So how about that Superbowl, huh? We had Katy Perry dress like a bag of Cheetos, the Patriots overcome a ten point deficit in the second half of the game, an inexplicable play call from the Seahawks in what proved to be the game-deciding play (like how do you not have the ball in Marhsawn Lynch’s hands in that situation? The offensive coordinator deserves an RKO), and some saltiness shown by Seattle 25 seconds before the end of the game. I guess we should call them the Seattle Seasalts. Ha Ha. Ha. Ha. Oh, wait. This article is supposed to be about wrestling. Sorry for my digression. So about that Roman Reigns, huh? Our chosen hero who went valiantly into Philadelphia at the Royal Rumble and outlasted 29 other current and former superstars in the Royal Rumble and earned the privilege to face whoever is WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 31. Something was off, however. Instead of the crowd showing their adulation for their chosen hero, he was showered in a plethora of jeers and boos. Even being in the same ring with The Rock couldn’t get him any cheers. Ouch. But last Monday Night RAW, we got a tease, if you will. For those of you who don’t know, Triple H announced last night that Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins would go one on one to see who would face Roman Reigns at Fast Lane; the winner of that match going on to face Brock Lesnar for the title. But the tease wasn’t in who would win the match, it was in a character change. Daniel Bryan approached Roman Reigns in the locker room, and Roman Reigns ended the conversation by saying “Get the hell out of my locker room.” Well that didn’t sound very nice. Where have I seen this before? People, my college-educated (not really) dissertation on Roman Reigns and some history behind it.
The Shield. A stable of three talented, hungry and young upstarts who sought to make an impact in WWE took over TV programming by storm. Consistent quality matches and segments made perfect due to the unorthodox, but clever promo style exhibited by Dean Ambrose, the incredible acrobatics and crafty wrestling ability of Seth Rollins, and of course, no stable would be perfect without an enforcer and powerhouse, this in case being in the form of Roman Reigns. This is what made their split not only surprising, but depressing. You tell me when the next time a stable such as The Shield will make the impact they did. Seth Rollins won a Money In The Bank ladder match, Roman Reigns has the record for most eliminations in a Royal Rumble match coupled with winning the Rumble this year, and Dean Ambrose is the longest reigning United States Champion of all time (not having a lot of title matches helps) and Ambrose got a singles match with The freaking Undertaker! Not even on RAW, on Smackdown! Now that they are progressing on with their singles career, Ambrose seems to be feuding with current Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett, Seth Rollins on course to a feud with Randy Orton (because he mentioned his name a few hundred times, signaling his inevitable return – though we keep getting disappointed), and Roman Reigns is going to…well, exactly what will he be doing? On Monday, it appeared as though the seeds were planted for Roman Reigns turning to the dark side, and it would appear as though WWE gave subtle hints throughout the night. I’ll get into another rant at another time as to why in the world The Big Show is involved at any capacity with main event players, but the fact that he was the first man to pin Roman Reigns in singles matches (shocked that WWE didn’t make a huge deal out of that like they are with Rusev) tells a lot. We discussed the locker room confrontation, but him helping Bryan win, along with that stare he gave Bryan walking to the back may be all that i s needed for a permanent change in character. Let us rewind to last year’s Royal Rumble. The Animal Batista, one of the biggest stars within the past decade, was advertised to make his return to WWE weeks in advance. However, when he made his entry into the Rumble, the crowd ruthlessly booed Batista out of the building. Why? This is where some of the effects of being in the Reality Era kicks in. Fifteen years ago it would be seldom seen where plans of WWE’s intentions would leak onto the internet. With the advancement today, we get information within minutes of it being available. Plans leaked that Batista would win the Rumble and go on to WrestleMania. This made the crowd very irate, and the no-show of Daniel Bryan, who tore down the house with an excellent match with Bray Wyatt earlier that night, didn’t help matters. And who ended up being the final two in that Rumble you ask? The Animal Batista, and, you guessed it, Roman Reigns. Yet it seemed last year’s Rumble occurred more than 10 years ago, because Roman isn’t being cheered as he was last year. Last year, Roman Reigns was being cheered because the crowd hoped that WWE should take a shift from the WWE status quo and have the hungrier, younger superstar go over the 45 year old man that hadn’t been with the company for three and a half years prior .They were disappointed. It seemed apropos that in likewise manner, news leaked online of WWE’s plans to have Roman Reigns win the Rumble. The final three of this year’s Royal Rumble was Roman Reigns, Kane and Big Show. Was it hard to figure out who was going over? The crowd was relentless in their jeering of what was going on. Hell, people were chanting for the guy posing as an anti-Americna douche in Rusev. That’s how bad it got for Roman. They were chanting for Rusev. So what happens on Monday’s RAW? They address the, ahem, “controversy” that occurred at the Royal Rumble. Every single time that a superstar chosen by WWE to win a big event gets booed, just call it controversy. Now, Roman Reigns’ title match with Brock Lesnar is in jeopardy, and he has every right to be pissed because he shouldn’t have to go through this. But he is, because WWE seems to be acknowledging the power of a crowd, even if it comes at one event, because Roman got a much better reaction last night in Denver.
But you know what? Roman deserved to win the Royal Rumble. Because seeing as how he might be facing Brock Lesnar in a singles match, he has been groomed to be a great singles competitor. What’s that you say? He’s only wrestled one singles match on PPV? Well, that’s okay. Because that match would have been sure to bring the house down. What’s that? It was a long, pedestrian match with Randy Orton? Oh. But Dave Meltzer rated the match four stars out of a possible five. And you know how I know that match was a four star match? Guess what Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho’s match at The Great American Bash got back in 2008. You guessed it. Three and three quarter stars. Clearly that match was as epic as advertised. What’s that again? Dave Meltzer is infamous for frequently overrated and underrating certain matches? Oh. Well, Roman’s Samoan! In all seriousness, will Roman Reigns going to turn heel? All signs point to yes. His opponent at Fast Lane is Daniel Bryan. Who do you think people will be hoping to win the match? Who are people doing to end up cheering for? The big, gargantuan Samoan or the scruffy Indie-native underdog? Judging from today’s fan base, it shouldn’t take that long to believe who. You can’t help but feel history is is coming full circle once again.
Everyone’s favorite overrated Samoan is looking in the mirror right now and you know who he sees? He actually sees not just himself, but three people beside him. He sees Batista, John Cena and The Rock. Once again, Batista last year, expecting fans to welcome him back with open arms after his long hiatus was showered with perhaps the loudest disapproval a Royal Rumble winner has ever received. He sees John Cena, who is despised in half the country and even had chants of “F*** you Cena” in a match against Rob Van Dam for the WWE Championship in the immortal Hammerstein Ballroom at ECW One Night Stand. He also sees The Rock, who as his alter ego, Rocky Mavia, received chants of “Die Rocky Die”. While today’s fan base may not be as savage, they share the same mindset, especially those of the smark crowds across the country who are always seems to know what happens or is most likely to happen before the opening signature even plays. And poor Roman is stuck in the middle of all of this and may seem destined for the same future as those false heroes WWE decided to shove down the throats of the fans. This has been the mistake WWE has been far too stubborn to correct. You don’t tell fans to cheer a guy because they say you have to. Fans cheer a wrestler based on his ability to do his job well, face or heel. They cheer a wrestler because he’s organic and can get over with the crowd because he’s himself and not forced to the fans, and these days you can visually see who WWE wants to get to the top and those who are of little importance. Take for example last night. Curtis Axel, the only man who has a legit claim for having justice served to him due to his premature exit from the Rumble was thrown out and subsequently beaten down by Dean Ambrose in a comical, but typical WWE segment. Had that been Roman Reigns in that situation, don’t you think that he would have received the match Daniel Bryan is getting? As for the people who say that Roman shouldn’t win the Rumble, I disagree. The issue with Roman was the way he was being built up and WWE not giving him time or quality opponents in the ring to develop his wrestling ability. I mean Vince wrote a promo for him that had magic beans. Magic beans. This is partly due to the fact that he was out from Night of Champions to TLC, and that time proved to be precious. However, then you consider that WWE inexplicably gave him the Slammy for “Wrestler of the Year” despite all that missed time, thus giving him another unnecessary chip on his shoulder so he can live up to that claim. Roman clearly wasn’t ready, and perhaps if he was given more time he wouldn’t have received the reaction he did. Because let’s face it, people weren’t booing Reigns before they got news of WWE’s Royal Rumble plans. The fans knew he wasn’t ready for a main event push. Matches against The Big Show won’t convince fans that he is ready. But despite all of that, I cannot see who else should have won the Rumble. I mean, look at the field. As much as I love Daniel Bryan, another WrestleMania miracle story for the second straight year just seems to contrived, and I always say that you shouldn’t repeat the same acts as last year. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want to see Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar again. Dean Ambrose wasn’t particularly being built for a main event push, seeing as how he has a propensity to lose big matches. Bray Wyatt is more or less in the same situation as Ambrose. That underwhelming feud wasn’t going to warrant a Royal Rumble win. After those who are you left with? A man who isn’t ready such as Rusev? Proverbial mid-carders in Bad News Barrett and Dolph Ziggler? Underutilized talent like Cesaro? Washed up veterans like Kane and Big Show? There wasn’t exactly a convincing crowd to choose from. Here’s how I would have booked the Rumble. If you are dead-set on having Roman win, you should have him in the final four with Ambrose, Bryan and Bray Wyatt and have Roman eliminate all of them. Would the crowd still boo the hell out of it? Damn right they would. Perhaps louder than what he already did. But at least this way, WWE acknowledges that they know who is over with the crowd and who isn’t. So often fans, especially those from the internet feel that WWE creative, more to the point, Vince McMahon is out of touch with today’s WWE clientele. This way, WWE is essentially saying “Hey, we’re rolling with Roman, but we know that you guys were rooting for them. It’s not their time yet, it’s Roman’s time”. Then, on the same night, you have Rollins take the title off Lesnar, thereby freeing up space for a Bryan/Lesnar match at WrestleMania. And then, you have Ambrose pin Rollins a couple weeks before WrestleMaina, and then, boom. A three way dance for the WWE title between Roman, Seth and Dean, and if you have watched WWE television at any point for the past two years, I shouldn’t have to explain the intrigue behind the match and why it’s so perfect these three should face off in the main event of WrestleMania. So this way, Vince McMahon gets his fill with a muscular guy winning the Rumble, Ambrose gets some main event exposure that is desperately needed for him to raise his stock, and Rollins finally gets his due as WWE Champion. And this way, in a triple threat, his deficiencies in the ring are somewhat hidden, as opposed to it being one on one. I watched these same three men duke it out on FCW. And if that match was just a mere sample of what they are truly capable of, I can’t wait to see what they would accomplish on the big stage.
There’s an old saying that goes, “Those who cannot remember their past, are doomed to repeat it”. And if Roman stays as a baby face, he is doomed. However, if he makes the permanent turn to the dark side, it will be amazing to see how many people will jump on the bandwagon. Because if you ask me, Roman sounded damn convincing in his tone to Bryan last night. Roman is a young star in the making no doubt, but he needs much more time to develop, and the ineptitude of WWE to acknowledge that Roman still needs much more time to hone his skills is baffling. And for those of you who think I am a hypocrite because of my idea of Rollins winning the title, did you not see his match at the Royal Rumble? He stood in there with Brock Lesnar and John Cena, two proven box office attractions for WWE, and stole the damn show. He’s more than ready people. It’s just a matter of time of picking when’s the right time to pull the proverbial trigger. Just think of what last year’s proposed WrestleMania main event was going to be. The 30th anniversary of WrestleMania would be Randy Orton vs. Batista. Beer cans being thrown in the ring if that match happened is not out of the question. They add Daniel to the match, and look what happened. Turning him heel would be the only plausible solution to save him from the lion’s den. And even then, he’d still need to do his part in working on his skill. Suffice it to say, it will be interesting to see what WWE decides to do as we are on the road to Fast Lane. In other news, you can get the Orton/Christian rivalry on WWE 2k15 for the low, low price of 9.99! Oh, wait. That’s only for the network? So this is a ripoff? Confound you, 2k!
