MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #39: 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

Last week in your Roman Reigns summarising station, there was The Shield! Also, The Shield got beat up and the odds won the day in a big way.

Naturally, this week Roman Reigns and the odds had their rematch but this time, it’s personal. Roman wasn’t alone. He had two beautiful sidekicks. Well, one beautiful and one grizzled. Seth just makes me warm in fuzzy places.

We open with highlights of Roman Reigns destroying The Miztourage. For once a video package featuring The Miz actually shows The Miz getting a few hits in himself. Always nice. Then come the odds, with Roman getting beaten down by three guys at once. Despite being roundly cheered last week, WWE resists the urge to take that audio, lift it as high as possible and play it over the top.

And then we come live to The Miz, who naturally continues in his seemingly one man mission to make Roman Reigns a star. Can’t fault the guy; it’s finally working.

And then there was Reigns.

For the first time in a long time Roman gets more cheers than boos. Why? Shield. I mean, there’s no two ways about it, Roman is only getting cheered right now because people want The Shield back together. Those three guys were really over as a unit.

Roman doesn’t say much. Instead he stands, looking casually buff, and pops the crowd by waiting for his brothers to walk out.

Ambrose comes first. Well, technically Roman is first. Is Ambrose still the leader? Is there a leader? Why is Roman the leader now?

And then we have Seth, The Architect, the man with the plan. Or is he not? Did he come up with this ‘Roman walks out first’ plan or was that Roman? Is Roman The Architect now?

The Shield storm the ring. Leader, Architect and all around good guy Roman Reigns makes sure to be on the side of the ring that gets most coverage from the hard cam, naturally. He’s the hero here, of course.

The Shield storm the ring, their old surround and swamp style replaced with ‘hit all our most famous moves’ tactics. They lay down the worlds softest beating and then close in on The Miz, triple teaming him, cornering him, bullying him.

The Shield is back. Roman is The Guy. The fans even pop for Roman’s music when it hits at the end. Finally, after three years, we finally understand why Roman kept The Shield music. It was always for this moment. They knew.

So Roman’s not just beating the odds anymore; Roman is the odds. What a swerve that was.

Later, Kurt Angle announces the main event we all knew was coming. The Shield will main event TLC against The Miz, Cesaro and Sheamus. In the absence of Brock Lesnar, book six of the top acts in the company.

If not the top acts really, given the absence of Cena and Orton. I’m pretty sure these are the six most recognisable faces in the company in the absence of the class of ‘02.

Later, The Shield see an opportunity to bully someone else three on one. After a brief scare from Matt Hardy, Braun Strowman decides to take Matt Hardy’s prone body home as a trophy. I’m pretty sure as the winner of the match Strowman is entitled to do that. At the top of the ramp he slows to a crawl so that The Shield don’t miss their queue but there they are, in brand new Shield shirts (which is surely the real point of this whole reunion)

Strowman manages to put up a fight by going straight after Roman but having already fought a match that finished just moments before, Strowman is no match for the evil trio.

I have not missed the whole Shield camera zoom feature. Stop toggling that zoom; my head hurts!

Roman launches Strowman through a table, delighting in the fact that actually a nine month long feud Roman has finally been able to do something back to Strowman. Surprised he didn’t also throw a chair at his head if I’m honest.

The Shield are here. And they’ve forgotten their tag belts.

Odds Counter
– The Miz
– Curtis Axel
– Cesaro
– Sheamus
– Braun Strowman

Did Roman Reigns beat the odds?
This is Roman’s Oddsometer now.

There will unfortunately be no Reignsometer next week on the go home show for TLC as I will be in sunny (hopefully) Tenerife. But keep a weather eye on the horizon because I’ve got plenty more where that came from.

Like what you’re reading? Help me get to 1,000 followers by the end of the year with a like or a retweet and have my eternal thanks. Thanks!

Like what you're reading? Help me get to 1,000 followers by the end of the year with a like or a retweet and have my eternal thanks. Thanks!

— Tom Colohue (@Colohue) August 29, 2017

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: MONDAY NIGHT REIGNS-O-METER #39: Tracking Roman Reigns’s ability to beat the odds and come out on top