WWE is pulling out all the stops for its upcoming Netflix premiere of Monday Night Raw, which will take place in January. That will include any number of celebrity appearances and anticipated match-ups, but tonight’s SmackDown cemented one of the biggest matches on the card. If you’re going to make Netflix’s first Monday Night Raw as epic as possible, you’re going to need the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns to be a part of it, and now WWE has revealed how he will be involved and who he will be facing on the big night.
Videos by ComicBook.com
After Drew McIntyre delivered a surprise attack on Jimmy Uso (who was on crutches courtesy of his broken toe from WarGames), the attention moved to Reigns. Reigns was addressing Sikoa’s statement last week directly, and he had a challenge to issue to Sikoa for Netflix’s grand stage.
Reigns said that unlike Sikoa, he didn’t take the Ula Fala. Instead it was given to Reigns by his family as belief in him that he could lead the family forward. Sikoa never earned it, and Reigns will look to take it back on Netflix’s Raw debut in Tribal Combat. Reigns said, “On January 6th, I take back my Ula Fala. On January 6th, I take back my respect. And once I have that respect, the whole world will have no choice but to acknowledge me.”
Reigns also pointed out that to this point, the Bloodlines are tied at one win apiece. Reigns evened the score at WarGames (with some assistance from Paul Heyman’s longtime friend CM Punk), but the Ula Fala remains out of Roman’s grasp. Reigns looks to remedy that on Raw, but if he fails there, he might not ever be able to reclaim it, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see some sort of additional stipulation added to the already marquee match-up. There’s also the whole favor from Heyman to Punk to consider, and it’s not known when that will come into play, though WrestleMania 41 does seem like an easy bet to make for that.
[RELATED: WWE Superstar Rumored to Finally Return After Year Away]
Both Bloodlines are feeling the sting from that WarGames match, so it actually works out that this will be a one vs one scenarios. Jimmy Uso will be out of action for a while thanks to breaking his toe in a splash from the top of the cage on Jacob Fatu. Meanwhile on Sikoa’s side, Tonga Loa is out of action with a torn Bicep, and then there’s Bronson Reed, who helped Sikoa’s crew at WarGames but is out with a broken ankle after a splash from the top of the cage.
Hopefully all involved will recover soon, and as for WWE Raw, the Netflix premiere is shaping up to be as big as a premium live event, if not bigger than most outside of the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania.
Are you excited for Tribal Combat on the WWE Raw Netflix premiere? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb and on Bluesky @knightofoa!
