WWE Planning Major Changes For Roman Reigns' U.S. Championship?

This Sunday at WWE Roadblock: End of the Line, Roman Reigns will challenge Kevin Owens for the WWE [...]

By Brandon Gnetz

This Sunday at WWE Roadblock: End of the Line, Roman Reigns will challenge Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship. The match will only be for the Universal championship as Reigns will not be putting his United States championship on the line. Recent speculation suggests that Reigns is expected to become WWE's "double champ" and hold both the Universal and United States titles after his bout with Owens, yet it seems odd not to make the match appear to be an even bigger event by putting both championships on the line, especially if "The Guy" is expected to begin the year as RAW's top guy.

A new report from The Inquisitor suggests that Vince McMahon has voiced being "sick and tired" of the United States out dated appearance. If this is true, it would help to explain why Roman Reigns has barely mentioned the championship since defeating Rusev at Clash Of Champions and possibly why he carries it around like a bit of an afterthought–a look that has not gone unnoticed by social media.

Or by Roman Reigns.

But has Roman really defended the US Championship? Since taking the strap from the Bulgarian Brute at the end of October, he's only defended it (sparingly) against Rusev and Chris Jericho. The current word right now is that after Wrestlemania, the championship will get a face lift and possibly also a move to Smackdown, which would then bring the Intercontinental Championship back to RAW. Despite the tradition of both the US and Intercontinental championships, they both do not fit into the current unified design scheme of the other new championships.

As of now, the strongest rumor going is that Roman's Wrestlemania 33 opponent will be Braun Strowman. If the WWE was planning on giving the US title belt a new look and more prestige, it seems like it would only be fitting to also give it a new champion.

The United States championship was established as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship on January 1, 1975 for the regional territory, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, which later became World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Harley Race was the inaugural champion. The red, white and blue belt is the only active championship in WWE that was not originated in the promotion, as well as WWE's second oldest active championship, behind the WWE World Championship (1963).

Any grandiose plans the WWE has for the championship and for Roman Reigns should spring into action this Sunday at WWE Roadblock: End of the Line on the WWE Network. Would you like to see Roman carry the US championship all the way into Wrestlemania?

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