Roman Reigns retains WWE Universal Title following WrestleMania 39 win

Unfortunately, his relentless pursuit of the coveted title came to an abrupt if temporary halt due to a real-life injury that forced him to recover for nearly a year.

In Rhodes' absence, Reigns made everyone acknowledge him by defending his title multiple times against Logan Paul and Kevin Owens, among others.

The Bloodline storyline also developed further with Sami Zayn turning on his former teammates to reunite with his oldest friend, KO, with whom he won the Unified Tag Team Championships at this year's WrestleMania.

With that said, the backlash regarding the WWE's decision following the aftermath of the main event of the Showcase of the Immortals is understandable if not a given. Most were 100% sure that Rhodes would win over Reigns with the Tribal Chief reportedly taking a break after the loss. Instead, Reigns is en route to passing 1,000 days with both world titles and the WWE is at the receiving end of a ton of criticism.

Is this perhaps the biggest swerve in WWE history? We're not quite sure about that, but it's certainly up there among the unexpected events to happen in the WWE in recent years.

However, Triple H and the rest of the WWE Creative Team more than deserve the benefit of the doubt. Given the support for Rhodes, the WWE has to have something much larger in mind if it's risking this much. Just what exactly is that is something we'll just have to wait and see to find out. But, make no mistake, this isn't just a swerve for the sake of it - it's proof that the WWE has a long-term plan in mind for Reigns that just so happens to include Rhodes' loss.

After the Bloodline's storyline in recent months, it appears that the WWE's leading group hasn't peaked just yet. Rhodes' loss stings but, once it's all said and done, we can't help but feel like this is all going to be a part of this generation's best tale.

Be sure to watch the Raw after WrestleMania on Monday, April 3, to keep yourself with the latest happenings in the WWE.