WWE holding tournament to decide Roman Reigns’ Mexico City challenger
When WWE Raw comes to Mexico City next month, Roman Reigns will be defending his World Heavyweight Championship.
WWE posted a video today announcing that, in the main event of the September 14 episode of Raw at Arena CDMX, Reigns will defend his title against a yet-to-be-announced opponent. To determine that challenger, WWE is holding a tournament featuring the best luchadores from Raw, SmackDown, and AAA. The tournament begins on Raw this coming Monday.
The list of competitors has not been announced.
This Monday’s episode of Raw ended with Rey Mysterio, the on-screen general manager of AAA, approaching Reigns about an idea he had. WWE then followed up today with Mysterio announcing this tournament.
“Roman recognized how important lucha libre is to me and how important this night is,” Mysterio said. “And that’s why he has agreed to defend the World Heavyweight Championship that night on Raw. Now, I promised to deliver Roman a worthy opponent. And we’ve agreed that a challenger needs to earn this opportunity.”
Reigns, who has held the World Heavyweight Championship since April, retained the title against Seth Rollins in the main event of SummerSlam night two last weekend. His next WWE appearance is scheduled to be the August 17 episode of Raw in Buffalo, New York.
WWE’s trip to Mexico City —
Starting on September 9, WWE has split tours in South America and Mexico. The latter has house show dates in Guadalajara and Monterrey before Mexico City hosts SmackDown on September 11, night two of AAA Triplemania on September 13, and Raw on September 14.
The first night of Triplemania is happening in Las Vegas on September 11. A Worlds Collide event with talent from WWE, AAA, and NXT will then take place in Chicago on September 26.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.