6 Ups And Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Feb 23)

By Scott Carlson /

1. Gaining Endorsements Silently

It might seem strange to consider making your WrestleMania main eventer stay largely silent as a huge positive, but given Roman Reigns€™ disastrous promos several weeks back, this is almost a necessity. And besides, how often do you see Brock Lesnar talk? Monday night, Roman Reigns came to the ring to address his doubters who said he couldn€™t win the Rumble and then successfully defend that title shot at Fastlane. He got a few lines in before one of the chief doubters, Daniel Bryan, joined him. Bryan talked about how he didn€™t like Reigns, but then gave him a ringing endorsement, encouraging him to €œbeat the crap€ out of Lesnar at Mania. No sooner did Bryan leave the ring than Paul Heyman wandered down to congratulate Roman and tell him that Brock€™s advocate would bet money on Reigns against any other man from any other era€ but unfortunately he€™s facing a beast at WrestleMania. Reigns did rebut Heyman briefly before the segment ended, but the bulk of the talking was done by Bryan and Heyman, both of whom sang Reigns€™ praises.While WWE can€™t rely on others to serve as a crutch for Reigns, having those who are more experienced on the mic take the lead will help mask Roman€™s shortcomings as he learns on the fly. The company has committed to this path, so the goal now is the make the best of it for the remainder of the Road to WrestleMania.