6 Ups & 10 Downs From WWE Raw (6 Jan - Results & Review)

3. Tribal Snooze

Bloodline matches, particularly those with Roman Reigns, have followed a certain pattern for the past couple of years.

The bouts almost always start slow and basic, methodically moving through the motions and exchanging punches, clotheslines, and other simple moves, with some high-impact offense sprinkled in. It isn’t until the final third or quarter of the match that things really ramp up, culminating in either a referee bump or (if it’s a no-disqualification match) simply cutting straight to the run-ins.

Monday’s Tribal Combat between Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa followed that template, but unlike most Bloodline matches, it went on first rather than the main event. Typically, knowing that it’s the last match of the night allows cynics to gird themselves better and just accept the doldrums that are coming. Tribal Combat was during the first hour, dragging along as the reality that there were still two more hours set in.

Even when things broke down and both Bloodlines interfered (and Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes), the match never really got out of third gear. It just continued chugging along toward the finish, which saw Reigns pick up the win, reclaim the ula fala, and once again become the Tribal Chief.

Whether it was going on first, or the lack of belief in Solo as a legitimate threat to Roman, or just that it wasn’t a good match, this was a snoozer and a terrible choice to open the Netflix era. Sure, the fans came up when the run-ins started, but they could have shortened the dull, boring “action” by a good 10 minutes and maybe salvaged this as a victory.