How Paul Heyman Fixed Roman Reigns
Dangerous use of exposition aside, this was fantastic. Roman looked lethal raining down forearms into his cousin's face. Brutal and dramatic, and bordering on scary, he locked everybody watching into that story, erasing completely the weird sight of those LED screens. This was the dark corner of the family room. Reigns demanded Jey refer to him as the 'Tribal Chief,' and wore Jey's lei to symbolise it.
This is a genius subversion of what had failed him. The man compared to every one of his peers is peerless now in the parameters of this excellent arc. Monsters, Fiends, even his own flesh and blood: wreck everything and leave. It's Roman's yard, but you can believe that now.
The Universal Championship Reigns carries is obviously emblematic of this, too, but what does it even mean? He won it handily, he's worn it before, and it means even less now than it did then. A passé Braun Strowman held it for months, and comedic undercard act Otis has first refusal. That title wasn't remotely prestigious. It's Roman's job to clean up that damn mess, and thrillingly, he's doing it. He is heating up the title that was always kept warm for him.
Where the title was once meant to make Roman, to underscore how much of a home run all of this is, he is making that title.
CONT'D...(5 of 6)