Braun Strowman Should Have Been The Last Star Reigns Defended His Universal Title Against

At this year's SummerSlam, Roman Reigns finally completed what he must have been starting to think was the impossible. The Big Dog defeated Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship. He didn't have much time to celebrate, though. Braun Strowman immediately came after the new champ, reminding him that he is (or was) Mr. Money In The Bank. The Monster Among Men then became one of only three Superstars in history to cash in his contract ahead of time. The men clashed inside Hell In A Cell last weekend, but if you ask us that match shouldn't have happened for a long, long time.

As stated above, this road started at SummerSlam. Strowman came to the ring before the match had even started and let both competitors know that he would be cashing his contract in on the winner, regardless of which one of them it was. Unfortunately for the Monster In The Bank, he ended up getting caught in the crossfire. Strowman took an F5 on the ramp and Lesnar threw away his briefcase for good measure.

The eventual winner, Reigns actually had very little to do with debilitating Strowman at SummerSlam. Instead, he was ready and waiting in the ring for The Beast to return, hence how he managed to win. Taking all of that into account, you'd have thought Strowman would have a bigger issue with the Beastie Boy as he so affectionately referred to him. Lesnar rendered him useless at SummerSlam, plus at that point, he still had the contract. Strowman still had a full ten months to cash it in, he could have gone Beast hunting for a little while and returned his attention to Reigns somewhere down the line. Yes, we thought that Lesnar had left for UFC, but he proved that isn't the case quite yet at HIAC so why not have a one-off PPV match with Strowman if he was going to be in the building?

That would have been all well and good, but what would that have left for Reigns we hear you ask? Well, his fellow Hounds Of Justice spring to mind. Yes, they're all friends at the moment, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have had a title match or two. Are we supposed to believe that Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose no longer aspire to be Universal Champion just because their friend has the title? There's also Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre to consider. Who wouldn't want to see McIntyre versus Reigns for the title? Although, we think WWE might want McIntyre to win when he eventually does challenge for that title, as do we.

There are really more viable challengers to Reigns' title that you probably realize on Raw, especially for secondary PPVs like last weekend's show. The match he had with Finn Balor could have been saved for HIAC, his match at Crown Jewel could have been the one-on-one Lesnar rematch, next up would have been TLC so just insert one of the names mentioned above or even Jinder Mahal or Bobby Lashley if you like. That brings us all the way up to Royal Rumble, an event fitting of Reigns versus Strowman and perhaps that title change.

In this scenario, Strowman would still have his contract, which might actually be the case in reality as it was not explained on Raw last week, go figure. That dream match between Reigns and McIntyre could have been the big Universal Championship bout for the show, only for Strowman to cash-in his contract and make the match a triple threat, akin to what Rollins did at WrestleMania 31. The Monster Among Men gets his crowning moment without damaging the reputation of either man in the ring. It would have also set up an intriguing road to WrestleMania and that's without bringing the Royal Rumble match winner into the equation.

All of the above is sadly just fantasy booking. Reigns has been Universal Champion for a little more than a month and his blockbuster match versus Strowman has not only been used up already, but it ended in disappointing fashion. We can only assume that when the two are in the same ring again, at Crown Jewel along with Lesnar, Raw's Resident Monster still won't be getting his crowning moment. Reigns is going to be champion for a while and right now it is anyone's guess as to who will be taking that title from him.

NEXT: 20 THINGS FANS COMPLETELY MISSED FROM REIGNS VS STROWMAN AT WWE HIAC