8 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Aug 22)

Downs...

6. Here Comes The Reigns Train

Roman Reigns supporters will undoubtedly rail against listing his victory Monday night as a negative, no matter how mild it is and no matter how tempered it is. That said, let’s take a different tact in why Reigns beating Chris Jericho and getting the final slot in the fatal four-way for the vacant WWE Universal Championship is a “down.”

Unless Reigns is going to win the vacant title next week (or a major angle grows out of it), his being in this match is short-sighted and a bad idea. A lot of the fan backlash that Roman has faced is due to a perception that he is being rammed down their throats because management wants him to be “the guy” rather than fans accepting him as a top guy. He lost his world title last month and then lost a #1 contender’s match, and then became involved in a feud with Rusev for his United States Championship, presumably being ratcheted down the card a bit.

Reheating Reigns in a “world” title match that he then goes on to lose doesn’t help him at all (again, unless a major angle grows out of it). Even if he doesn’t factor into the decision, Roman is a three-time world champion who got booed throughout the entire weekend in Brooklyn. Sticking him in another title match to lose would just be a strange decision.

Then again, having Roman win the title next week might lead to a bigger backlash, so maybe it doesn’t matter either way.