6 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 14th)

2. Mania Main Event In Trouble

Let€™s state this up front: The scripting and execution of the beating Roman Reigns gave Triple H was perfect. Reigns went on a rampage, destroying the world champion and bloodying him up. Roman threw a trashcan at him and broke a television over his back. It was a hellacious beating that made perfect sense given the injuries he sustained.

And a sizable portion of the crowd booed. Loudly.

This was Reigns returning to action after three weeks on the shelf with surgery for a (storyline) fractured nose and banged-up face. He€™s the supposed Alpha Male in WWE right now, the guy who€™s trying to take down the Authority and end their reign of terror. But yet, the fans won€™t outright cheer him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8aKKEjIO2g

And before Roman€™s defenders talk about how he gets a positive reaction from a sizable portion of the crowd or compares him to John Cena, let€™s drop the pretenses. Cena gets a huge reaction from both ends of the spectrum. Reigns gets booed pretty decently and cheered mildly. He sells nowhere near as much merchandise as Cena, so his popularity isn€™t there yet.

And if you€™re looking for a universally loved hero who stood up to the Authority, see Daniel Bryan. Reigns is a talented guy, but it€™s clear that he€™s not the guy WWE wants him to be right now.

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.