MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #57: 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

So Roman Reigns is our new Universal Champion. Our new hero. Our new king. Our new master. He is the wind in our sails and the wind in our hair. He is, you know, wind and stuff.

What’s that? Lost? Clearly you were watching the wrong Wrestlemania. Roman Reigns doesn’t lose.

When the dust had settled and all of the smoke had cleared one man stood tall and proud, physically imposing and yet tender and welcoming. In that moment we all finally saw the grand design. We saw how beautiful that red snakeskin monstrosity looks in the arms of its dedicated champion; the truly deserving rightful…

No, calm down now. Nobody said anything about Roman losing because that didn’t happen. You’re just making things up.

Vanquished, The Beast Incarnate was left having suffered a mountain of spears, a tower of superman punches, a small, well organised jewellery box of head butts. A mask of fresh blood pouring gloriously down his face, Brock Lesnar was left to face his own mortality, his own weakness, his own limitations in the face of ultimate manhood that is Roman Reigns.

You’ve got to stop with this. Roman Reigns is the Universal Champion. We all knew it was coming. We all had to accept it and it’s not so bad really. You just have to let go of your hatred, stop living in the past and…

Oh.

Right.

Roman lost?

Well that was a waste of a year long story.

So at WrestleMania a whole audience of people booed, chanted for other people and played with beach balls instead of watching Roman Reigns, someone they supposedly hate, getting beaten up for fifteen minutes straight. So predictable was a Roman Reigns win that the crowd completely abandoned any pretence of interest. A whole year spent building to Roman kicking out of the dreaded F5 resulted in a lack of reaction so absolute that the match might as well have not happened.

Then there was blood as Roman’s body casually tried to rid itself of every drop of red it had. Still more F5s followed and before you knew it Brock Lesnar was walking away still the champion, still a part timer and still on course to overtake CM Punk as the longest reigning champion of the modern era. Funny old world, eh?

So what next for Roman? Well, I’ve got to say, I’m really not sure. Brock Lesnar has the title. Braun Strowman has been pushed far harder en route to the top, including bowling over Roman himself on several occasions. Roman will face the returning Samoa Joe at Backlash – a man he owes a win or more at this point. Bobby Lashley is back and ready to walk into a program with somebody and probably a big guy at that.

So it’s not so much who’s next as who’s left? We might have no choice but a Smackdown Live Roman, which I can’t say is an idea that I enjoy.

So Raw is full of beef, eh? The Authors Of Pain debuted, Bray Wyatt might be getting an actual push again and a triumvirate of Ronda Rousey, Ember Moon and Nia Jax have beefed up the women’s division. Raw is beef. Not only that but Raw is so much beef that Roman might just be squeezed out of everything.

More call ups, naturally, means less opportunities. The arrival of AOP likely heralds the end for Titus Brand, Slater and Rhyno and possibly even The Revival unless they can move to Smackdown and take any potential spot from Gable and Benjamin and Breezango. While the top rung of Smackdown might have less beef a move for Roman will do real damage to Roode, Rusev, Owens et cetera. That’s if Owens is still there of course.

For now, however, Roman will continue to put over fresher talent, as he has done for a number of months. A beaten, bloody, broken man walked into Monday Night Reigns with no hope left and he walked out even lower.

Odds Counter
– Brock Lesnar

Did Roman Reigns beat the odds?
No.

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NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #56: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top