5 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (25 May - Results & Review)

4. A Lot Of Line Reading

Heading into Tribal Combat at WWE Clash in Italy, there really isn’t much left to say in this feud. Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu have been at each other’s throats and had all the crazy brawls that one would expect in a world title feud.

Monday’s contract signing was tame by comparison, in large part due to the no-touch stipulation before the match. Instead, the focus fell on the verbal exchange between the two cousins.

Unfortunately, Roman and Jacob basically just expanded on the actual Tribal Combat stipulation of the winner becoming the Tribal Chief, and the loser having to acknowledge the loser. Even Fatu agreed to follow that requirement, giving Roman his flowers for leading the family to the top of WWE.

Jacob said he wanted to take the family in a new direction – without elaborating on that direction – and asked whether Roman bent the rules at Backlash (when he used an exposed turnbuckle) because he couldn’t beat Fatu otherwise. That was the one interesting thread they hadn’t touched since the PLE, and they blew right past it here, with Reigns turning to the consequences of Tribal Combat.

As a segment, this added nothing at the moment to the build of the match, though it could become more relevant in the aftermath, depending on what happens. If there isn’t some greater context to come, this really was a non-factor of a go-home angle. It was fine, but they could have just aired a video package and had the same impact.