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On this past Monday night's episode of Raw, Triple H put a beating on Roman Reigns. During the course of said beating, Byron Saxton very clearly passed along an object of some sort and shortly after, Reigns was bleeding from his face. The next day, WWE reported he had surgery on his nose.
He then posted a picture that, to the trained eye of the medical professionals we consulted, sure made it look like he didn't actually have surgery, or at least not surgery for a "shattered nose" like the initial report indicated.
Now, though, the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required but recommended) is reporting that the surgery may have been legitimate, though the cause is unclear. As Dave Meltzer reported it:
He was not injured in the angle. Whether the surgery was legit and there was a pre-existing condition that led to the angle, we've heard conflicting stories about. At the Smackdown tapings in Indianapolis, the word going around among talent was that there was a pre-existing condition with his nose that needed to be taken care of and the surgery was legitimate. There were plenty of rumors before the show that Reigns was injured, although friends of Reigns denied them at the time, but it does seem like that was the case.
If there was an actual issue and they're simply getting it taken care of, the timing seems curious considering we're just five weeks out from WrestleMania 32 and he's currently booked for the main event in a WWE world heavyweight title match. It's also curious that at least some rumors have made the rounds that the company may be planning on having him miss some time to avoid negative crowd reaction, though those are just rumors.
He didn't work the SmackDown taping this week and it's unclear just how much time he'll miss, if any. The WWE report didn't give hints in any direction, at least as far as that's concerned.
As Meltzer notes, the injury, if it's there, didn't happen on Raw, however, and Saxton passing something along absolutely happened and it was a planned spot ahead of time.