MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #80: 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.

The ballad of evil Deano continued this week on Raw as WWE entered their final run at Super Show Down. But more important, what about the legend of Roman Reigns? Surely that’s the important thing, right?

After last week’s classic Roman victory over Baron Corbin and the Authors of Pain (with Rollins and Ambrose in the background flying around somewhere) we come into this week riding a wave of optimism. Roman Reigns is the Universal Champion. He is being regularly cheered. He did not get the most negative reception during Raw this week. The Shield are back and they are the entire focus of Raw. To be blunt, could it possibly be any better for Roman Reigns?

Good thing Ambrose is teasing a break up, isn’t it? It’d be pretty boring if he wasn’t.

And so this week, in a surprise twist, dangerous and well established top heel Baron Corbin turned out to have an evil plan to make life miserable for The Shield. I’m not sure how they come up with such ingenious and original work and yet here we are.

We open with that No Good Dean, dressed back in his jeans again and rocking a new t-shirt. Dean was interviewed about how nice The Shield were being to him. Were Roman and Seth picking on Dean? Were they giving him wedgies and telling everyone he was only pretending he wasn’t a virgin? Who knows, nobody wants to ask the real hard hitting questions.

An open interview followed, clearly designed so that Vince McMahon can have a listen to the crowd popping for the idea of Roman being run off the road. Of course what actually happens is supposedly top tier superstar Dean Ambrose gets the ‘What?’ treatment from a crowd who clearly lose interest quickly.

I miss Smackdown Live Dean Ambrose. He was awesome when he wasn’t under Roman.

And then there was Corbin, who had the good grace to wait until Dean’s promo was over before he came out to soak up a rather casual hatred. He offers Ambrose three choice. Firstly, he could compete with Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental title; the same title that Ambrose and Corbin once fought over at Wrestlemania. On a pre-show of course but at Wrestlemania nonetheless.

He then offers Ambrose the right choice, to take on Roman Reigns for the UV title. The big ugly red belt. The crimson snakeskin. The blood red belly warmer. Ambrose says no, resulting in having to take option three and line up against big Braun Strowman.

But where is Roman Reigns? Where is the hero? Where is the guy, the chest padded puncher? The large pup?

A match happens while we wait for WWE to remember why we started watching in the first place.

Oh, here he comes.

To an initial cheer and sustained boo, Roman Reigns comes down to rescue Dean Ambrose. Seth Rollins follows shortly afterwards but clearly it is Roman who is the hero. Corbin, intimated by the beauty of Roman’s perfectly armoured body, lines him in in an immediate after the break encounter with Dolph Ziggler. Master puncher vs master seller.

For some reason, evil mastermind Baron Corbin doesn’t want The Shield to defend either of their championships. Great continuity there.

We then get the utter beauty of Dolph Ziggler, easily one of the most accomplished and talented performers in the world, versus Roman Reigns, a guy who looks absolutely great when punching something. I don’t think I need to tell you how this particular match played out. Our hero made it a win in classic style.

Raw continues from there. Liv Morgan, concussed so hard her hair turned pink, cheers her girl Ruby Riott on against Ronda Rousey in a match with the most Rs in history. Konnor continues to be the future of wrestling. That’s Konnor from The Ascension. Remember the name. I mean, remember the name? A moment of Bliss was the first sign that WWE remember Evolution is happening and the AOP continued to have something to do, which is different.

Roman would later return after Drew McIntyre had finished beating his second Shield member in three weeks. Once again, Roman would emerge first so that we know who the hero is and so that when he got a smaller pop than the guy that came next the WWE could easily spin it as down to all three rather than just the presence of Roman.

It would have been a great, tight and well driven show if at had ended there. If only Raw was only two hours long. Someone should suggest that. Instead it continued on liked a tired, drunk man rambling on about all the basketball teams he doesn’t like. Let’s just pretend that never happened though, alright?

Odds Counter
– Braun Strowman
– Baron Corbin
– Dolph Ziggler
– Drew McIntyre

Did Roman Reigns beat the odds?
Yes

Sounds like Elias and Owens got the boo meant for Roman.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S REPORT: MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #79: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top