10 Best WWE Segments Of 2017 (So Far)
2. Braun Strowman Kills Roman Reigns
On the April 10 Monday Night RAW, Braun Strowman more or less attempted to murder top babyface Roman Reigns. It shouldn't have been awesome. WWE did everything in their power to generate sympathy on his behalf. But it was.
He interrupted Reigns' backstage promo with Michael Cole and flung him back first into a ladder before smashing him back into the wall. Not that it mattered - unless Reigns actually died, nobody was going to feel anything for him - his selling was superb. He looked like he was in agony. Strowman then compounded that by lifting Reigns three feet off his feet and drilling him through a suspiciously-situated table, before wedging him between the wall and a storage crate and caving his chest in.
Hilariously, Reigns was already half-dead (again, these words should not be written in reference to the top babyface in the company) when Strowman decided he fancied another crack at him.
The editing was almost seamless when Strowman sent a stretcher-bound Reigns careening into oblivion. In a choice (if completely unintentional) comedy rule of three, Strowman then returned for a third time and upended a godd*mn ambulance with Reigns inside of it. "I'm not finished with you!" he roared, to massive cheers from the crowd. The assault was cracking stuff - totally brutal and believable - but the production put it over the top. Twice WWE pulled the wool over the eyes of viewers by replaying the carnage. False finishes have even found their way backstage in 2017.
It comes to something when the second best segment on WWE TV all year was, strictly speaking, a total failure. Nobody felt sorry for Roman.