MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #46: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top

Roman Reigns is one of the most divisive and talked about WWE performers in history. The company makes desperate play after desperate play to make him their number one star – with limited success. How do they do it? What do they do?

I’m Tom Colohue and this is the Monday Night Reigns-o-Meter.

Monday Night Reigns-o-Meter

When I first started the Reignometer, all those months ago, I never once imagined it would last a whole dang year. A year. That is a long time.

Well I’ve now done all my Christmas celebrating. I’ve drunk and been drunk more than I thought possible and now here I am again to celebrate the majesty that is Roman Reigns.

Only this time, spoiler alert; he’s actually winning!

You see, this time last year Roman Reigns was face deep in the knees of Chris Jericho as he lost the US championship that he loved so much (he definitely loved it yes sirree) to the best friend troupe of Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. Now, as we all know, that friendship definitely stood the test of time and is no way now being lazily played out on repeat with Sami Zayn playing the role of Jericho doppelganger so really it was the right move.

Now however, Roman has another title, the Intercontinental title. In fact, Roman last held the top title in June of 2016, over 18 months ago. Some say he only lost that title in the first place because of the whole suspension dealio.

Roman, your favourite Samoan Joe, takes on Samoa Joe, your actual favourite Samoan Joe. Both cut promos on poor Renee Young before the match, hyping up the intensity of this once again not main event and showing how high the stakes are. It’s all about Ambrose. It’s all about Rollins. It’s all about Jason Jordan! For the love of God think about Jason Jordan!

The match, despite some immense red herrings, proceeds as the fans used to expect every Roman Reigns match would proceed. Of course Samoa Joe was actually the favourite going into this one but why let the truth get in the way of a good Roman joke, am I right? Roman’s been putting on great matches week in and week out for months. Boo!

There’s also some very questionable audio that even a determined Reigns fan boy like myself can’t ignore when Roman makes his entrance. I can literally hear one person in a crowd of thousands. I’m sure it’s just a malfunction of almost every microphone in the building though, right?

Roman, being Roman, does the Roman thing, putting Samoa Joe down after a brutal and intense match. Does Roman come out for another segment later in the night? Nope. He’s had a promo, a group shot and a half hour match; let the guy have a nap, yeah?

Of course, instalments like this really show that Roman Reigns isn’t the focus of the show as once he was. It used to be that we’d see him five times a night just because there wasn’t really anyone else to follow but times they are a changing. Lesnar, Joe, Strowman, Kane (for some reason), Balor, Wyatt, Rollins, hell even Amore is getting major attention, plus then you’re going beyond the men’s singles division and Bliss vs. Asuka was a huge deal.

I don’t know when Raw became an ensemble piece but it needs to stop. Your friendly neighbourhood Reignsometer just upgraded his home from an old washing machine in the River Thames to a cupboard under the stairs with a family of eight thousand spiders. I got a lot of mouths to feed.

Odds Counter
– Samoa Joe
– A not very bright referee
– His own massive anger management issues

Did Roman Reigns beat the odds?
Why yes he did.

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NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #45: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top