10 Impulse Reactions Following WWE Great Balls Of Fire
3. Double Dutch
'What was Roman Reigns thinking?' Michael Cole asked, using his best 'Owen Hart' intonation alongside a similarly despondent Corey Graves and Booker T.
For the uninitiated, following his tragic accident, WWE ghoulishly employed the very real emotions of Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross during their pained coverage from May 1999's Over The Edge pay-per-view where Hart accidentally fell to his death. The legendary duo were naturally crestfallen, with their voices weighed down by an understandably sombre tone they were unable to shift for the remainder of the broadcast.
Grasping the gravitas, Vince McMahon made it a trope.
Instructed to divert from their over-excited norm, Cole, Graves and Booker dropped a decibel to convey the seriousness of both Roman's aggression and Braun's plight. That Strowman yet again preserved his veneer of invincibility by staggering off from the carnage unaided was moot. The presentation was irrefutably designed to draw praise for his determination. But what of the supposed protagonist?
There was a clear implication that Roman had gone too far in his assault. If not in the above Cole soundbite, but in the college-level production attempting to convey Reigns' final thoughts before ramming the ambulance into the conveniently-placed truck.
Asking viewers to peer into Roman's soul via wing mirror as he stared ruefully into the middle distance, it was tough to posit if WWE were finally caving to the baying requests to go all in on his heel turn. This is not the first case of this in 2017 alone though, so don't be too surprised to see chuckles and grins on Monday's follow-up.