What's Next for Roman Reigns After WWE WrestleMania 32 Victory?

At WWE WrestleMania 32, Roman Reigns was successful in beating Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This marks his third reign with the title since initially capturing the gold at Survivor Series in November.

But now the question on everyone's mind is what is next for the newly-crowned WWE World Heavyweight champion.

Reigns decisively defeating Triple H was the most predictable path WWE could have taken with its WrestleMania main event. Fans hoped that the surprises in the event's undercard would bode well for the night's premier championship clash as well.

Sadly, that was not the case, as Reigns and HHH contested an average match at best, and Reigns emerged victorious with the title in tow. Despite strong speculation, no double turn took place, leaving fans largely disappointed with the conclusion to The Show of Shows.

Unlike with this year's installment, the endings to WrestleMania 30 and 31 left viewers excited for the next night's Raw. While Monday night's episode of the flagship show will surely be interesting, there is no buzz surrounding Reigns as the new title holder.

Credit: WWE.com

Fans didn't dislike the idea of Reigns winning because he wasn't "ready" for the spotlight, but rather because it didn't present an exciting amount of options. Who can he possibly defend against in the immediate future?

A rematch against Triple H is virtually guaranteed, but their feud has been underwhelming up to this point. It would also be asinine to have HHH lose the title only to win it back the next month at Payback.

As enjoyable as WrestleMania 32 was on the whole, it was painfully apparent by the end of the evening that WWE is lacking strong heels. The Wyatt Family were easily disposed of in their segment with John Cena and The Rock, and it's too soon to revisit the Bray Wyatt vs. Reigns program.

Kevin Owens would be a fine challenger to Reigns' title, but he appears to be busy in a program with Sami Zayn and might have his sights set on getting back his Intercontinental Championship first. None of the League of Nations members are threats, either.

Reigns has a ready-made rivalry with Seth Rollins when he returns to the ring, but it could be months before he is cleared to compete, so the next few months of WWE TV with Reigns as champion could be bleak, to say the least.

All of this could have been solved by Reigns turning heel at WrestleMania. And there's still time to pull the trigger. It could happen tonight on Raw for all we know, but WrestleMania obviously would have been the more appropriate stage for it to occur.

By going rogue, Reigns would have had several fresh feuds off the bat with the likes of Dean Ambrose, John Cena, Brock Lesnar and others. He is in desperate need of a change in character, and remaining the same stagnant babyface he was prior to the event won't do him or the strap any favors.

Furthermore, as a result of Shane McMahon's loss to The Undertaker, The Authority are still in power. This means nothing is stopping them from making Big Dog's life miserable again, and that story was already told from Survivor Series to the Royal Rumble.

Reigns definitely deserves a lengthy run as champion this time around, but it is alarming to realize that he doesn't have a clear direction going forward. A heel turn was really the only thing WWE could have done to freshen up the title picture, but it failed to capitalize on the opportunity to do it Sunday night.

Expect to see more of Reigns vs. HHH as we enter the WrestleMania hangover season, but beyond that, it is anyone's guess what WWE will have in store for Reigns and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

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