How Paul Heyman Fixed Roman Reigns

This is a marketable nickname, but it's far more than that. The persona draws on his heritage. It resonates, crucially, as something far more authentic than what was, in retrospect, a very troubling old deal in which he wore blue contact lenses. But it's not merely an embrace of his ethnicity. Paul Heyman has built an order around this new Roman Reigns character, and Roman sits at the very top of it.

The "This is the Roman we said you should have booked all along" take doing the rounds is fairly reductive and diminishes what Heyman has achieved. This arc is far more effective than Roman racking up wins with a better physique and a nastier attitude. What Heyman is doing is work. He isn't leaning on a symbol we associate with greatness to make Roman appear great, nor is he offering takes from a distance. Heyman has presented the illusion that Reigns, an act so superficial that he was always reduced to a flak jacket, even on Sunday, has an interior life at which he is the centre. He is the king in his world because it makes it that much easier to buy him as the new king of WWE. Heyman, through an inspired backstory, has reframed Reigns as a darker version of the real man. He was the varsity athlete, the wrestling prodigy, the born and bred badass who lorded his superiority over his cousins. Heyman has cast himself tremendously, too; he doesn't advocate for Roman Reigns but rather sucks up to him. He's there for the ride.

Jey Uso danced during Clash of Champion's enormously effective main event.

Roman, disgusted at his cousin's behaviour, projected the old magic beans bullsh*t he was made to say onto him, and did, in fact, "whoop that ass".

CONT'D...(4 of 6)