At WrestleMania 42, on the night of Sunday, April 19th, “The OTC” Roman Reigns defeated “The Best In The World” CM Punk to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
This victory marked Reigns’ first championship win since he lost the Undisputed WWE Championship to “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes in a Bloodline Rules Match at WrestleMania XL. That match ended Reigns’ legendary title reign, which lasted 1316 days.
In a recent Fightful Select Q&A, a fan inquired about the internal pressure within WWE for Reigns to replicate the success of his previous title run. It was noted that there are no expectations from the company for the new reign to match the last one. Sean Ross Sapp mentioned that the focus now appears to be on “stacking accolades” and creating engaging television storylines rather than duplicating the success of the prior reign.
Reigns has announced that he is back to performing full-time for an extended period and will be appearing on WWE TV throughout the summer. His first title defense of the World Heavyweight Championship will be against Jacob Fatu at WWE Backlash, which was confirmed during the latest episode of RAW.
WWE Backlash is scheduled for Saturday, May 9th, at the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida. The event will air live on ESPN Unlimited in the U.S. and on Netflix internationally.
