MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #29: 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 – thus far to no avail. 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

One of the most common criticisms of Roman is that he wins, a lot. Like, the man can not stop winning. Since he came into WWE, Roman Reigns has won a truly ridiculous amount of matches. At the time of writing this, according to the stats at profightdb.com, Roman Reigns has a total win percentage of 67 percent. Now, that’s an incredible stat. The man wins two thirds of his matches. That said, let’s be honest, that’s less than you thought, isn’t it?

The thing is, a lot of huge name wrestlers lose a lot more often than people realise. Steve Austin’s win record is a paltry 57 percent, though it does rise if you remove his lukewarm WCW run. The Undertaker actually comes in higher than Roman Reigns but only by 1 percent at 68 percent. For an undead wizard with the reputation of The Undertaker that is ridiculous, especially considering that he went undefeated for so long at WrestleMania. That man laid down on plentiful occasions.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is Triple H. The great burier – the reign of terror – the King of Kings. 51 percent. Only a tiny bit more than half of Triple H’s matches were won. Sure, you can talk about how he spent a lot of time out of the main event, losing particularly to members of The Nation or acting as mid-card enhancement talent as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, but even after WWF become WWE, his numbers only rise to 55 percent.

So many people have this idea of Triple H as a constant, safe bet, but the reality is completely different. He got his ass handed to him so often it’s basically mincemeat.

And so we get back to Roman, and yes, he wins a lot. He is by far the highest scoring member of The Shield. Ambrose just creeps into 59 percent, which is just better than Steve Austin. Seth Rollins, the supposed undisputed future, comes in at a terrible 44 percent. Even worse if you focus solely on WWE numbers, at which point the drops to 35 percent. That’s just over one-third of his matches finishing with his arm raised.

With this in mind, you’d be forgiven for believing that there would be a wall of hatred thrown at Roman Reigns for winning the big triple threat match this week on Raw, but that didn’t happen. You’d be forgiven for believing that people would accuse Roman of burying Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman, as he has been accused of so many times with so many different people. That didn’t happen, either. No, this one was a win that everybody was okay with.

You see, lately, people have been a lot more accepting of Roman Reigns winning. Why? Because it’s more obvious now that those wins mean something down the line. Yes, Roman Reigns is a popular choice to take the title at Summerslam, but I think having him win last night showed just how unlikely that was. Wade thinks Joe. I still think Lesnar. A lot of people think Roman. Really, it could go in a lot of different directions.

What it does show is the effect that a good storyline and a well personalized character can have. Roman Reigns is still one of the most verbally berated wrestlers on the planet, but I think the word “hated” might no longer apply. You see, a win over Roman Reigns means something. Lately, he’s been laying down a lot, particularly due to the warm, tender embrace of Strowman’s foot in his face.

Roman Reigns has made Braun Strowman, as Becky Lynch made Alexa Bliss. Roman helped show the WWE audience that Finn Balor was a big deal. He laid down for Wyatt (30 percent wins on main roster) at Survivor Series and took the hit for Randy Orton at the Royal Rumble. He’s taken pins from Owens and Jericho this year. Roman Reigns is doing the favors.

For those keeping track, The Undertaker is not the only man with a higher win percentage than Roman Reigns. Brock Lesnar has a truly ridiculous 72 percent, for example. Another, John Cena, is a full 10 percent higher than Reigns at 77 percent. What a world we live in, right? Beating Cena means something. Beating Lesnar means something. Beating Roman means something.

Beating Curt Hawkins for his 100th loss in a row? That doesn’t mean much at all. You know what is funny? Neville wins more matches than Roman Reigns. Go figure.

Roman Reigns won this week, beating Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match. His win here means that he goes into Summerslam’s Fatal Four-way owing someone a favor. Will he take the Universal Championship? Only time will tell.

Odds Counter
– Braun Strowman
– Samoa Joe

Did Roman Reigns beat the odds?
Yes.

Back to winning ways again.

Mordecai is undefeated at WrestleMania. Stats don’t tell the whole story.

— Tom Colohue (@Colohue)

Mordecai is undefeated at Wrestlemania. Stats don't tell the whole story.

— Tom Colohue (@Colohue) July 30, 2017