It says a lot that a PPV that contained a five-star match, which was a rollercoaster of excitement, still ended with chants of 'We want refunds'. WWE managed the seemingly impossible by booking an even worse Royal Rumble match than last year.
Before I discuss Roman Reigns' badly botched coronation at the Rumble, I'll note that Seth Rollins deserves a lot of praise for his exceptional performance. He proved that he absolutely belonged among the highest echelon of the WWE's ranks, as for long periods he was carrying that fight, and supplied the two most memorable spots: a reckless aerial dive to send Lesnar through a table, and an Adrian Neville-style corkscrew twist. In fact, Rollins can probably feel aggrieved that the best performance of his career was overshadowed by later events.
The eventually hostile Philadelphia crowd, after failing to engage with a tepid undercard (Damien Mizdow excepted), reacted to the triple threat title match with glee, and no wonder. It was breathlessly exciting action throughout. So it wasn't a problem when the Rumble itself started slowly. After all, we needed to catch our breath. There was a nice unexpected moment when Bully...er, I mean Bubba Ray Dudley came out to a fair pop. He proved in his TNA run that he's still got it, and I'd like to see him have one last run in the E.
The real problem started when crowd favourite Daniel Bryan entered surprisingly early. His clashes with Bray Wyatt looked promising and were logical given the pair's past history. However, shockingly Bray got to eliminate Bryan before the match entered its final stages. The crowd's response immediately turned sour, as one of the potential stars of the fight had basically been given the kind of role dished out to someone like Fandango. The crowd's mood turned ugly, and matters weren't helped by the sheer flatness of the in-ring action. A strong performance by Bryan would have got the crowd energised, but amazingly WWE threw this chance away.
Eventually Reigns entered to a severely subdued reaction. The early exit of Bryan meant that Reigns was certain to win, almost, as the company is clearly unwilling to create a swerve to benefit a fan favourite like Ambrose or Ziggler. Hell, even an unlikley victory for Mizdow would have placated an irritable crowd. Unsurprisingly, Dean Ambrose did get the second biggest pop of the Rumble, and I started to wonder if perhaps it was his night. No such luck; as the final foursome consisted of Ambrose, Reigns plus (give me strength) Big Show and Kane, it was clear that Ambrose's sole role was to help his former Shield colleague clear the ring. After Ambrose's exit, Reigns pulled off a double elimination of the two big men, and, in a twist, found he also had to eliminate Rusev, which he did in perfunctory fashion. Boos rang out, and even an appearance by Reigns' more illustrious cousin, The Rock, failed to improve the crowd's mood. Reigns looked visibly unnerved. His big night had turned into a disaster. Worse was to come with the news that online fans had also acted in anger, with so many Network subscribers cancelling their contracts that the cancellation page reportedly crashed.
This is brutal, and it would be easy to conclude that the Roman Reigns experiment has crashed and burned, much like the career of Vince McMahon's 'chosen one' Drew McIntyre. However, I think it's possible to rescue this. Reigns' debit column has clear entries. For example, he cannot deliver a decent promo and probably never will be able to. Also, compared to the other Shield members (both seasoned indie veterans), he is very green as a performer, and away from his signature power moves, a lot of his offence lacks conviction.
However, we shouldn't be too hasty here. For one thing, whether we like it or not Reigns will headline Wrestlemania this year. Plus he has good looks and natural charisma, so it should be possible to build on this. Also, while he's not there yet, his in-ring skills are improving But things need to change. Not every crowd will be as hostile as Philadelphia, but if he gets booed in other smarkish cities like New York or Chicago, his reputation will suffer further.
So what can WWE do? Here's my three-step plan:
1) Stop the atrocious cheesy promos he's been forced to recite. Sufferin' succotash, they've been dreadful! I suspect WWE has started to learn this lesson, as he's been talking less recently. He should be packaged as a man of few words who is more concerned with action. This was how he was presented in the Shield and it worked.
2) Put him in a program with Seth Rollins. Not only does this make storyline sense, working with a superior technician like that will improve his skills significantly. Also, get Dean Ambrose to partner him in tag matches; they will be good matches and hopefully Ambrose's natural connection with the crowd will start to rub off on Reigns.
3) Lesnar vs Reigns isn't a very exciting prospect, but there's scope to change this as a main event. Daniel Bryan can start lobbying that, as he never lost the belt in the ring, he deserves a chance to regain it at Wrestlemania. This is fraught with danger, as Bryan's fan popularity would mean Reigns would be overshadowed if a triple threat occurred. But that may still not be a bad idea ultimately.
The reason is that Roman Reigns should be seen as a long-term prospect who should not be rushed. The Royal Rumble match was poorly handled but hopefully WWE can learn lessons and act to rescue his project. After all, last year's reaction to Batista led to Daniel Bryan's elevation at a memorable Wrestlemania. A similar plan is needed urgently now.
FOOTNOTE: I'm already reading that WWE have discussed inserting Daniel Bryan into the main event and have dismissed it as it would be a repeat of last year. Funny how repetition was never an issue when John Cena and Randy Orton hogged the main event limelight.....This is a mistake. A re-run that the audience can get behind is better than a fresh match-up that the audience doesn't care about.
No comments:
Post a Comment