Dave Meltzer Has Interesting Booking Idea For Roman Reigns At WWE WrestleMania

Since August 30, 2020, Roman Reigns has been the WWE Universal Champion — and on April 3, 2022, he became the first wrestler to hold both the Universal Championship and the WWE Championship simultaneously. Now, we're only three months away from the Royal Rumble in January 2023, which means WrestleMania season is nearly upon us. And with WrestleMania season comes the question: Who can fans expect to see take on "The Tribal Chief" on the biggest show of the year?

Speculation persists that Cody Rhodes may be in the mix, even though he's currently recovering from a torn pectoral muscle. Yet despite his never-ending schedule, the long-rumored match-up between Reigns and his cousin, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, might still be on the table. Speaking with Wrestling Inc. Senior News Editor Nick Hausman, The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer discussed Rhodes' potential return, suggesting that it makes sense to expect him back for the Rumble.

"Yeah, that's when we should be back," Meltzer said. "I mean, timing wise, he's been real coy about not giving a date, but you can also do the math of when the surgery was and when eight months is. Which is usually seven, eight months, the recovery time for the torn pec surgery, and it gets you a little bit before Rumble. And so if that's the case, the smart thing to do is not announce him and have him show up at Rumble and win the Rumble."

So what if Rhodes does indeed come back to win the Rumble and claim his spot in the WrestleMania main event — but Johnson also becomes available? Surely WWE would want to take advantage of having "The Rock" on their biggest show of the year. That said, would Johnson's arrival come at the expense of Rhodes? Meltzer doesn't necessarily believe that has to be the case, and suggests the move might be to have Reigns on both nights of the show, rather than put all three men in a triple threat match.

"I wouldn't water that down," Meltzer said. "You could do it, but I just think if Rock's going to wrestle, it should be one-on-one with Roman, and Cody can get the shot at another point in time. It doesn't have to be WrestleMania. They have other big shows, and there's two days of WrestleMania if you want to do it that way. I mean, I don't know if they would do it that way, but I don't think there's anything wrong with Roman Reigns wrestling twice and promoting the hell out of that aspect of it, too."