Roman Reigns will defend the World Heavyweight Championship against LA Knight at Money in the Bank on October 10, and the pairing is the right one. Keeping Royce Keys and the 946 out of the finish is the part WWE has to get correct.
Arena CDMX hosted Raw’s first visit to Mexico City in 15 years, and Reigns turned back Penta in the main event with a Superman Punch into a spear. Knight came out afterward, cut off the champion before he could speak, and dropped him with the BFT.
Reigns responded by daring the challenger to try it again at Money in the Bank. Raw general manager Adam Pearce posted a message from Mexico City shortly after the show and made the match official for the Smoothie King Center.
History between the two is thin and unsatisfying. Reigns and Knight have met once in singles competition, at Crown Jewel on November 4, 2023, and Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso interfered to keep the title where it was.
Keys returned on the August 24 Raw with Bronco Nima and Lucien Price, and the trio ambushed Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Knight, and Sikoa on the spot. The group later took the name 946, a nod to the Oakland ZIP codes that Nima grew up around, and WWE filed the trademark on August 28.
Escalation has been the whole point since. A parking lot attack on the August 31 Raw left the Usos bloodied, and the September 7th show in Birmingham closed with the Bloodline’s car burning outside Legacy Arena.
Jacob Fatu spent part of the Mexico City broadcast warning the Usos that the plan is to strip Reigns of everyone around him. WRKD Wrestling reported that WWE intends to keep pushing the faction, with some inside the company viewing the group as a fit for WarGames.
Knight has waited three years for this rematch, and the first one ended with two Bloodline members in the ring. Running that exact ending again would tell the audience the company learned nothing from the first attempt.
The 946 gives WWE an easy out, which is exactly why the temptation is dangerous. Keys and company have already attacked Knight once, so an interference spot would be logical, defensible, and completely deflating. Nobody buys a pay-per-view main event to watch a third party settle it. Knight has been protected from a decisive singles loss all year, and a screwy finish protects nobody.
Reigns also does not need the protection. The reign has run since WrestleMania 42, and the defenses against Seth Rollins and Penta both ended without outside help. A clean result works whichever way the finish goes.
Money in the Bank supplies its own chaos anyway. Two ladder matches with briefcases hanging above the ring are already booked, and Bron Breakker, Je’Von Evans, Sol Ruca, and Lola Vice have qualified so far.
Reigns and Knight are the only other match on the card at this point. Carrying a month of build to a title bout that ends in a disqualification or a beatdown would leave New Orleans with nothing to remember.
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Reigns against Knight sells itself. The BFT in Mexico City got a reaction no amount of promo time could manufacture. The two have been circling each other since the summer without a match to settle it. New Orleans is the right room for that payoff.
Letting the 946 walk into it would waste all of that. Keys and OTM have a feud with the Usos and Fatu that works fine on its own, and dragging them into a world title main event serves neither story. Book the match straight, let the better man win, and save the run-in for a night when it actually means something.
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