigns Was Absent From WWE In 2020
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The landscape of WWE today finds itself surrounded by the Island of Relevancy, led by The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns and his destructive faction, The Bloodline. The family has run through nearly everyone who stood across them and went to every length to preserve the dominant title reign of Roman Reigns for two years and counting.
The level of success Roman Reigns has experienced in the last two and half years surely exceeds the one he did when for a longtime WWE tried to get him over as a babyface. WWE failed to establish Reigns' place at the top of the mountain for nearly six years after he began his singles run in the company. It was right after a six-month hiatus from WWE that they began the most promising direction for Roman Reigns with a complete career resurgence. So we shall dwell further and explore Reigns' absence from WWE in 2020 which led to the beginning of the greatest push for the Tribal Chief.
RELATED: Roman Reigns Had Two Requests For WWE Before He Returned Last Year
Roman Reigns Left At The Height Of A WrestleMania Main Event Feud
The former Big Dog was embroiled in a lackluster feud with Baron Corbin during the WrestleMania season, with their rivalry culminating at WWE Super-Showdown in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Roman Reigns silenced then-King Corbin with a thunderous spear inside a steel cage to put an end to their heated feud.
The following edition of Friday Night SmackDown saw Roman Reigns answer to Goldberg's challenge for a main event showdown at WrestleMania 36. The match was set in stone to take place on the Grandest Stage of them all for the WWE Universal championship, held by the WCW icon at the time.
WWE continued to build up on the epic storyline between Roman Reigns and Goldberg, with the match billed as 'Spear vs Spear.' However, this happened at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the company to produce WrestleMania behind closed doors at the WWE Performance Center with no audience. Roman Reigns' concern for his health, given his medical history, surviving a battle against cancer at two different stages of his life, and the scare of the pandemic spread across the world that could also jeopardize his family's safety and well-being, forced him to back out of the match at WrestleMania 36.
Roman Reigns' Extended Hiatus & Eventual Return As A Heel
Roman Reigns admitted that he feared for his family and his own health in an interview with Corey Graves on the After The Bell podcast in 2021. "For me, it was about putting my family first. And right there, if I had to retire and that's what was gonna be asked of me, I was willing to do it. For one of the first times in a long time, I put my family—they were 1A. There was nothing that was gonna change my mind. I needed to go away and wait 'til we were in a place of better understanding of the process and knowing exactly what this virus has done and how it's affected everybody."
During his time away, Roman Reigns spent more time with his family, became a father to twin children, and worked extensively in improving his overall physique. This was the beginning of the master plan conceived in Reigns' mind for a complete change in character upon his return to WWE. In an interview with ESPN.com, Roman outlined how he wanted to do something “groundbreaking” and “history-making” when the time came for his comeback. “I just kept going back to ‘power,’ I just want to be viewed as the most powerful superstar of all time, when it comes to WWE and sports entertainment. I just really wanted to convey this portrait of strength. Almost like a Mafia-style power. Not only is it respect, but they fear me.”
Roman Reigns eventually ended up returning at WWE SummerSlam 2020. He donned a more ruthless and well-built outlook, turning heel to kickstart the best run of his entire career that has been going strong for the last two and half years.
