5 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Feb 27)

3. Sympathy For Reigns, Awe For Strowman

roman reigns raw
WWE.com

WWE has tried everything it can to make Roman Reigns into its superhero babyface, to no avail.

Fighting the Authority, battling Mr. McMahon, overcoming overwhelming odds… none of it worked well enough for the fans to buy in to Roman as the top guy. But his weekly beatings by Braun Strowman might be a domino falling in the right direction. Monday night, Strowman threw Reigns so hard into the turnbuckle that it exploded off the ringpost. The collision dropped Roman and knocked him out for the third week in a row.

And it’s stuff like that that can make even jaded fans feel a little twinge for Reigns. That doesn’t necessarily mean we want to see Roman run through the roster en route to another title win, but a little vulnerability goes a long way.

The converse is true about Strowman, who has seemingly turned a corner with his persona and in-ring ability. His match against Big Show last week was impressive, and his presence Monday night was equally notable. Braun did a nice job Monday bullying Mick Foley and brawling with Reigns. He might not be the second coming of Andre the Giant or Undertaker, but he’s proving himself to be quite capable lately.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.