Roman Reigns’ Scrapped WWE SummerSlam 2026 Plans Revealed
Roman Reigns is scheduled to put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. But according to a new report, this was not what WWE had originally planned for him.
A few weeks ago, Rollins confronted his former Shield brother, demanding a World Heavyweight Championship shot from him. He reasoned that the title belongs to him because he never lost it.
For those who don’t remember, The Visionary had to relinquish the World Heavyweight Championship last year because of a severe shoulder injury he suffered at Crown Jewel while wrestling Cody Rhodes in a singles match. He never got a chance to earn his title back after his return from the injury.
Reigns and Rollins have been trading verbal and physical blows over the past few weeks. Their contract signing segment on WWE Raw this week ended in utter chaos, with Rollins getting the last laugh as the show went off the air.
Roman Reigns’ Scrapped Plans For WWE SummerSlam 2026
SelfMadePW recently revealed that WWE had initially planned to book Roman Reigns in a program with Gunther “in late spring or early summer.” But the plan fell through for “unknown reasons,” prompting the creative to make “significant changes.”
GUNTHER was originally scheduled to face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, and Roman Reigns in late spring or early summer.
However, those plans changed for unknown reasons, leading to significant creative changes.
(@SelfMadePW) pic.twitter.com/RTAV3oQkZ3
— EliteRockerz 𝕏 (@EliteClubS0B) July 14, 2026
While WWE has officially announced Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam, Gunther still hasn’t made it to the PLE match card. But recent events indicate that he’ll be in action against Nick Aldis at the show.
On the latest episode of Friday Night SmackDown, Gunther confronted the SmackDown General Manager, asking him for a World Title shot; instead, Aldis booked The Ring General in a tag team match with Sami Zayn against Cody Rhodes and CM Punk at Saturday Night’s Main Event on July 18.
Gunther snapped and launched an attack on Aldis, choking him out with his sleeper hold in the middle of the ring. Gunther and Aldis have been trading barbs for some time now, and it is rumored that this rivalry will reach its climax at SummerSlam.