Roman Reigns Deserves Better Booking as Marquee SummerSlam Event Approaches

At January's Royal Rumble, Roman Reigns experienced the backlash and outrage of fans unhappy with his ascent up the ranks in WWE. As he celebrated the biggest victory of his career, it had to be disheartening knowing that the fans had rejected him in such grand fashion.

Instead of letting it hurt him, he worked harder to gain the acceptance of the fanbase.

Whether he was opposing Daniel Bryan, Big Show or Bray Wyatt, Reigns delivered some of the best matches of the year.

At WrestleMania 31, he had his defining moment, a classic main event against Brock Lesnar that saw him take everything The Beast Incarnate had to dish out. He was seconds away from beating him had it not been for former Shield teammate Seth Rollins.

The first half of 2015 was monumental for Reigns, who appeared to be growing into the main event, future face of WWE that the company had designed him to be.

As SummerSlam approaches, though, Reigns finds himself saddled in a midcard rivalry with Wyatt.

Considering the fact that the annual August pay-per-view extravaganza is one of the marquee events in WWE, Reigns deserves a much higher-profile feud—and match—than the ongoing programming with Wyatt and Luke Harper.

Even if reports from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestling Inc) regarding Sting's return and involvement in the story are accurate, it does not change the fact that the contest is still third or fourth in terms of importance on the card.

Reigns has worked too hard and consistently delivered too many quality performances to see his push stunted by the returns of Undertaker, Sting and Lesnar, as well as the panic of WWE Creative over sinking ratings leading it to go back to John Cena.

The second-generation star has passed every test put in front of him.

He has improved with every passing week. He weathered the fan backlash that greeted him in every arena across the country.

At WrestleMania, he proved he could stand toe-to-toe with the most dominant beast in professional wrestling, on the grandest stage imaginable, and turn in a defining performance. He even got a show-stealing performance out of Big Show at a time when no one was working well with the aging giant.

What else must Reigns do to earn the push that the company has been planning for him for the last two years?

Only those in power can answer that. Whatever it may be, there is no reason to believe that he will not step up to the plate and hit a home run, just as he has done in every instance thus far.

SummerSlam will not be Reigns' night to shine in one of the marquee matches, and that is a major disappointment.

He has earned a spot at the top of the card, but this year, he will have to settle for an undercard match that will likely get its fair share of hype on Monday and Thursday nights.

One thing is certain, though: If Reigns continues to succeed and continues to turn in the performances that he has to this point, WWE management will have no choice but to push him to the stratosphere as the man finally capable of carrying the company into the next decade.