8 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (April 3)

1. Is WWE Epically Trolling Its Fans?

WWE Raw Roman Reigns
WWE.com

So after a video package recalling the WrestleMania main event, Raw cut to the arena, where fans launched into a lengthy, rhythmic “Undertaker” chant, which then added a dueling “Roman sucks!”

And what came next? You guessed it, everyone’s favorite punching bag, Roman Reigns.

Now, if WWE is deliberately trolling its fans, then this really could belong in the “ups” category, or at least be neutral. But that also would only really work if they’re actually going through with turning Roman heel. If his little shtick in the ring (“This is my yard now!”) is a hint of a new cockiness, then so be it.

But we’ve seen for a long time now moments where fans swore WWE would realize a sizable chunk will not buy Reigns as a babyface champion and would thus book him more as a heel than a conquering hero. And that’s never happened. So until it does, this kind of moment felt more like cluelessness than trolling. Or if it was trolling, it’s not coming with the requisite character beat that should be told in this story.

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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.