Roman Reigns And Sheamus: The WWE Is Taking A Terrible Road To End The Year

On Sunday, the WWE once again showed fans why the company are behind the times with their booking of the 2015 Survivor Series. With Seth Rollins out of action for nine months and with no WWE World Heavyweight Champion, this was the time for the company to begin a new chapter in the promotion’s history by putting the belt on someone new or even beginning a fresh storyline to jumpstart the product. Instead they gave fans something pretty common….a transitional champion who could not draw a reaction from a crowd if he was on fire.

The company’s first error on Sunday was putting Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose in the finals of the title tournament. This match, the first time they faced off 1-on-1, should be a match built over a month or two to really push the big match feel that this match had. Instead they threw it together and gave them 10 minutes to squeeze a bunch of stuff into a match that ended clean. It seems passé but a heel turn from either Ambrose or Reigns could have given fans a new twist on those characters and start something new and refreshing.

The biggest mistake of the night was having Sheamus cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase after Roman won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Since winning the briefcase in June and typical of how WWE books the holder of the title shot, Sheamus lost consistently and was put into pointless feuds with no build behind them. It would have almost been better to not have Sheamus on television every week but instead have him appear randomly and Brogue Kick wrestlers and cut a simple promo after every kick…”I’m coming for you champ” and just leave. Instead they have him lose in a comedy Survivor Series style match (which is another bone I have to pick with the WWE) and then an hour later come out and win the WWE’s biggest prize. That crowd cheering you heard when Sheamus won wasn’t because he was over with them; it was because it was anyone else than Roman Reigns.

The capper of the evening was the way the WWE handled the loss. After the pay-per-view went off the air, cameras came back live to the Phillips Arena to see a dejected Reigns sitting in a flood of confetti crying. Yes the WWE wanted to show Reigns’ acting chops and show him crying as he came to the realization that his dream was not really accomplished. And while this was all happening the crowd in Atlanta was…booing Roman Reigns out of the building. The WWE machine wants you and I to like Reigns and believe that he can and will achieve his dream and become John Cena-light. Here’s the problem with that logic…

no one remotely like Roman Reigns.

When Reigns was being pushed down the throats of fans earlier this year after winning the Royal Rumble, everyone hated how he was being pushed as the “next big thing”. After a hard-hitting WrestleMania match against Brock Lesnar, respect for Reigns grew and he started receiving a few more cheers but instead of pushing him as a guys who just kicks butt, he began losing and cutting overly good guy promos. That’s when public sentiment turned negative again towards Reigns. The other issue is that Reigns started losing every big match he was in, especially matches that were for the WWE Championship. After this latest loss, the fans do not see Reigns as a legitimate title contender because he keeps losing every time he gets close.

“The Authority holding me back” angle has started with Reigns as he chases Sheamus and the title but it’s already going nowhere. The ratings for Monday Night Raw dropped again as viewership fell below three million viewers (2.95) for the first time since before The Attitude Era began. “It’s the beginning of the holiday season” some within the WWE may say but this is part of a bigger problem. The ratings have been dropping for weeks and if you think Vince McMahon and the brass care, putting the title on Sheamus does not reflect their concern.

On Sunday the WWE had the opportunity to remake the company at a time when their roster is decimated by injury. Instead they went in the direction of repeating history and doing what the fans do not want to see and do not want to watch. Unfortunately, as long as Vince McMahon continues his out of touch way of creative thinking, then the WWE may be in store for a continued decline heading into 2016.