Roman Reigns returned to WWE with a bang at SummerSlam. 

After a five-month absence, he brutally beatdown Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman after their Universal Championship match before going on to capture the title himself one week later. 

By turning heel and aligning himself with Paul Heyman, 'The Tribal Cheif' looks set to dominate in WWE for a long, long time. 

Fans love this new side of Reigns. Because of him, SmackDown's viewership is up and his segments are drawing above-average numbers. 

We're expecting then, to see Roman with the Universal Championship for many months to come. 

But that wasn't always going to be the case. According to Dave Meltzer, the original plan was to elevate another WWE Superstar to Reigns' level and take the title off of him.

However, plans had to change because at the moment, no one has been built strong enough to do that.  

Reigns is the star of SmackDown

"Roman Reigns with a long title run was not the idea, believe it or not," Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio, per WrestlingNews.

"Even though it seems so obvious, it was not the idea. I don’t know who the guy who was supposed to be the champion was supposed to be because they basically devalued everybody else."

Given the suggestion that his title run should have been short, it's clear Reigns has exceeded expectation already.  

Reigns has been dominant on SmackDown

His heel turn really caught on with fans and his 'bloodline' feud with cousin Jey Uso has also managed to catch lightning in a bottle.

Right now, Roman is the star of SmackDown and there's nobody on his level... unless WWE Champion Drew McIntyre decides to invade the Blue Brand again like he did last Friday.

Reigns and McIntyre are WWE's top stars

When those two clash at Survivor Series, it's going to be one hell of a match.