Roman Reigns beat Seth Rollins at SummerSlam, but one line after the match may have opened the door to an entirely different fight.
After Reigns and Rollins finished their latest chapter and shared a Shield-style fist bump, Roman said something about the two of them staying while others left when things got difficult. The comment was vague, but it didn’t take long for people to start connecting names to it.
Dave Meltzer addressed the line during Wrestling Observer Radio and said some viewers believed Reigns was talking about Jon Moxley, while others thought CM Punk and Cody Rhodes were the targets.
“Roman did a line, and it was essentially, ‘Me and you stayed, and other people left because it was too hard,’ or whatever. Some people thought he meant Moxley, and some people thought he meant Punk and Cody. I don’t know which ones he meant.”
Moxley is the most obvious name because he was the third member of The Shield before leaving WWE in 2019. Reigns and Rollins stayed, while Moxley moved on and eventually became one of AEW’s biggest stars. Punk and Cody also fit the line. Both left WWE, rebuilt their careers outside the company, and later returned as major players. That made Roman’s comment broad enough to hit several people at once without naming anyone directly.
The Punk theory picked up steam because of something he said the previous night. When Punk was asked about not being in the main event, he pointed out that his contract doesn’t guarantee him the final match on the card.
“I don’t have it in my contract that I have to be in the main event.”
Some took that as a shot at Roman, but Meltzer wasn’t convinced. He noted that Reigns wasn’t even on the first night of SummerSlam and believed Punk may have been talking about Brock Lesnar instead.
“People took that as a shot at Roman. But here’s the thing: Roman was not in the main event or even on the card last night.”
Meltzer explained that Lesnar has long been known for wanting to wrestle either first or last on major shows, which made Punk’s comment sound more connected to him than Reigns.
“Brock’s rule was always first match or last match. So I think that’s what Punk was referring to.”
Still, Roman’s line clearly had a target. Meltzer just couldn’t say for sure who it was. He then repeated the basic message behind Roman’s comment.
“A lot of people thought Punk was referring to Roman and that Roman was referring to Punk. I don’t know that he was, but it was a line that was referring to something.”
“Me and you stayed, and all these other people didn’t stay. They went.”
That leaves WWE with plenty of room to take this wherever it wants. The line could have been a Shield callback aimed at Moxley, a shot at Punk and Cody for leaving, or Roman throwing one insult at every major star who walked away while he and Rollins remained.
Either way, Reigns didn’t need to say a name to get people talking. One sentence after the match was enough to drag Moxley, Punk and Cody into the conversation.
Who do you think Roman Reigns was talking about—Jon Moxley, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, or all of them? Leave your feedback in the comments.
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