MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #60: 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

This week marks the first of two weeks of WWE omnibus Reignsometer because while Backlash comes this Sunday we’re just off the back of the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, in which Roman Reigns took on Brock Lesnar in a steel cage for the Universal title.

After being mauled at Wrestlemania, after spending weeks talking to Samoa Joe, after bleeding and crying and being destroyed by the fans every time he walks into an arena, Roman Reigns has a chance to put it all right. Redemption. Rescue. The chance for victory so great that everyone would remember it forever.

Nothing in @WWE has ever been “given” to someone. You have to take every inch, especially from an athlete like Brock. I’ve earned the right to call this place #MyYard. Tonight I’m taking the Universal Title. #B2R #WWEGRR

— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) April 27, 2018

Yeah, he lost. Again. Looks like we get more of this feud in future. Yay for that.

Even if I hadn’t bothered watching the match I can still tell you almost blow for blow what happened during. German suplexes to start, obviously. Superman punches. Lesnar kicks out of spears. Reigns kicks out of F5s and then the same result as Wrestlemania. Brock Lesnar walked away with the gold. It’s almost as if this wrestling thing follows a script, isn’t it?

Rumour has it Brock Lesnar can’t sleep without his belt any more. It lives on a special pillow at the foot of his bed. Before long we’ll see it tattooed on his forehead.

Since then the rumour mill has gone into its standard overdrive. Rumour has it that nobody knew that Lesnar would retain at the Greatest Royal Rumble. This of course would include the ring crew that rigged the cage to break. No idea that was the finish. Nope.

We also heard plenty about Roman’s feet hitting the ground first. After the match the referee faced the backlash on Twitter by apologising about ending the match. Honestly I can’t blame him given how close Roman Reigns came to breaking his neck from that spear.

What is it with Reigns and vertical spears? He puts people through tables like that too. You always land on your head, Roman, just stop it.

And so the big dog, having wrestled only two televised matches in over two months, strode into Montreal for Monday Night Raw. Now, naturally, Canada is a famously pro-WWE place. Their love for Vince McMahon is legendary. As you might expect they booed top heel Roman Reigns; just like WWE always want.

After a little complaining, Roman is interrupted by the incredible hacking skills of Samoa Joe. Joe took over the tron, displaying himself in a manner that was obviously live despite being on an entirely different show and thus not in the arena and probably not even watching Raw.

I doubt he’d be the only person to switch off when he sees Roman Reigns on his TV.

And then there was Jinder; possibly the only man who could get the crowd to cheer for Roman. Jinder’s position as heel was greatly enhanced of course by being paired up with the two most popular people on the show; Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.

You could not make this up. On one side of the ring, the hated and despised Jinder Mahal was paired with the adored combo of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Meanwhile, on the other side, the hated and despised Roman Reigns was paired with the adored combo of Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley.

Raw is tag teams! Confusing tag teams, too.

Late in the night, but not the main event because Reigns needs to leave early to get a manicure, the six men clash. Last week was ten women. The week before ten men. This week we’re down to six and they’re not even the main event. I wonder if Raw brought too many people over from Smackdown Live?

The night belongs to Strowman, as do all nights lately. What happens with Roman? Well, he has another chance to get back on the right path with a match against Samoa Joe at Backlash. What happens next? Who knows. He doesn’t have a title to go for. A feud with Jinder Mahal? Probably.

Then maybe we’ll get that Roman vs. Titus O’ Neill feud we never knew we wanted until now.

Odds Counter
– Brock Lesnar
– Cage architecture
– Samoa Joe’s tech savagery
– Jinder Mahal
– Kevin Owens
– Sami Zayn

Did Roman Reigns beat the odds?
No

Sold that potential neck destroying vertical spear well though, didn’t he?

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NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #59: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top