Well, WWE Raw Was Pretty Damn Awesome This Week!
Roman Reigns, then. The response to him this week was every bit as negative as the vociferous hatred sent his way last week by the post-WrestleMania crowd in Dallas, only this time WWE could not play it off as being down to the bizarro-world crowd. Rather, JBL directly noted that, some people dont like him.
Reigns is slipping into a tweener role, more akin to the not-giving-a-sh*t babyface he was in the Shield than the cloying faux-Cena he became when Vince McMahon got his hands on him. This is much better, and the creative booking that saw him siding with the now-babyface Bray Wyatt was an interesting twist.
Granted, Reigns was then thrown into the ring with the hapless League of Nations, the only team he is ever cheered against, which sent an odd mixed message.
Just as WWE have come to terms with him being booed by letting him cut promos giving the figurative middle finger to his detractors, they try to engender a babyface reaction by having him work with Sheamus.
Let the guy get jeered and have him roll with it, that is far better than trying to pander. That his opponents were ultimately cheered in the end anyway was amusing.
When you look up and down the card there is potential for this roster to explode in the same way as the WWF did in the ring back in 2000. Back then, the likes of Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Chris Jericho added a major workrate boost up and down the card, improving any opponents they worked with, including The Rock and Triple H (and Steve Austin in 2001).
The current roster has the same level of ability, with super-workers such as Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Neville, Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and Samoa Joe (plus others) on the books.
If the likes of The Big Show, Kane, Sheamus, and The Miz stay out of the way, 2016 can be one of the finest years for in-ring action in WWE history, and that is without even considering the womens division and the improving tag scene.
There are reasons to be positive, very positive, and now with WWE finally looking to be going with the flow and listening to the fans, maybe there is hope after all.