Although Roman Reigns might end up with the belt, I don't think it will be an obvious Reigns ends up with the belt, fan favorite, next Cena, blah blah blah. Obviously with Rollins out, the Authority will need to have someone fill in Rollins's spot as their centerpiece.
This could be the time to turn Reigns if they want to, which would give him the chance to develop a heel character which might better translate into a face character later in his career (similar to what happened with Rocky Maivia turning heel and developing the Rock character which eventually became his face character) and would bring the Rollins and Authority growing conflict to the proper head when Rollins returns.
For example, the Authority could get behind Reigns and on the Raw after Survivor Series they can talk about how they picked the wrong Shield member to get behind and they should have gone with Reigns. They can belittle Rollins for getting injured, which sets up his return as a face to finally face Reigns for the belt. It could be a nice turnaround.
I think this can offer quite a bit of possibility if they don't screw it up.
The SS tournament would be a good time to make a new star, obviously. But will they? I wish I could be optimistic about that one.
I agree with you on all accounts.
Reigns turning heel would be as awesome as Ambrose turning heel, in my book. At this point, I think it's pretty much a universal thought that Reigns will win it and that's okay with me.
Now, what if they swerve us, but in a really good way? Could you imagine Cesaro, whom everyone would assume either a first round drop out or not taking part in it at all, WINNING the whole thing? 'I NEED TO GRAB THE BRASS RING, EH? I JUST FUCKING DID!!!'
But, knowing how lame WWE can be, their version of SWERVE will probably include Sheamus who lost earlier in the tourney, cashing in at the end of the night and beating Reigns. BECAUSE WHY NOT. I hope I'm very wrong about this, but given their booking patterns, it wouldn't surprise me if Sheamus ended up walking out the new WWE-WHC. *puke*