WWE Hot Take: Why Roman Reigns' Part-Time Schedule Is a Good Thing

Inevitably, pro wrestling fans have started to notably push back against the limited number of appearances and outright title defenses for Roman Reigns.

But that limited schedule is by design—and working exactly as intended to fantastic results.

This isn't one of those suggestions that something actually annoying fans is good because any reaction is a good reaction, even endless heat. Better than silence, right?

No, this whole situation around Reigns simply requires more than skimming the surface.

What's interesting about the brief number of appearances for Reigns is that fans knew it was coming. It has been a pretty badly kept secret that he might shift to part-timer status in the near future.

Problem for those fans is, the future is now. We've known it was coming, yet the big beef in internet circles seems to be that his limited number of title defenses somehow diminishes his championship run, which continues to track toward him surpassing Hulk Hogan's 1,474 days as champion, the third-longest reign ever.

Except it doesn't. Context matters and in this case, there's nothing wrong with a limited number of title defenses near the tail end of this reign. It's a little bit of character work, a little bit of preventing overexposure and a little bit of quite a bit more.

One of the best comparisons is that purgatory era that was Brock Lesnar's part-timer title run in which he pretty much never showed up, leaving the whole main-event scene with nothing to do. He showed up only for the big events and fought a random Superstar he hadn't yet, and while the matches were often great, everything else stunk.

The thing about this Reigns era is that everything is carefully crafted around The Bloodline story and how it impacts the top Superstars in the company. Sure, some weeks only provide incremental updates, but it's no secret the end destination is WrestleMania. Just right now, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, LA Knight and even The Rock are guys in the Reigns orbit with a chance at taking his title in the near future.

WWE signaled that this part-timer Reigns was coming, too, at least partially when it created the other top title for Raw that currently sits superglued to Seth Rollins' waist.

And there's another great comparison point. Rollins' run seems to be more of what fans want from Reigns' run, too.

Except fans have dramatically turned on Rollins. The feuds and matches have been good, yet overexposure comes for all Superstars. So much so, fans started clamoring for former mid-card purgatory names like Shinsuke Nakamura and even Jinder Mahal to beat him.

There's a little more nuance to that than we can dive into now, but the point stands—fans have been tired of the Rollins run for a while now. Imagine if Reigns had the same workrate, simply tore through the rosters and had a bigger number of dusty finishes in which interference or cheating saved the day. It would be nothing short of a nightmare.

Instead, WWE has two styles of champion running. Reigns is more of a spectacle, which is very much intentional and perhaps an effort to lean more into the UFC-realistic side of things.

Because of this, fans might have points of frustration with Reigns—but when he shows up, the eyelids are taped open. Good example? Fans might have nitpicks about how his last title defense went, but they're straight-up lying if they are not intrigued to see the how and why he escapes the fatal 4-way with Orton, Knight and Styles at the Royal Rumble.

And Reigns fighting The Rock at 'Mania could be one of the greatest modern main events ever. Not a "greatest match of all time" slapped on some random stuff fans have already forgotten about, but an earned spectacle that actually has the power to draw back lapsed and even new fans around the globe.

There are little things that go into this too. Consider the conditioning aspect. Remember how great returning Superstars look because they've lived in a gym beforehand? And how that appearance fades over time because they're constantly on the road all year? This prevents that falloff for Reigns.

And hey, that sounds silly, but it's part of the equation. When you're as big of a spectacle as Reigns right now, a modern Hulk Hogan, it's another part of that wow factor for veteran and new fans alike.

As we always point out, this limited schedule can continue to work well until a storyline comes along that actually makes sense. Based on Rhodes' last year of weird mid-card and tag title stuff and the backlash to Rollins' title run (the same thing Rhodes would've done if he had won last year), that story doesn't make sense. Until Paul Heyman pulls a betrayal, a name like Solo Sikoa is ready or even Rollins Architects his way into dethroning his former Shield brother, this remains the best course of action.

Love it or not, hindsight isn't going to agree with the idea that this limited schedule and limited defenses were a detriment to Reigns' run. It hasn't been perfect, but the experiment-as-they-go nature of it has produced one of the best-ever storylines and a historic, well, reign. It's one that might just serve as a proper blueprint to help continually evolve the sport in how it handles championships and even scheduling that helps the humans behind the characters, too.

Sure, we don't know the end point on the Reigns and Bloodline saga, but that's part of the fun—and the old adage about absence and the heart is a thing for a reason. In this case, absence makes the spectacle, too.