8 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (May 2nd)

5. Respect From Roman

aj styles roman reigns raw
WWE.com

It€™s understandable that Roman Reigns was trying to show sportsmanship Monday night by saying that AJ Styles earned his respect at Payback. Reigns is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and Styles pushed him to the limit Sunday night.

But the optics of Reigns, a wrestler with less than six years in the business €“ all in WWE €“ saying that he now had respect for Styles €“ an 18-year veteran who has traveled the world €“ was all-but laughable.

Let€™s be clear: That obviously isn€™t how Roman (or the writer who penned the line) intended it to sound. But when you consider the criticism that Reigns often faces from fans who believe he€™s being pushed to the top despite others (such as Styles) being more €œover,€ then you can see why that comment immediately rubbed wrongly.

If anything, Styles, fresh off a two-year stint in New Japan, should have said that Reigns was just as good as any man he faced on the other side of the world. At least that would have given Roman a stamp of approval from a well-traveled superstar.

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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.