Roman Reigns, one of WWE’s most prominent superstars, has been sidelined due to storyline injuries sustained during the 2025 Men’s Royal Rumble match. This is surely hurting the company’s road to WrestleMania 41 as the blue brand is slipping in terms of ratings. This impacts WWE in many ways that include the continuation of storyline, overall ratings etc.
In this article we will analyze the importance of Roman Reigns for WWE and how his absence is impacting WWE in terms of audience engagement and main events. Even though Reigns is rumored to make his return at Elimination Chamber 2025, but to boost the ratings WWE might bring him back early.
Impact on Storylines and Character Dynamics
The storyline injury to Roman Reign is like an out of syllabus for WWE fans. Due to which it impacted a lot in WWE’s storytelling landscape. Popularly known as “OTC”, he is the central character of many storylines which states his absence will be less engaging and will affect SmackDown main event of the night. Earlier SmackDown had multiple options for the main event but his absence has totally shifted the focus on Cody Rhodes to cover all the gap created.
Reigns’ impact for the blue brand is so much that in his absence the storylines lack depth. The Friday Night show has no better option to counterbalance the top heels like Solo Sikoa. The storylines lacks peak moments and could maintain the dramatic tension. All this leads to decrease in viewership and fan engagement in SmackDown show.
Decline in Ratings
We have seen from the past that including Roman Reigns in any event will automatically increase the viewership and benefit WWE programming. His storyline injury in Royal Rumble 2025 led to drop in ratings for Smackdown. Yes, Smackdown has other big superstars too like Charlotte Flair, Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes who are tying their best to lift the ratings but can’t match the impact which the OTC can create.
The viewership charts showed decline in Reigns’ in comparison to the presence of the Tribal Chief on the show. Earlier too when Roman revealed about his leukemia, his absence in the following months impacted the viewership. It is also true that it takes some time to get fans’ attention on superstars. With time fans get attached to their favorite superstar and it’s very difficult for makers to fill that gap with other superstar during their absence.
Challenges Ahead of Major Events
Roman’s storyline injury at the peak time enroute to Elimination Chamber 2025 and WrestleMania 41 poses challenges to hold the audience and create the same impact as Reigns creates around these shows.
Now, WWE has to drop the idea of building the plot for a triple threat match at WrestleMania 41 which includes high profile superstars like CM Punk, Roman Reign and Seth Rollins. As Roma Injury confirmed his absence for this triple threat match. His injury narrative is currently being used as a plot device rather than reflecting reality; creating uncertainty whether he will participate or not. But is affecting engagement for other upcoming matches as fans are not tuning in.
Effects on The Bloodline
The one thing that impacts the most is the Reigns’ leadership within the Bloodline. His absence created instability in this storyline and will affect the future of Bloodline. Many possible ups and downs could be possible in the absence of Reign as Bloodline members may betray each other to represent individually. It could be a good option for WWE but It’s risky too to dilute The Bloodline as fans have high hopes from this storyline.
Conclusion
In summary, Roman Reigns’ face of WWE absence can be felt across multiple dimensions: Not only the “The Tribal Chief” impacts the rating and viewership but also the storytelling depth and weakens characters too. It affects many storylines and creates uncertainty within The Bloodline faction. Roman Reigns is one of the central characters of WWE and quick return is necessary to revive the storylines and also the fans engagement ahead of key events.
REDDAVENI SAISNEHA 
Anushka Sarkar