The Rehabilitation of Roman Reigns Has Begun

The rehabilitation of Roman Reigns has begun. It took a little help from Mother Nature but it maybe off to a decent start after the disaster that was the Royal Rumble in Philadelphia.

It was a Raw that we will likely never see again as the show was cancelled in Hartford and they showed the two main events from the Royal Rumble on free T.V. They also had a number of sit-down interviews that felt very unscripted. It made for some interesting television in the shadow of perhaps the worst Royal Rumble event of all-time. In all of it, there was a lesson to be learned not to say the WWE will learn it.

Roman Reigns the man who was booed out of the build less than 24 hours earlier in Philadelphia did some of his best work on the microphone in his career. It speaks to how Roman has been more a victim of bad creative more than he is a terrible performer on the microphone. Is he actually ready to main event the biggest show of the year in Wrestlemania? It still remains a question, but perhaps it now is the time as Reigns getting a year to build to Wrestlemania 32 makes better sense than having him get the main event at that massive event.

Paul Heyman did a brilliant job selling this match and if this leads to Reigns turning heel and siding with Paul Heyman it could be great. Imagine a year out Roman Reigns complains that the Rock tried to steal his moment winning the Royal Rumble. It was the Rock’s fault the people booed him. Rock against Reigns with Heyman as Reigns advocate could be a great main event for Wrestlemania 32.

The key is that Roman Reigns needs to be distanced from how John Cena is presented. They have tried to present Reigns like Cena and it has been a massive failure. Reigns made the point that he has a massive opportunity and it is up to him to take advantage of it. Ultimately, Reigns needs to learn to say the word NO to creative that is awful and hurts him and his long-term career.

This is certainly a crossroads for Roman Reigns and the WWE as they face something they truly have never had to deal with. John Cena is not going anywhere and this is the first time the WWE has made a choice to move to a new top guy without having it forced upon them. Hogan left the company so did Bret and Shawn and Steve Austin was injured and Rock went to Hollywood. This is the first time they have not been forced into making a change at the top of the company as its face.

I have never had this hate and hostility for Roman Reigns that the fan base seems to have developed. Daniel Bryan is never getting back to the place he was at and that is just the reality of things. If you’re the WWE can you honestly have faith Bryan can remain healthy for any lengthy period of time? I would have to answer no to that question. He will still have his moment from Wrestlemania 30 and it will be a question of what might have been had he remained healthy and had his proper reign as champion. The reality is though we still could very well be in the same place we find ourselves now. If Bryan ever faced Lesnar as champion, I would not have favored him to win that match. So we still could be on this same path to Reigns against Lesnar main event for Wrestlemania 31. 

How the WWE presents Roman Reigns in the next 60+ days will greatly determine both his future and their future to a large degree. This is a high stakes time for them and honestly, something the WWE has never truly done by replacing their face of the company with the other still remaining. C.M Punk was always in the shadow of Cena similar to how Savage was to Hulk Hogan. This is different and WWE is counting on Reigns to be the guy to carry this company for the next decade more or less.

It certainly has got off to a Rocky start if you will pardon the pun. Still if Reigns is allowed to make the position his own and fans are willing to give him a chance it can work. Those are two major factors that are easier said than done.

The Roman Empire eventually crumbled this Roman Reigns empire has started from the rumble in ruins. Time will tell if he becomes one of the great names that we talk about in the history of this company. If he doesn’t get there, the blame is on the WWE for how they handcuffed his launch into this position of prominence in the company. Reigns has come a long way in a short time and is being asked to take on far more than he should be at this point. This is his opportunity though and he needs to make the most of it regardless of if he is ready or not. He might not get another one, or maybe he will get many, but none will have the potential that this one has for him to solidify himself as a top guy.

Wrestlemania Brand Put To The Ultimate Test In Dallas Next Year

In recent years WWE has touted about the power of the brand that is Wrestlemania. It has grown to be a massive event that is bid on not unlike things like the Super Bowl and other major sporting events. Last year Forbes Magazine ranked Wrestlemania as one of the top 40 valuable brands in sports. Estimating the value of the Wrestlemania brand at 105 million dollars.

It has been wildly stated in wrestling circles that Wrestlemania sells itself before any match is ever announced. All of these statements and the brand of Wrestlemania are going to take the ultimate test in April 2016, as Wrestlemania will play in its largest venue ever. AT&T Stadium the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys has a capacity that is over 105.000 people potentially. This would leave the door open to smash the much-debated indoor attendance record set at Wrestlemania III of over 93,000 at the Pontiac Silverdome.

Yet the WWE product has not been in such rough shape in some time. The upcoming Wrestlemania in Levi’s Stadium in the Bay Area of California is set to go in a couple months.  The thought has been the WWE plans to head to Mania with a Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar main event. Much debate has been made if they will stick with this direction. Reigns lack of being over with fans, the return of Daniel Bryan and the uncertain status of Brock Lesnar all factors in such a change. The Royal Rumble will likely set in motion the direction we are heading as the road to Wrestlemania begins.

This could potentially be the first Wrestlemania without the Undertaker. It will definitely be the first without his historic Wrestlemania Streak on the line as it came to a crashing end last year at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Most feel Taker will headline the Hall of Fame in Dallas as one of the attractions to help fill AT&T Stadium and draw fans to Wrestlemania weekend in Texas in 2016.

Still the question looms what else the WWE can pull out of its hat to try to get this massive stadium filled. Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant headlined that show that broke the record in Detroit. It was billed as a once in a lifetime confrontation with Andre the Giant’s 15 year undefeated streak being placed against the three plus year title reign of Hulk Hogan. On the under card of this show feature what would be regarded as one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time with Randy Savage finally going in the Hall of Fame this year defending his Intercontinental against Ricky Steamboat. An angle was built over the span of 6 months with Savage injuring Steamboat and putting his career in jeopardy smashing his throat against a guardrail and with the ring bell.

What does the WWE have now that could capture the imagination of fans like that? Do they need to have something that good or is the brand of Wrestlemania big enough that it doesn’t matter. Just like events like the Super Bowl that sell regardless of who is in the game itself. It is just the fact of being at the event.

Could it be just the idea of being part of history in the largest crowd factor into the motivation for fans to head out to Texas?

Wrestling was reaching a fever pitch at the time of Wrestlemania III but currently everyone would concede the WWE is in a down period. Yet they boldly or perhaps arrogantly march into Cowboys Stadium to announce their plans to break their attendance record.

This could be a massive embarrassment for the WWE if they can not come through and sellout this massive stadium. The WWE once tried this before where Wrestle Mania VII was originally scheduled to go in the L.A Sports Coliseum and was moved to the L.A Sports Arena instead. WWE claimed it was done to do concerns for safety over threats of terrorism tied to the Iraq and U.S War. The reality was ticket sales were poor and they avoided the embarrassment of a less than capacity stadium.

It is safe to say that backing out of this endeavor will not be an option. It is a real risk the WWE is taking with perhaps the most valuable asset they have left being Wrestlemania. The event has had gambles like this in it’s past and came out the better on the other side. The original Wrestlemania Vince McMahon literally had put everything he had into it banking on its success. People thought it was insane to go to Silverdome but that became the high point of wrestling boom of the 80’s.

They say everything is bigger in Texas and the WWE is going all in to try and pull off the largest Wrestlemania in history. They do it with no obvious main attraction to attract over 100,000 people to attend. One match that might have had that appeal was a return of Stone Cold Steve Austin to the ring to take on C.M Punk but that dream is pretty much dead. You have to wonder what match they will have next year to headline this show. This while it is still somewhat unclear the direction they will head for this Wrestlemania. If this Wrestlemania fails to impress what that could mean for next year could be devastating.

It is going to be a true test of if wrestling or more to the point WWE is as strong as it has been in the past. It will be referendum of sort on the state of the WWE. If they are successful, they will use it as a claim that the business is fine. If not it will make people seriously consider the state of the company. The Network has been a pretty underwhelming endeavor to this point. They can’t afford to fail with this one.