5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE Raw (8 Aug)

3. Loser: Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns
WWE.com

Last week was great for Roman Reigns. The former WWE Champion featured only fleetingly, and appeared from the backstage area to run Rusev off shortly after his successful United States Title defence against Mark Henry. With his popularity in the doldrums, WWE needed to pull Reigns away from the main event scene and insert him in a feud with a universally-hated foe.

They did just that, and they didn’t sully things with an overlong Reigns promo either. Few men struggle on the mic like Roman, and he’s far better suited to the role he was asked to play last week. Unfortunately, WWE undid all of that good work during the Rusev/Lana wedding celebration segment.

Reigns came-off as the most unlikable guy in the building by crashing the celebration, calling Lana a “mail-order bride,” and provoking The Bulgarian Brute into a ceremony-destroying brawl. As tedious as these wedding segments have become over the years, Rusev came-off as a complete and utter four-letter word here, which is exactly what WWE didn’t need at this point. If they have any hope of rehabbing Reigns as their top face then they can’t have him going around acting like a playground bully every week, which is exactly what happened here.

Back to square one for the Roman Empire.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.