MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #21: 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 – Extreme Rules Omnibus Edition

Roman Reigns did not blade on Sunday night. That made me sad. However, he did show color once again in that true caught-handing-me-the-capsule Roman Reigns style. I just want to see him blade. Challenge authority, Roman!

First off, a tweet that I made earlier for you to poll whether or not you like Reigns.

Question for today's Reignsometer. Are you pro or anti @WWERomanReigns right now?

— Tom Colohue (@Colohue) June 6, 2017

And now, on to the Reigns.

Roman Reigns pulled out all the stops on Extreme Rules. He stood in a ring and flexed himself menacingly. He speared two guys who weren’t looking through a flimsy barrier. He no sold a buckle bomb, then remembered to sell the buckle bomb after having already punched somebody. Man, they’re booking Reigns a lot like Brock Lesnar right now.

In a complete shock horror move by WWE, they forget to feature Roman heavily in their YouTube clip from Extreme Rules!

That genuinely left me reeling, and not much does that to the British. Suppose now you have to buy the Network to see your favorite in action.

In another enormous twist, Roman Reigns very nearly got pinned! He was done for. He was down. He was beaten. This was after his usual me-versus-everyone punching rampage, of course. His uppercut is way better than his Superman Punch. But he was down! Balor was then dragged off him and put out by Samoa Joe while Roman was lying there in the ring selling the pain. And, you know, slowly rolling out in that way that nobody highlights as being a bit silly.

So Roman lost, despite looking both very strong and very beatable. Man this is good TV.

Rolling forward to Monday and Roman comes out to interrupt yet another Bray Wyatt promo. Now sure, this one wasn’t as good as the last one, but it still makes me want to boo the guy, and that’s great, because everyone wants to boo the guy. Wyatt is now leaving gaps in his promos so that you can boo the guy. Roman Reigns – a thoroughly modern villain. To be fair, Bray Wyatt – a thoroughly modern good guy.

A match breaks out, which is a languid, hard-hitting, repetitive affair kind of similar to the recent Rowan-Luke Harper PPV match. Seemed like a feud-ender to me, though I could be wrong.

Roman, of course, winds up victorious. In clean singles matches he has now bested Balor, Rollins, and Wyatt, with Joe no doubt on his radar once everyone’s second favorite Samoan named Joe has finished his business with Brock Lesnar.

Hmm. It’s almost as if they’re trying to show that Roman is better than his peers. Or, you know, he’s saving up favors ready to lose a lot of number one contendership matches on his way to WrestleMania.

Or both, you know, who am I to judge? I thought Roman was John Cena mark 2. Turns out he’s the next Lesnar.

Odds Counter
– Finn Balor
– Seth Rollins
– Samoa Joe
– Bray Wyatt
– Bray Wyatt again

Did Roman Reigns beat the odds?
Yes and no

Sold that Coup De Gras well though, didn’t he? I love a good cough sell.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #20: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top

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