Last night, Samoa Joe came out for the second week in a row and played the character of being someone that proceeds to come out whenever Roman talks big and makes claims that may seem susceptible. He basically said the same things that he did last week, which leads me to believe that both of his promos on Roman for both weeks were meant to be 1 entire promo. That all being said, Samoa Joe was truthful in his verbal beatdown of Roman Reigns. He made sure to emphasize that all of Roman’s claims are merely empty words because when it’s time to put up or shut up, ROman seemingly comes up short. He’s basically calling him a man who can talk the talk, but can’t walk the walk when the situation calls for action. Hell, he even had video evidence to back up all of his claims.
Think about it for a moment. Roman Reigns defeated The Undertaker and claimed that he retired him. He stood in the midst of a chorus of jeers and profanity the night after WrestleMania 33 in one of the coldest mic drop moments ever and simply said, “It’s My Yard Now”. Yet, Undertaker was seen at WrestleMania and defeated John Cena in under 3 minutes. After the feud with The Undertaker, he entered a feud with Braun Strowman, and he got his ass kicked week after week and lost to Braun at Payback and Great Balls of Fire. Then, he claimed that he was the only one that could beat Brock Lesnar, both before Summerslam last year and before Elimination Chamber this year. Lesnar ended up pinning Roman at Summerslam, and then left him in a pool of his own blood at WrestleMania. Unfortunately, despite all of Roman’s accolades and big wins, it would appear as though we are still waiting for him to officially become “The Man”, and I’m not sure if WWE even knows what he wants with Roman at this point.
Of course, not all of this is Roman’s fault, but WWE still has yet to realize the main reason why Roman is booed by a portion of the crowd whenever he comes out. It’s not because he’s not a good worker (and those who believe Roman isn’t a good worker is lying to themselves), and it’s not because of his looks or anything like that. It’s because of who we are supposed to believe he is. WWE is apparently under the impression that we are supposed to take Roman as an underdog seriously. Um, pardon? Roman Reigns is a grand slam champion. He’s a Royal Rumble winner. He’s one of two guys to beat the Undertaker at WrestleMania. He’s built like a tank. He comes out with a freaking shield. He visibly looks the part. What part of him exactly screams, “underdog”? Finn Balor? Sure. AJ Styles? I could buy it. Daniel Bryan? The very definition of one. Roman Reigns is an underdog when he should actually be the favorite.
However, the biggest part in all of this is that there was never any moment where you thought Roman had that signature moment where you could say, “Yes, he’s the new face now.” Think about the course of Roman’s career since he became a singles superstar. He starts off with an unwarranted main event push where WWE was visibly forcing him down our throats instead of letting him develop organically. He won the 2015 Royal Rumble match in a performance that not even The Rock could salvage. He went on to main event WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar in an incredibly physical battle but ended up taking the pin to Seth Rollins, who left WrestleMania with the WWE Title in tow. He proceeded to meander in feuds no one cared about with the likes of The Big Show and Bray Wyatt and wasn’t inserted back into the WWE Title scene until Seth Rollins got injured. The night he won his first WWE Championship, he lost it as quickly as he won it when Sheamus cashed in on him and won. Roman won the title back from him about a month later, and he was cheered, but not because that was his moment, but because Sheamus was more insufferable as WWE Champion.
Let’s move onto 2016. He loses the WWE Title to Triple H in the Royal Rumble match. He beats Triple H in a match that didn’t need to be as long as it was and won it again. The ONLY man Roman beat for the WWE Title as champion was AJ Styles. Seth Rollins then came back and won it clean from him. Kevin Owens would proceed to win his feud with him over the Universal Championship, he beat Undertaker in a cringe-worthy WrestleMania main event, got his ass beat by Strowman and Samoa Joe each week, had a forgettable IC Title run and lost to Brock Lesnar clean despite ridiculously kicking out of 5 F5’s at WrestleMania. Look at all of that. Which moment did you think was the big coronation? His victory against Triple H? Beating Undertaker?
Even if Roman Reigns were to defeat Lesnar in Saudi Arabia, who’s going to take him seriously as THE guy? He’s already lost to him on wrestling’s biggest stage. What’s winning the Universal Title on a WWE Network exclusive show going to do? And if he loses, the narrative continues and Samoa Joe is proven right once again. We’ve been told Roman is winning the Universal Championship since the Royal Rumble of last year. More than a year later he’s still empty-handed, and evidently, just as empty as WWE’s perception of Roman.
