Hello and welcome to part 2 of my experiment of how to book Roman Reigns to look like the awesome champion that he could be. For this part, we’re going to book quite possibly the hardest part of any championship reign in WWE, which is the gap of time between Wrestlemania and Summerslam. During this time WWE can get very complacent with their booking and it can come back to haunt them and the champion in a lot of cases. (just ask Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, Jack Swagger, etc.) So here’s how I would book Roman Reigns to keep him fresh and interesting during that time period.
If you read my last article (and if you haven’t go read it now) then you’ll know that we last left off with Roman Reigns defeating Lesnar at Wrestlemania. We do this obviously because it will make Roman Reigns a massive draw as the man who beat Brock Lesnar, and it will show his journey coming full circle as he finally defeats the man everyone said he couldn’t beat. Now after this, You need to keep Roman’s title reign fresh and interesting, so you need to find a way to keep the momentum going and keep people interested in it, so the night after Wrestlemania the Authority announce that there will be a fatal four way match for the number one contender’s spot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Last Man Standing Match at Extreme Rules and the contestants are Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, and Bray Wyatt. And for the finish of the match, you have Dean Ambrose hit a Dirty Deeds on Bray Wyatt and then immediately get hit with a pop up powerbomb by Kevin Owens who picks up the win. So the match is set: Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Extreme Rules. The build up I would have to the match is no matter how close he comes each week, Roman Reigns can’t seem to get the better of Kevin Owens, who is costing Roman matches, attacking him backstage, and using friends to lure him into beatings and traps. Then on the night before Extreme Rules, during a contract signing segment, Kevin would start running off at the mouth again at Roman and eventually a brawl would break out. Owens would use underhanded tactics to get the better of Roman and powerbomb him through the contract signing table and count Roman out, making him look strong going into the championship match.
Now I know this may upset some people, but no, Kevin Owens is not going to walk out with the title against Reigns, but being in a main event level match like this against a guy who just beat Brock Lesnar would give him the rub he needs and would give Roman a formidable opponent for Extreme Rules. So Roman retains with a spear through an announce table or something big and cool that keeps Owens down for the ten count, and the next night on Raw Kevin Owens asks the Authority for a rematch. The Authority tell him they’ll think about it, when in walks Dolph Ziggler who says that Kevin Owens got his shot and screwed it up and it’s time to give someone else more deserving such as himself a title shot. Before the Authority can even respond, in walks Dean Ambrose, who says since Kevin Owens already lost his shot, he’s beaten both men before, AND Roman Reigns is his best friend, he should get a title shot at Payback. Then without even letting Dean Ambrose finish his sentence, Alberto Del Rio walks in and says it’s his “destiny” to become the WWE Champion once again. The Authority say “Okay, tonight, there will be a Fatal Four Way match between Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, and Dean Ambrose. Once we get to the match, Dean Ambrose wins by defeating Alberto Del Rio cleanly in the middle of the ring, and we end the night with a stare down and handshake with Reigns and Ambrose.
The next week on Raw, we start off with Dean Ambrose coming out and saying he can’t wait to face off against his best friend Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship, who then comes out and agrees with Dean that he can’t wait either. Just when things are looking like they’re going to go fine Kevin Owens comes down to ruin the celebration, and says since he was never pinned last week he should still be getting a shot at the title, then out comes Ziggler who says “if we’re gonna talk about who should be getting title shots then my name’s way higher up on the board than any of you guys.” Out comes the Authority who say that they’ve had a stroke of brilliance on how to solve this. At Payback we will see Roman Reigns defend his WWE Title against Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, and Dean Ambrose in a Fatal Four Way match. Over the next couple weeks you build the match up by having the four have a series of matches with each other that mostly end in chaos and destruction, and if you wanna go a little further you could do something similar to the IC Title storyline in 2015 for Wrestlemania and have different people steal the title back and forth.
Finally we get to the match and it goes incredible as everyone would expect it to, and finally after complete chaos all around from everyone Roman Reigns hits an emphatic spear on Kevin Owens and pins him to get the victory and retain the title. The next night on Raw they announce that Dean Ambrose will be in The Money in the Bank match (remember that it’s important) so he won’t be challenging for the title at Money in the Bank. Instead we take Dolph since he was just involved in the Fatal Four Way for the title and he’s not doing anything important and dammit he’s amazing and we put him in the main event with Reigns, with the caviate being that it will be a ladder match. Over the next couple weeks you build the match up with the storyline being that these two guys could not be anymore opposite, Dolph being the flamboyant showoff whereas Reigns is a quite take no crap bad ass, and despite the fact that they respect each other, they cannot get along at all and are constantly at each others throats. You eventually have Dolph and Reigns team up to take on Big E and Kofi Kingston of the New Day in a tag team match, and during the match Roman goes for a spear on Kofi but misses and hits Dolph instead, then gets rolled up for the win. When Roman goes to pick Dolph up, Dolph superkicks Roman knocking him out, then grabs the WWE Championship and holds it high above his head.
It’s Money in the Bank and the 2 matches we need to know about right now are the ladder match between Reigns and Ziggler, and the Money in the Bank match which will consist of Kofi Kingston, Tyler Breeze, Sheamus, King Barrett, Kevin Owens, Neville, Bubba Ray Dudley, and Dean Ambrose. The reason we focus on the Money in the Bank ladder match is because we have Dean Ambrose win it, earning himself a guaranteed shot at the WWE Championship somewhere down the line.(again, remember this) Then, in an incredible ladder match for the ages, Roman Reigns grabs the Championship and retains against Ziggler, who snubs Reigns by refusing to shake his hand, and walks off looking angry. The next night on Raw, Dolph Ziggler begs the Authority for another shot at the WWE Championship, but they say “You’ve already had 2 shots at it, we aren’t giving you another one unless Roman agrees to it.” So later on Dolph comes down to the ring and asks Roman to come out, and then challenges to a rematch at Battleground. Roman says “With all due respect Dolph, you’ve had your chances at the title, and you came up short. If you want another shot at the championship, earn it and prove to me and everyone else you deserve it.” Fast forward to the next Raw the main event is Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens, and it’s one of their best contests to date. Roman hits a super man punch knocking Owens out of the ring and goes out to get him when out nowhere one of the camera men superkicks him, then takes off his hat to reveal it’s Dolph Ziggler, causing the bout to end in disqualification. Dolph then throws Roman in the ring, grabs the championship, and knock Roman out with a shot to head with the belt and holds it above his head, turning heel. So at Battleground the match is Roman Reigns vs Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship, with a build up similar to how Edge and Undertakers rivalry in 2007/2008 was booked. At Battleground after an incredible match, Roman Reigns beats Dolph Ziggler cleanly with a spear out of mid air to retain his title once again.
The next night on Raw it is announced that 2 returns will be taking place: Seth Rollins and John Cena. Seth Rollins returns to a rather large face pop, but then cuts a promo saying that he’s still aligned with the Authority and that they will give him a shot at the title he never lost against Roman Reigns when the time is right, but during the promo shows a little bit more of a face side to himself, almost pandering to the crowd. When he goes backstage HHH tells him not to let the crowd get into his head too much, and informs him that he’s booked Seth’s return match next week against Sheamus. When Cena returns however, he announces that he has one man in mind that he wants to face at Summerslam and that man is Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship… and that’s where we’ll leave off for now.
What’d you think? Is this how you would book Roman Reigns in the gap between Wrestlemania and Summerslam? If not, how would you do it?
