MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #10: 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

Roman Reigns is right now in one of the biggest feuds possible going into WrestleMania. This is a great thing for me, dear reader, and I’ll tell you for why. The odds. Oh those wonderful delicious odds he’ll have to overcome. Om nom nom indeed.

But how to have a feud with a dead man? The announcement is made early on on Raw that Roman will “respond” to the dead man, but how? A dead man who only rarely actually appears on television. A dead man who is rarely sighted going to the store for groceries. How you say? You start with the next best thing, Jinder Mahal!

No, I don’t get it either, but it is what it is.

This means that Mahal, Strowman, and The Undertaker are all feuding with Roman Reigns. That’s how important Roman is. Foley announces the match because Mahal came looking for one and, to be honest, the two look good going against each other, what with Mahal’s intense intenseness. You don’t out intense Roman Reigns, though, who survives an encounter with a wild gong sound that we’re attributing to The Undertaker.

So Roman now has Mahal, Strowman, The Undertaker, and a Sound Technician feuding with him. Oh, Jinder Mahal gets obliterated by the way. You knew that already.

After the match Roman throws out a little heel face and mugs for the crowd while replays show him in close up so that you can really admire his beautiful bone structure. He gets a chorus of boos and everyone goes quiet for his promo. It’s a great promo. No joke, it’s a simple, effective promo that works both face and heel. Probably the best work Roman’s ever done on the mic.

Then Shawn Michaels comes out. Why? Well, let’s be fair. You think Undertaker at WrestleMania and you think Shawn Michaels. He’s also cut some awful promos recently, so maybe they’re planning to make Roman’s mic skills look good in comparison because obviously Roman reigns.

Roman politely doesn’t talk while the fans are chanting “HBK.” He’s a gentleman like that. Then he, again politely, asks what the hell. Did Shawn make the gong happen?

HBK puts The Undertaker over. Meanwhile, Roman puts himself over. Standard fare really, just with one legend replacing another. Michaels, equally as popular as The Undertaker, lines up so that we have a classic face vs. heel dynamic. So Reigns, without doing anything heelish, is being lined up as a heel here.

HBK mentions that people are secretly hoping that Roman fails. Clearly he doesn’t watch this show. It’s not a secret, Shawn; everybody wants him to fail. Roman then throws some gorgeous heely shade back. This was some real tasty mic work from Reigns. He’s always done smug well, but smug is a heel domain.

Roman pauses at the top of the ramp and then gets absolutely demolished by a charging Braun Strowman. That ramp might as well have been ice the way Reigns flew down it. The hit is so good that Strowman briefly turns face in the Dolph Ziggler fashion. Did Strowman play the gong?

And that’s that for Roman on Raw. He gets a much bigger chunk than he did last week but let’s be fair, Undertaker matches never need much build.

Excited for it? Do let me know @Colohue. I certainly am.

Odds Counter
– Jinder Mahal
– A random gong
– A wild Sound Technician
– A brutal Shawn Michaels promo
– Braun Strowman

Did Roman Reigns beat the odds?
No

Great sell going down that ramp though.

by Tom Colohue
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NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S ARTICLE: MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #9: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top

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