Roman Reigns Wins IC Title and the 5 Most Controversial Stories of the Week

WWE Survivor Series weekend was similar to WrestleMania weekend. The pay-per-view boasted star power, the festivities took place inside the same building over the course of one weekend and both flagship brands featured debuts of NXT call-ups on their respective fallout shows. 

The only thing separating Survivor Series weekend from WrestleMania weekend, or for that matter SummerSlam weekend, was the lack of beach balls. 

In addition to shocking debuts and returns, both Raw and SmackDown were also newsworthy because of storyline developments, namely Roman Reigns winning his first Intercontinental Championship. 

Roman Reigns Defeats The Miz for Intercontinental Championship

Roman Reigns defeated The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship in yet another moment that endeared him to the WWE Universe in ways his ongoing booking as a top star may have not. 

The combination of The Shield's reunion and Reigns swimming in the deep end with John Cena seems to have made him more comfortable in promos, as The Big Dog has shown immense confidence and off-the-cuff delivery during recent segments with Stephanie McMahon and The Miz.

Some fans are sharpening their knives for the day Reigns vies for his first-ever Universal Championship opposite Brock Lesnar. But many seem to be enjoying the ride of a more down-to-earth Big Dog who is seemingly being domesticated before rightfully headlining another WrestleMania. 

Imaginary Royal Rumble Main Event Featuring Finn Balor Reportedly Canceled

With Brock Lesnar tearing through the WWE roster, most recently with a victory over AJ Styles at Survivor Series, many speculated his next opponent would be former one-night Universal champion Finn Balor. This match was speculated by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestling Inc) as recently as October. 

Reports have now surfaced that the unadvertised match between Balor and Lesnar, one that only existed in the rumor mill, is no longer happening. 

Wait, what? 

WWE has been historically standoffish with the wrestling media and is understandably stingy when it comes to sharing behind-the-scenes developments. As a result, there really is no such thing as journalism in pro wrestling, per se. News stories are typically rumor-based speculation and guesswork that sometimes are true and sometimes are anything but. 

Undersized and a former member of The Bullet Club in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Finn Balor is like catnip to hardcore wrestling fans. Any gossip about WWE front offices souring on Balor—which is the hot rumor, according to Meltzer (h/t Wrestling Inc)—could lead to a deluge of angry Twitter timelines. 

Of course, Justin Barrasso of SI.com has since disputed reports that Finn Balor was ever in the mix to face Lesnar. 

So whose gossip should be trusted in this sea of controversy surrounding an imaginary main event in 2018? 

Nobody. In times like these, it's just best to wait it out until WWE makes the announcement. 

Paige Returns as WWE Uses Identical Storylines to Introduce NXT Talent

Monday night on Raw, Paige made her return to television as she joined forces with NXT stars Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. Pretty much the same storyline played out the following night on SmackDown Live when Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan laid waste to most of the women's roster. 

WWE is getting quite lazy in calling up NXT talent, and having two parallel storylines on Raw and SmackDown Live—not to mention a similar storyline in NXT with the Undisputed Era—does very little to separate fresh talent that so desperately needs to be unique in order to blossom. 

One would think WWE learned its lesson from the ill-fated three-for-one debut of Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. 

Hopefully, it can switch up the storytelling when it comes to the motivation of each of these trios. Because if the term "make an impact" is used to describe any of these stables, I'm done with all of them. 

Kurt Angle and Triple H a Lock for WrestleMania?

If one thing has been certain over the past two weeks, it's that Triple H and Kurt Angle really don't get along. 

The go-home show for Survivor Series saw The Game Pedigreeing Jason Jordan, Kurt Angle's storyline son, while the pay-per-view's main event concluded with Triple H Pedigreeing Angle himself. 

The following night, Angle came in hot and threatened Triple H as the two continue to lay the groundwork for a showdown, possibly at WrestleMania. 

The way plans have rapidly changed in WWE of late, it wouldn't be surprising to see this match get moved up to the Royal Rumble or even Raw's 25th-anniversary show. But on paper, Triple H vs. Kurt Angle is a colossal matchup tailor made for WrestleMania in New Orleans. 

Jason Jordan Begins Apparent Heel Turn

Failed babyface Jason Jordan seems to finally be on his way to a much-needed heel turn. 

Jordan was essentially caught in a lie Monday night when he told Kurt Angle he was too hurt to face Braun Strowman just moments after telling Triple H he was 100 percent. 

Starting with last week's whiny monologue designed to persuade Angle to clear him for Survivor Series, Jordan has been slowly implementing unlikable heel qualities in his character, and he seems much more comfortable doing so. 

WWE is completely lost at sea when it comes to booking the majority of its babyfaces, but it definitely knows how to get heat on heels. This bodes well for the previously struggling Jordan. 

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.