Roman Reigns as a heel

[AkydefGoldberg]

I've only watched snippets but Roman Reign as a heel, holding the SD title with the Usos in his corner and Heyman the mouthpiece seems to be working great for him.

His mic skills seem more authentic rather than forced comedy that he had to deliver as a face (the highlight being that wink to camera)

[The Legend]

Reigns as a heel is absolutely better than Reigns as a face and his title run has done really well. He started off on fire, but now it's a little too formulaic and they need to get the belt off of him. The biggest problem is he hasn't faced enough people of consequence that you actually think can beat Roman and now the only person you think can take it is Brock, which please god, just no. Plan B is probably Drew McIntyre and that isn't much better.

[KaiserGlider]

Is this the official ACKNOWLEDGMENT thread for your Tribal Chief?



It only took them 3 years after Roman "retired" The Undertaker in the main event of Wrestlemania and then got one of the loudest heel reactions of all time to figure out that maybe... it might be a good idea to turn him heel? And lo and behold, he knocked it out of the park. But after a year+ of Roman running through the roster, it's becoming more and more obvious that almost nobody else has benefitted from this title reign, and as a result there are no longer any good options for who should end it.

It should have been Big E. You have a guy who is very likable, charismatic, a future face of any company. Could have easily run a long-term program with him winning the Rumble and working his way up to the main event of Wrestlemania. Instead, they hotshotted his win to Raw by having him cash in Money on the Bank for a quick ratings pop. Instead of building to a huge Reigns/Big E match down the line, they had Reigns pin Big E clean at Survivor Seroes two weeks ago, in a pointless Champion vs Champion match that achieved absolutely nothing except devalue the WWE Champion.

Finn Balor would have been a good choice too, but he had his title match right in the middle of the Reigns vs Lesnar story, and they were obviously never gonna shift from that to put the belt on Balor. So he lost in embarrassing fashion and has done fuck all since.

Drew Mcintyre could do it since they are still keeping him looking strong, although he's lost momentum since he was champion earlier this year. But Roman already beat him in the main event of Survivor Series last year, so if they want to run that matchup again they're gonna have to do something different with Drew.

The Rock is a good opponent, but not necessarily a good option to get the belt off Reigns. And if he does win the belt I don't see anyone beating HIM except Reigns. So ultimately we're right back where we started with needing a different guy.

Unfortunately Brock Lesnar is the only guy who is in a position to do it now. I have a hard time seeing him lose twice in a row to Roman. We're on the path to Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar main eventing Wrestlemania for the third time, believe it or fucking not. The match that nobody wanted the first time, or the second time. Third time's the charm?

[AkydefGoldberg]

I see Reigns fired Heyman on Friday so intrigued if that is the character change he's needed but I felt, from the little I'd seen, that Heyman was a great mouthpiece for the Bloodline.

They do seem to be trying to eek out Roman until WrestleMania but I presume Lesnar is taking on Reigns at the Rumble as Mania is a little while away?

[KaiserGlider]

We're really getting Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar in the main event of Wrestlemania for the third time.

[AkydefGoldberg]

And after their recent matches, they had Lesnar win the WWE title, lose it (thanks to a Reigns interference), win it back in the Chamber to up a third Reigns match.

Roman is a brilliant heel with Heyman and the Bloodline but please after all the opponents they have had to line up and the work he's done, don't let Lesnar beat him at Mania. Give him that huge clean win to cement himself but yeah, look forward to Lesnar holding both straps at the end of Mania.

[KaiserGlider]

Thing is, the last 3 PPVs have all ended with Brock standing tall:

Day 1: Lesnar wins WWE Championship in 5-way match
Royal Rumble: Lesnar wins Rumble match by squashing everyone
Elimination Chamber: Lesnar wins WWE Championship in elimination chamber match, by squashing everyone

In kayfabe that's gotta be the most impressive 3-PPV run of anyone in WWE history. But if felt like Brock was just handed those moments, without earning or deserving them. (still no explanation how he got the #30 spot in the Rumble). There was no struggle. No babyface journey. Just, Brock gets added to a match, Brock F5's everyone and wins. As a result, there is less reason to care about Brock's "crowning achievement" happening at Wrestlemania, because he's been getting crowning achievements all year. And the year has only been 2 months!

Now that the match is officially title vs title, I think Reigns takes it. Just go all out with The Bloodline and have them dominate both shows. Where on earth do you go after Brock wins? The only thing worse than a part-time champion is a part-time DOUBLE champion. He's beaten everybody, but the same is true for Reigns. Nobody is on Brock's level except Roman, and nobody is on Roman's level except Brock. This here is what we folks like to call booking yourself into a fucking corner.

Reigns wins, and if we're lucky The Rock's music hits immediately after. But then they'll just put off that match till next year's Wrestlemania like they did Rock/Cena...

I will give WWE credit for truly making this match feel like the biggest "unstoppable force vs immovable object" fight that can be made. But they sacrificed their entire roster for this match.

[AkydefGoldberg]

I remember Punk saying in his podcast with Cabana in 2014 that Vince probably walked into production meetings asking: "What's next for Cena?" whereas now he probably says "What's next for Brock?" so is the ridiculous nature of the programs as you've described in terms of how he has stomped all over everyone.

Reigns simply has to win clean, anything other and they have wasted that long - and at times difficult, to find the guys to face him - road to get him here as a heel.

Rock v Reigns would be the icing on the latter's rise if he overcomes Brock. It should be anyway.