When Big E found himself separated from his New Day compatriots, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, coming out of the 2020 WWE Draft, the rumor mill wasted little time in projecting a huge singles push for Big E. Theories had him graduating to the main event level, with some pundits going so far as to suggest he’d win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. Despite racking up some big wins and a substantial Intercontinental Championship reign, Big E’s long-term success looks to be in jeopardy now. With WWE returning to live crowds, however, is there a chance the fans might save him?

Big E Could Get Lost In The Shuffle

Big E Aleister Black Apollo Crews

Big E took the Intercontinental Championship off of Sami Zayn to wrap up 2020. The victory seemed to represent a significant push. The title itself has an uneven history but has been reasonably well featured in recent years, and with Big E on the front end of a new singles run, it looked as though he might follow in the steps of legends like Randy Savage, Bret Hart, and The Rock in winning the secondary title on his way eventually capturing a world championship.

Now that he lost the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania and lost a TV main event rematch, it doesn't make sense for Big E to move up to the next level right away. Maybe Big E isn’t through with Apollo Crews, or maybe WWE will ask fans to conveniently forget this setback while Big E moves on the main event picture anyway. But even if he does become the next challenger to Roman Reigns, it’s difficult to imagine Big E winning at this point.

If Big E fails in challenging The Head of the Table, it will cast him with Kevin Owens and Cesaro as yet another upper card face without a clear path forward. While Reigns has been well booked as SmackDown’s top heel, it feels like only a matter of time before the entire field of his vanquished foes feel like a mid-card roster, out of which nobody stands out.

Big E Wanted To Succeed In Front Of A Live Audience

Big E Entrance

As rumors mounted that Big E was in line for a world title push, he publicly commented that, if he were to get a main event run, he wanted for it to happen when with live crowds in attendance. That included the big man citing his New Day teammate Kofi Kingston’s world title push, and how it happened organically because the fans vocally got behind him.

Related: 10 Times Fans Changed A WWE Storyline

If Big E can get a huge reaction from live audiences across the country, it may well be a way of distinguishing him from the rest of the pack. This is particularly true given that WWE hasn’t had live reactions to base decisions on for most of the last year and a half. If Big E can “outperform” his colleagues in terms of popping the crowd on the mic and via his in ring performances, it very well might salvage his singles run and get him to the top after all.

A New Day Reunion Might Be In Store

Big E Hugs Kofi Kingston

In the early to mid-2000s, WWE made some bold moves in separating some of its top tag teams. First, they experimented with splitting the Dudleys, pushing Bubba Ray as an upper mid-card face on Raw, while D-Von took on a heel preacher gimmick on SmackDown. In a matter of months, the company concluded the duo was better together and effectively erased the preceding months in reuniting the team. By contrast, when WWE split up the APA about a year later, it meant huge things for Bradshaw. He redefined his legacy with a heel singles run as JBL that was arguably even better than his tag team work, and during which he became WWE Champion.

If Big E doesn’t get his big singles push in the immediate future, it may signal that WWE is going to go in a different direction with him at all. Rather, the powers that be might conclude he and New Day are mutually better off as a unit. Time will tell, as Kofi Kingston himself looks like he may get a new singles run after pinning Randy Orton and Bobby Lashley on Raw. Getting the three-man unit back together might be the direction WWE is headed in before long, though.

Big E could do a lot worse than moving to Raw to rejoin New Day. The performers were over as a trio and could certainly pop live crowds, returning to arenas this summer. Getting back together in the short-term doesn’t necessarily have to mean that he returns to an earlier version of himself, and fans see the end of Big E’s singles ambitions altogether. Kingston himself has demonstrated that he could both be a member of the group and a world champion before. Moreover, while Raw has its share of main event-level talent, there’s no single, dominant champ who has the world title on lock for that brand. In other words, its hard to imagine Big E unseating Roman Reigns for the Universal title on SmackDown. It’s much easier to see him hanging with Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, and the other big names of Raw, en route to at least getting a cup of coffee with the WWE Championship.

Next: 5 Reasons The New Day Split Was A Good Move (& 5 Why It Was Terrible)