Roman Reigns has been off WWE television for months, and the company has gone to great lengths to keep his eventual return under wraps.
And per Newsweek, fans were caught off guard this week when a routine TV listing appeared to give away the surprise before WWE could roll it out on its own terms.
The apparent spoiler surfaced during a recent discussion on Wrestling Observer Radio, where Dave Meltzer flagged a suspicious description tied to an upcoming episode of SmackDown.
According to Meltzer, a show listing distributed to TV guide providers included storyline details that didn’t line up with what fans expected — and then casually dropped a major reveal.
“I saw… okay, so on the… what’s it called—this little scroll,” Meltzer said. “Scroll for SmackDown because it said, ‘How Maxxine Dupri tries to recover from her loss to Becky Lynch’ and ‘Roman Reigns returns.’”
The problem? That description appeared to combine elements from different shows, suggesting WWE may have accidentally sent out an internal or placeholder summary instead of the finalized version.
Becky Lynch and Maxxine Dupri aren’t currently positioned in a way that would naturally fit into a SmackDown preview, which raised immediate red flags.
Meltzer explained that the mistake likely resulted from a simple production error rather than a deliberate tease. “That’s the thing that WWE sent to the TV Guide people…they sent it for SmackDown. So somebody just screwed up,” he said.
While WWE is known for tightly controlling information around major storylines, TV listings are distributed far in advance and shared across multiple platforms. Once an incorrect description is sent out, it can spread quickly across cable guides, streaming services, and online listings — making it nearly impossible to walk back.
The listing didn’t specify an exact date for Roman Reigns’ return, fueling further speculation among fans. Meltzer noted that while the comeback appears to be planned, the episode listed may not be the next one to air.
“Yeah, so it could be the week after,” he said.