2016 Royal Rumble

[skbucks1985]

I think if you really want Reigns to get over now, turning him heel is the key. And not heel by joining the authority but just turning on the fans for booing him. Get him in some solid programs as a heel to build up meanwhile you build Ambrose in to your face champion and that leads to more jealousy from Reigns that his buddy is over and fans are behind Ambrose but not him. Eventually the turn will work but he needs a really good heel run.

I think the time has come and gone on that, at least for now. You had the perfect opportunity at Survivor Series not just because you had a ready-made story but because you had several months worth of opponents. He turns heel and yeah joins The Authority because I think him turning on the fans and throwing there boo's back in there faces would be a key part of that character. He feuds with Ambrose to the Rumble. He feuds with Lesnar from the Rumble to WM. It would've been Cena coming out of the Rumble (although that part would obviously have to be modified) and he finally drops the title to a returning Rollins at Summerslam. And then after that you start building dissension between him and The Authority eventually culminating with him and HHH at WM 33. That's 16 months of story lines with the guy that eventually culminates with him being a, hopefully, really over turned babyface. There are ways to do a heel turn now but that was the best one they had.

[Latrell]

Sometimes they want nothing to do with Roman, sometimes they do. It's a work in progress. He's had a lot of moments when the crowd has gotten completely behind him.

I'm sorry but that is just unacceptable.

You don't push guys as THE top guy who are "works in progress" with the crowd. You're either over or you aren't.

I think if he was booked more like Dolph Ziggler and not prime HBK people would have less of a problem with Reigns.

[Heat3]

i figured roman would lose. in fact it got spoiled that hhh would be it on some website. damn it. didn't like the way they made roman go out then come back in towards the end. just made people boo him. he should have gone out the way lesnar went out. but i guess they wanted him out by HHH so they can have a feud. meh. heck i wanted to see lesnar go back and and wreck some more havok seeng as there was no dq

the rest of the ppv was great imo. loved the part when sasha came out. i knew they were saving her for a big push to wrestlemania.

[Dunthreevy]

Just saw this in a comment section and almost pissed my pants

[Stanford]

You're either over or you aren't.

Who is over?

[Dunthreevy]

You're either over or you aren't.

Who is over?

The guy who all these smart marks are furious with for winning the Rumble. He's over as ****.

[Stanford]

True that, yo.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/691667005850537984[/tweet]

[Dunthreevy]

True that, yo.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/691667005850537984[/tweet]

Agreed. Makes me wonder if he didn't get medically cleared last Friday, or if the rumor of him meeting with the WWE doctor was even true. What would they do with him right now anyway? Maybe they save him for the RAW after Mania.

[Stanford]

I'm pretty sure he's done for good.

[Dunthreevy]

I'm pretty sure he's done for good.

I've been leaning that way lately. Jim Ross had a really good take on it when he was on with Alvarez and Meltzer last week. When you step back from being a wrestling fan and think of it in terms of "this guy's a real person with a real family and a future ahead of himself" it makes risking a more severe injury seem really stupid. I would have loved to see his final wrestling moment be this epic send-off match but not if it's at the risk of him destroying his brain any further.

[WRau1]

I'm pretty sure he's done for good.

I've been leaning that way lately. Jim Ross had a really good take on it when he was on with Alvarez and Meltzer last week. When you step back from being a wrestling fan and think of it in terms of "this guy's a real person with a real family and a future ahead of himself" it makes risking a more severe injury seem really stupid. I would have loved to see his final wrestling moment be this epic send-off match but not if it's at the risk of him destroying his brain any further.

I don't know, it just seems weird to me that he can be cleared by boxing and the NFL's specialists but the WWE won't clear him.

[Dunthreevy]

I'm pretty sure he's done for good.

I've been leaning that way lately. Jim Ross had a really good take on it when he was on with Alvarez and Meltzer last week. When you step back from being a wrestling fan and think of it in terms of "this guy's a real person with a real family and a future ahead of himself" it makes risking a more severe injury seem really stupid. I would have loved to see his final wrestling moment be this epic send-off match but not if it's at the risk of him destroying his brain any further.

I don't know, it just seems weird to me that he can be cleared by boxing and the NFL's specialists but the WWE won't clear him.

My question is what would WWE have to gain by not clearing him, assuming he should be cleared? He'd make them more money performing, and all in all that's what they care about. The conspiracy theory a lot of people have subscribed to that they're shelving him out of spite is just funny to me.

I think there is either general concern for his long term well being and they don't want him being seriously injured on their hands, or they have cleared him but are keeping it under wraps for some grand return when we're least expecting it.

[improper]

You're either over or you aren't.

Who is over?

Dean Ambrose has consistently been the most over face in the WWE for the past year or so...basically since Bryan got hurt again. I'm honestly shocked that they either haven't realized this or just actively don't care, because all it would take is a world title win to vault Ambrose into the stratosphere. Instead, they relegated him to Reigns' sidekick for months and then gave him the ole "consolation prize" Intercontinental belt when he should be in the world title picture given his sheer popularity. But of course it all comes down to Roman Reigns being the chosen one of Vince. No one else will get pushed.

As we saw last night, AJ Styles in his debut was already more over than Reigns will probably ever be. In all honesty, if I was running things last night, I probably would have called an audible and had him win the Rumble after that reaction. Most faces would kill to get a reaction like that just once in their careers, and AJ got it on his first night. That was one of the most explosive reactions I've ever seen in wrestling. You can't buy that. If AJ had won last night the crowd would have went insane.

As far as heels go, Kevin Owens is incredibly over. He's clearly a heel, but still gets a great pop when his music hits and the always fun "respect boos." The crowd boos him because he's a great heel, not because they hate him. He could easily be pushed into the world title picture without many people batting an eye, and he's ten times the in-ring guy that Roman is to boot.

Bray Wyatt is also over as a heel. You don't get half the crowd holding up cell phone flashlights if people hate you. It's just a shame that the WWE has spent so much time burying him in every major match, because he really had a lot of chances to be elevated.

I know he's not technically on the main roster yet, but Sami Zayn is going to be one of the most over guys once he's a regular on Raw and Smackdown. He's got the type of innate charisma that a guy like Reigns just lacks. He and Owens are going to have some amazing programs in the future.

---

And as far as the Rumble goes, how angry must Vince be that the crowd booed the hell out of his golden boy the entire match, made it all about the new guy that Hunter had just signed, and cheered for Triple H, one of the biggest heels in WWE history, just because he wasn't Reigns?

I really hope this leads to some sort of Wrestlemania audible that ends with a champ other than Roman Reigns. Is the WWE really going to sit back and watch us cheer for Triple H and boo Roman Reigns at 'Mania? Because that's absolutely what's going to happen if they don't pump the brakes and change their plans.

[WRau1]

I've been leaning that way lately. Jim Ross had a really good take on it when he was on with Alvarez and Meltzer last week. When you step back from being a wrestling fan and think of it in terms of "this guy's a real person with a real family and a future ahead of himself" it makes risking a more severe injury seem really stupid. I would have loved to see his final wrestling moment be this epic send-off match but not if it's at the risk of him destroying his brain any further.

I don't know, it just seems weird to me that he can be cleared by boxing and the NFL's specialists but the WWE won't clear him.

My question is what would WWE have to gain by not clearing him, assuming he should be cleared? He'd make them more money performing, and all in all that's what they care about. The conspiracy theory a lot of people have subscribed to that they're shelving him out of spite is just funny to me.

I think there is either general concern for his long term well being and they don't want him being seriously injured on their hands, or they have cleared him but are keeping it under wraps for some grand return when we're least expecting it.

I don't really think it's some conspiracy, I just find it weird. Let's not act like this company is above that, though.

[improper]

I don't know, it just seems weird to me that he can be cleared by boxing and the NFL's specialists but the WWE won't clear him.

My question is what would WWE have to gain by not clearing him, assuming he should be cleared? He'd make them more money performing, and all in all that's what they care about. The conspiracy theory a lot of people have subscribed to that they're shelving him out of spite is just funny to me.

I think there is either general concern for his long term well being and they don't want him being seriously injured on their hands, or they have cleared him but are keeping it under wraps for some grand return when we're least expecting it.

I don't really think it's some conspiracy, I just find it weird. Let's not act like this company is above that, though.

Perhaps they are actually concerned about his lasting health, or at least their liability regarding it? If they clear him when he's not fully healthy just to get a big name back on the roster and he comes back and gets seriously injured due to another concussion, they're essentially at fault.

[Dunthreevy]

My question is what would WWE have to gain by not clearing him, assuming he should be cleared? He'd make them more money performing, and all in all that's what they care about. The conspiracy theory a lot of people have subscribed to that they're shelving him out of spite is just funny to me.

I think there is either general concern for his long term well being and they don't want him being seriously injured on their hands, or they have cleared him but are keeping it under wraps for some grand return when we're least expecting it.

I don't really think it's some conspiracy, I just find it weird. Let's not act like this company is above that, though.

Perhaps they are actually concerned about his lasting health, or at least their liability regarding it? If they clear him when he's not fully healthy just to get a big name back on the roster and he comes back and gets seriously injured due to another concussion, they're essentially at fault.

Exactly. The risk probably isn't worth the reward to WWE. They clear him and he's healthy, he's still the same guy as before (and maybe even a little less hot of a commodity), they get MAYBE another 3-4 more years out of him (he's pretty injury prone) and he's probably done at that point. They clear him and he gets injured and they look like the bad guys.

[Marcus]

I think if you really want Reigns to get over now, turning him heel is the key. And not heel by joining the authority but just turning on the fans for booing him. Get him in some solid programs as a heel to build up meanwhile you build Ambrose in to your face champion and that leads to more jealousy from Reigns that his buddy is over and fans are behind Ambrose but not him. Eventually the turn will work but he needs a really good heel run.

I think the time has come and gone on that, at least for now. You had the perfect opportunity at Survivor Series not just because you had a ready-made story but because you had several months worth of opponents. He turns heel and yeah joins The Authority because I think him turning on the fans and throwing there boo's back in there faces would be a key part of that character. He feuds with Ambrose to the Rumble. He feuds with Lesnar from the Rumble to WM. It would've been Cena coming out of the Rumble (although that part would obviously have to be modified) and he finally drops the title to a returning Rollins at Summerslam. And then after that you start building dissension between him and The Authority eventually culminating with him and HHH at WM 33. That's 16 months of story lines with the guy that eventually culminates with him being a, hopefully, really over turned babyface. There are ways to do a heel turn now but that was the best one they had.

said it back when The Shield first split that Reigns is the epitome of Corporation heel. I bought in back when he was the blue chipper in NXT right before the come up that he could be that kind of "company champion"

[improper]

It's a shame that the WWE forgot that most great faces are first heels. You put in your work as a heel, gradually get over, and then you turn face and everyone likes you. Reigns is in desperate need of a heel run, because the smark crowds (which are increasingly more of them) will never truly embrace him so long as he's being shoved down their throats the way he is right now.

[Marcus]

I know this is essentially what's been going on for decades now. But being the only legit ballgame in town and KNOWING the people will come back for more week after week after week. What real incentive does Vince have to give anybody what "they want" in his product?

You don't like Reigns? so what. You're not going anywhere else to get your fix and even if you did WWE isn't going anywhere. So we're basically riding this thing out until one of "our guys" is deemed worthy enough to be "the guy". Sucks, yeah, but what else can we do? Sit back and wait for that bone to get tossed when Vince feels like tossing us a champion we want.

[skbucks1985]

I've been leaning that way lately. Jim Ross had a really good take on it when he was on with Alvarez and Meltzer last week. When you step back from being a wrestling fan and think of it in terms of "this guy's a real person with a real family and a future ahead of himself" it makes risking a more severe injury seem really stupid. I would have loved to see his final wrestling moment be this epic send-off match but not if it's at the risk of him destroying his brain any further.

I don't know, it just seems weird to me that he can be cleared by boxing and the NFL's specialists but the WWE won't clear him.

My question is what would WWE have to gain by not clearing him, assuming he should be cleared? He'd make them more money performing, and all in all that's what they care about. The conspiracy theory a lot of people have subscribed to that they're shelving him out of spite is just funny to me.

I think there is either general concern for his long term well being and they don't want him being seriously injured on their hands, or they have cleared him but are keeping it under wraps for some grand return when we're least expecting it.

The conspiracy theory, generally, is that they think he'll inhibit Reigns' ability to get over. I don't really buy it either.

I actually think this is as much about Joseph Maroon as it is about Bryan. I've always believed that it didn't matter if Bryan got cleared by 20 doctors, if Maroon wasn't going to clear him then he wasn't coming back in WWE. If you clear him in spite of Maroon not doing so you've essentially ended that relationship because I can't imagine him still being willing to do business with them when they've pretty publicly disregarded his opinions. And look, Maroon is not someone without his share of critics and some people believe his concussion testing isn't the best. Although most of the criticism of him comes from the opposite angle that he's apt to minimize the effects of impact of concussions and CTE.