If You Can't Live With Roman Reigns As The Man By Now, You Never Will

Roman Reigns is destined to be the champion eventually

    It must be something in the Pennsylvania air. In 2014 at the Royal Rumble in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the fans left the arena rioting that night, going as far as blocking wrestlers cars from leaving the arena in the parking lot. What caused such a ruckus? Batista had won the Royal Rumble and earned a spot in the main event at Wrestlemania 30 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The crowd wanted their hero, The Yes Man, Daniel Bryan to win the Royal Rumble. But, alas, he was not even in the match. As Rey Mysterio entered as the final competitor at number 30, the crowd would spend the remainder of the night booing profusely directly at Batista. It came down to the final two men. The man who opposed him? Roman Reigns. That night, the crowd was ready for anything but Batista, and Roman Reigns would gladly be accepted as that guy on that night. Batista ended up winning that match and moving on. We all know by now the rest of the story. CM Punk quits. Daniel Bryan has two matches in one night to steal the show and the spotlight and the crowd goes home happy two months later to right a wrong from a few months back.

The Rock celebrates with Roman Reigns after winning the Rumble

       Fast forward one year.  Up the road in Philadelphia, the Wells Fargo Arena was rocking as Daniel Bryan's music hit. This year he was in the Royal Rumble and the crowd was amped. However, a few moments later, Daniel Bryan was casually clothes-lined over the top rope and left much more quietly than he arrived. Once again, the crowd erupted into a mad frenzy. They realized at that moment what was destined to happen. Roman Reigns was winning the Royal Rumble. The crowd reverted back to their Pittsburgh foe and chose anyone that opposed Reigns until the very end, with Rusev being their final hope. It failed and Reigns stood victorious in the ring amidst a shower of boos. The WWE sent The Rock in the ring for damage control (either that or they were clueless that the crowd was not being supportive of Roman at the time) and he looked just as stunned as creative appeared to be. Thankfully for the WWE, RAW was cancelled the next night due to a snow storm and they were able to do segments from the studio where a live audience couldn't react immediate. This could've been the biggest blessing in disguise for the WWE. A late Christmas gift from Mother Nature. Over the next two months, the WWE continued to tease Roman losing his spot. At Fast Lane following the Rumble, they gave Daniel Bryan the chance to take Roman's spot. This split the crowd and in the end Reigns got the win, adding more heat to his doubters that he was being given something he didn't deserve more so than Bryan.
       Wrestlemania 31 from Santa Clara, California would be the final culmination of Roman Reigns ascension to the top. It had been no secret since he was signed in FCW that Roman Reigns was the future in the WWE brass' eyes. He's the cousin of The Rock and part of the Anoa'i family tree. He has everything that's promotable in a superstar. Why just one year before did the same WWE crowds cheer crazily for Reigns to get the spot, and just one year later rebel against it? Its a question that remains unanswered but has several theories. Regardless, as WWE has to do for Wrestlemanias, they had to find a way to send the crowd home happy. Enter Seth Rollins.

Seth Rollins becomes The Man

As Reigns and Lesnar slugged it out back and forth, with a defiant Reigns laughing from a bloody lip refusing to lose, the music of Seth Rollins hits mid match and he runs down in a heated sprint with briefcase in hand and inserts himself into the main event. The rest is history with a few curb stomps later. Once again, Roman Reigns was THAT close. So it begs the question to the WWE Universe. Why can't you just be satisfied with what you're watching? What would make you happy? Last year, nobody had an issue with Roman Reigns winning as long as it wasn't Batista. This year, everybody has a problem with Roman Reigns winning. The same reasons are given when the topic comes up. "He doesn't deserve it". That stems from the fact that he didn't spend a decade working the indies or training since he was a teenager. He was a football player turned wrestler and in certain fans' eyes, that does not garner the respect needed to be the top guy. Other reasons are his promo skills are lacking, his move sets are limited, and he can just be flat out boring at times.
       The words "wrestler" and "entertainer" should go hand in hand, but between the WWE brass and the WWE Universe, the roles are seen very differently. It would seem the IWC wants their top guy to be a great in ring performer. Anything else is secondary. The WWE believes wrestling is secondary to entertainment. There's no doubt Roman Reigns is entertaining. The crowd is split in half when he comes out much like John Cena. You either love him or you don't. To the notion that Roman doesn't deserve it though, I will say this. The man works 300+ days a year on top of doing all the promotional stuff outside of the ring and the charity events. Its a very high demand on top of the physical strain 5 nights a week getting beat up. Back in the day, wrestlers may have worked 3 times a week on a full schedule. Its completely unfair to base who "deserves it" against the standards of wrestling in the territory days. Roman has put in the work as much as anyone else on the roster. His move sets may be limited, but everyone is if you really stop and analyze it. Whether it be Daniel Bryan's kicks, or Cesaro's uppercuts, everybody has a series of moves they do to get themselves over. Roman is no different.

Roman Reigns and John Cena are the faces of the WWE

      Going back to the Royal Rumble with The Rock standing in the ring raising Roman Reigns' hand, it was almost a flashback looking at the garbage being tossed in the ring to Rocky Maivia and "Die Rocky Die" chants. Just 18 years previously, Dwayne Johnson had been hated by the crowd after being pushed as the future. The crowd did not buy into his persona. This is how Rocky Maivia died and The Rock was born. Is this a route they should take with Roman? He still wears his Shield gear and comes through the crowd. Nothing has changed with his gimmick. Logic would say he has to change something eventually, whether it be his entrance, attire, music, moves, something. Roman Reigns is also being groomed for Public Relations as well. For years, John Cena has been the front man for the Susan G Komen Cancer partnership with WWE. But, this year, Roman Reigns stood beside him in the ring. It appears more and more that WWE already has their next man picked out to build their empire around. But will the WWE Universe buy into it?
        A famous nature boy once said "Whether you like it, or you don't like it, you better learn to love it.". That's where the WWE Universe is at right now. They've spent a decade either loving John Cena or hating John Cena to the core. Roman Reigns is on that same path. So, you can either get on board and enjoy the ride, or spend the next decade plus sucking on sour lemons and striking your keyboards angrily being internet warriors week after week complaining about how Roman Reigns doesn't deserve it, yet he's the guy the show will be built around. As long as Roman Reigns keeps his work ethic at top notch and he wants to be, The Roman Empire will reign over WWE for many years to come. Believe That!



Anthony Hammett is the Senior Editor of Wrestling Goons Radio