When WWE superstars are suspended for violating the company's wellness policy - which has happened a few times in 2016 already - the WWE typically avoids all mention of the suspended athlete until their ban is over.
Seth Rollins kicked off Monday Night Raw by calling out former WWE champion Roman Reigns, who was suspended for 30 days on June 21st, one night after it was announced Reigns would feature in a triple-threat match at the next pay-per-view, Battleground, on July 24th.
Instead of trying to hide Reigns' transgression, WWE is using it to advance the storyline.
.@WWERollins is going there, isn't he? #RAW https://t.co/JwYv8oWYt1
— WWE (@WWE) June 28, 2016
Rollins (logically) argued that Reigns should be removed from the main event at Battleground, but both AJ Styles and John Cena arrived and suggested the main event be made into a five-way match.
The timing of Reigns' suspension - less than two days after he lost his title, and just a day after he was then placed into a title match, but just far enough away that he could serve 30 days and make the next PPV - is all very curious. Many fans speculated that Reigns' suspension might just be a "work," or part of the storyline, and WWE using the suspension as a story peg certainly lends credence to that theory. Whether Reigns truly failed a test or not, making him the subject of Raw's opening segment was a huge surprise.
