Night of Champions 2014: Roman Reigns is stuck between a Brock and a hard place

The Shield broke up earlier this year because Seth Rollins is a dirty, backstabbing son of a bitch. But hey, we got three great singles runs out of Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns.

Well, sort of.

Rollins has the Money in the Bank (MITB) briefcase, which means he's the gray cloud hovering over the WWE title picture. Ambrose was his foil and setting the internet on fire every week with his work, until Hollywood came calling and robbed us of the man in the (gift) box.

That brings us to Reigns, who IS THE GREATEST PRO WRESTLER TO EVER PRO WRESTLE!

Sure feels that way, doesn't it? WWE has done an admirable job of pushing the big galoot, who is fluid in the ring and death on the stick. But he looks great and would make a fine champion. So why doesn't his current narrative match all the hoopla?

It almost feels like Creative (gasp) has nothing for him.

The easy answer is, "He's fighting Seth Rollins at Night of Champions to get revenge." Hey, that's great. I know if I got hit in the spine with a steel chair, I too would wait three-and-a-half months to seek justice. Ya' know, because beating the snot out of Randy Orton is much more important.

But at least that felt like it had direction.

WWE was positioning Reigns to saw through The Authority, which would culminate with an eventual showdown against Triple H. That's why we had a couple of shows close with Reigns and "The Game" locked in a staredown, as well as all that talk about locker room cancer.

Then ... nothing.

Triple H is back ironing his suits and Reigns is fighting Rollins because reasons. In fact, it was only booked because Rollins attacked Reigns AGAIN, probably because they didn't know what to do with Rollins, either. Why the sudden logjam?

BAH-ROCK, LEZZ-NURRR.

The one in 21-1 is holding the WWE title hostage and silly little wrestling fans should know by now you don't have a new championship feud without John Cena first getting 1,732 chances to win it back (or retain it). That's why he's fighting Lesnar so soon after getting his nomics thugged at SummerSlam.

Then what?

Hopefully, Brock retains and makes good on his new schedule. But even if he does, it's too soon to put Reigns in there, especially if WWE plans on using him against Lesnar at WrestleMania next spring. Until then, he needs to establish himself as more than just "a guy with some buzz" by defeating one or more major players in or around The Authority.

Time to do the job, Mr. Aitch.

Unfortunately, there are no other top-level heels that would elevate Reigns and no, Kane does not count, even though he's in the corporate faction. And no, putting his mask back on doesn't make it better, either. Beating HHH and winning the Royal Rumble would be a perfect way to get Reigns into WrestleMania with a freight train of momentum.

It's what happens between now and then that has me worried.