A lot has changed in Roman Reigns’ absence.
Roman Reigns is currently off WWE television, following his loss to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40. In his absence, The Bloodline story is still going on. Meanwhile, The Rock appeared on RAW to set up a potential singles feud with The American Nightmare in the future.
However, The (now former?) Tribal Chief hasn’t been seen. This has led to speculation that The Final Boss is set to turn on Reigns, with Rikishi seemingly suggesting that he doesn’t trust what he saw from the Hollywood megastar on RAW.
Speaking on his podcast, Rikishi Fatu Off The Top, the WWE Hall of Famer has gone on to predict that The Rock will betray Roman Reigns. This would lead to the latter returning as a babyface, with various members of The Bloodline picking sides ahead of a potential WarGames match.
Rikishi also predicted that the saga would culminate at WrestleMania 41, likely to be held in Minnesota.
“I kinda see a WarGames. I kinda see somewhere down there The Rock turning on Roman Reigns. Rock becomes the heel, Roman comes back as the babyface. I kinda see the Bloodline family members spread up and take sides. And then I kinda see something huge as far as WarGames or some type of gimmick matches amongst each other. They would probably want to build that up for the next WrestleMania. I believe they have it in Minnesota,” said Rikishi. [45:40-46:19]
Rikishi also claimed that the culmination between The Rock and Roman Reigns should happen at a WrestleMania on the West Coast, because it would allow a lot more Samoan, Tongan, and Hawaiian people to witness the match.
The wheels are already in motion for Roman Reigns’ babyface turn
It seems like the teams have begun forming on SmackDown. Solo Sikoa went rogue and seemingly made himself The Tribal Chief without Paul Heyman’s knowledge, before kicking Jimmy Uso out of The Bloodline and replacing him with Tama Tonga.
This may have been under the direct orders of The Rock, who could influence WWE programming despite being on hiatus. As a result, Roman Reigns may very well return as a babyface after potentially being replaced as The Tribal Chief. He might have Jimmy and Jey Uso back on his side, which falls in line with Rikishi’s prediction.