MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #70: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top

Roman Reigns is one of the most dramatic, divisive and discussed WWE performers in history. The company makes desperate play after desperate play to make him your favourite graps guy – 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.

So Extreme Rules was one of the strangest WWE shows in recent memory. Somehow we ended up wth three things that were so recently though impossible. Hulk Hogan returned to the WWE Hall of Fame. A crowd was so bored during a Seth Rollins match that they literally watched the clock instead. Most shocking of all, though – Roman Reigns lost a match.

Which, if you listen to some fans, has never happened before.

Roman Reigns has been feuding with Bobby Lashley for a couple of weeks now, helping him establish himself in Vince McMahon and Triple H’s new world. He’s underestimated Hydra Bob at every turn and, in his arrogance, he’s been beaten by The Revival, been beaten down by The Revival and by Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, and gotten himself into a scrap with the whole WWE locker room. Roman is slowly losing his mind, it seems.

And so we had the Extreme Rules main event that never was. Roman Reigns, after a little chearleading from The B Team, marched down with his usual callous ego and a face so wet that he’d clearly just moved a dolphin off of it.

The match was big and aggressive. Two big guys beating each other down. After weeks of being sure that this would be the main event match, a surprised crowd was surprisingly willing to give this one a chance. To be fair, most fans probably realized that once their hero Roman had finished for the night, they could all go home and miss the far less important Intercontinental Championship ladder match afterwards.

That’s not a joke; they cheered for a clock. Clearly they didn’t value it.

After taking some big bumps, Lashley came back hard with a big spear in the middle of the ring and picked up the win to the elation of the crowd.

Want to get over in WWE? Beat up Roman Reigns. Believe that.

Last night on Monday Night Raw, of course, that was all forgotten. Was it even mentioned? Instead we got a mad scramble for a match with Brock Lesnar. This time last year didn’t we have the exact same thing, just with Strowman, Joe, and Wyatt involved instead of McIntyre, Lashley, and Elias?

Roman’s entrance was slightly eclipsed by Elias managing to speak through his microphone over the music and remind everyone when his debut album drops. July 23rd, if you’re interested. Other than that, Roman joined a packed ring and was the only competitor who didn’t demand a chance at the Universal Championship.

Just to get this right, he lost his match at Extreme Rules and specifically did not want a chance to compete for the Universal Championship. Angle still ended up giving him the chance, though.

Roman’s triple threat say him heavily eclipsed by Vince McMahon’s new favorite, Drew McIntyre. McIntyre threw some great suplex, did some top draw flippy sh– over the top rope, and was even the first one to get violent with a steel chair.

Roman did his usual things. He his some Superman punches, he took a few bumps, and, in uncharacteristic fashion, he spent a little while getting wailed on by a Finn Balor with a chair to the delight of the whole arena. If WWE Creative aren’t carefully, they’re going to get Finn Balor over at this rate.

Less fun was that Drew McIntyre was supposed to get the big spear through the ringside barrier but sadly Finn Balor broke it first with a dropkick. Justice for Roman, am I right? He lost his big spot. Tragedy. In the end, though, it was Roman Reigns who stood tall with a little class, a little swagger, and a really big spear.

Because of all six competitors, Roman Reigns is the only one that gets booed. Bobby Lashley’s going to be huge by the end of the week.

Odds Counter
– Bobby Lashley
– Finn Balor
– Drew McIntyre

Did Roman Reigns beat the odds?
No

Is there a new big dog in town?

Follow Tom Colohue on @Colohue for news and updates.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #69: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top