Updates On Roman Reigns And Paul Heyman's Returns

It was quite a shocking sight on Friday night's episode of SmackDown when the recently-returned Roman Reigns was seen with an also-returning Paul Heyman, not so subtly indicating a business relationship.

According to Dave Meltzer on an episode of the Sunday Night's Main Event podcast, Reigns' heel turn had been in the works for some time, and the deal with Heyman was not something that was just thrown together as a last minute shock.

It's also been speculated that Heyman's return also had to do with the fact that he was being paid to sit at home (especially with Brock Lesnar out of the picture), so bringing him back as an advocate for someone else helps justify his contract.

Meltzer has also indicated that Heyman may have had some creative influence over the booking of Sunday night's Universal title change, as the ring collapse and the late-match arrival of a challenger are both ideas Heyman has used in the past.

While Heyman is no longer working in a creative capacity on Raw (he was relieved of those duties in June), he reportedly holds creative influence regarding those wrestlers he specifically works with as a television character.