Instead of literally any of the storyline possibilities that might actually work, Mr. McMahon placed Roman Reigns in a title match with Sheamus - a man that Reigns has beaten several times without much difficulty - with himself as the special guest referee. That's a classic Austin storyline beat, and the match itself is laid out like a classic Attitude Era Austin/Mr. McMahon match... but Reigns isn't 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin. When he keeps attacking Vince, he's Superman Punching a mostly helpless old man, regardless of the size of the helpless old mans arms. Moreover, unless I fell asleep somewhere along the line (I might have done. RAW's on very late, and I'm so very old), there was no stipulation that said that Reigns would lose the title on a DQ or count out, so he still had the champion's advantage. Instead of just walking out on the match, Reigns punched McMahon out when he screwed him around... and then went for a cover, looking outraged when Vince couldnt count the pin. You just suckerpunched the referee, Roman. Jesus. It got a lot worse: Sheamus hit two Brogue Kicks on Reigns in a row, with McMahon egging him on, and then went for the cover. Inexplicably, despite fast-counting for Sheamus the entire match, Vince didn't go for the count that would win Sheamus the match and vindicate this whole ridiculous charade of his. Instead he fell to the mat, suddenly overselling the attack from earlier, and both he and Sheamus began waving for the replacement heel referee to hit the ring. Eventually Scott Armstrong came charging down... and Reigns lifted his shoulder at two. He'd been pinned for about fifteen seconds, and even assuming you buy that he suddenly fell and couldn't get up, McMahon could have counted a fast three from where he was lying. What a massive clusterf*ck of a match. However, in a fairly nice twist, weve got the first Royal Rumble in twenty-four years to be for the big belt, instead of for a shot at the big belt at Wrestlemania. That neatly diverts the whole Road To Wrestlemania concept they push every year, and subverts the audiences recent fascination with crapping all over the Rumble match itself. Right now, I kind of like it but lets see how it plays out. I stopped trusting that WWE would deliver on their storylines a long time ago.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
