12 Ups And 15 Downs For WWE In 2016

1. Pushing Roman (Down Our Throats)

OK Roman Reigns fans, go ahead and start sharpening your knives…

Let’s start with the same caveats this column has used multiple times: Roman is a good wrestler, better than most are willing detractors are willing to admit. This writer wants to get behind Reigns, either as a babyface or a villain.

But WWE has decided for us exactly how we should react to Roman: Cheer him as our conquering hero… or else we’ll just keep pushing him as a conquering hero. Starting with the Royal Rumble, continuing through WrestleMania, it was obvious to any neutral observer that Roman was not going to be a beloved superhero for WWE. At best, he would garner 50/50 crowd reactions, ala John Cena, but without the higher ratings and merchandise sales to justify such a push. He has been forced to refer to himself as “The Guy,” despite it only further pissing off many fans.

Reigns has finished second, first and third in the last three Rumbles and main-evented the previous two WrestleManias. And still, Roman is in a weird limbo where WWE can’t figure out how to push him as a top guy. He lost his world title due to failing a wellness policy test this summer and has held the midcard United States Championship throughout the fall. Along the way, we’ve seen guys like Rusev, Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens look somewhat inferior against him.

And now, it looks like the wheels are being set in motion for Reigns to have another prominent match at WrestleMania XXXIII, possibly defending or challenging for the WWE Universal Championship… again.

In no way is this saying that WWE should give up on Roman Reigns as a top-level wrestler, but what they’ve been doing the past couple years hasn’t worked. Ratings alone are an indicator. The company needs to figure out how to make Roman compelling and someone fans want to tune in to watch if they want to justify this constant push over other stars.

And now for the Ups...