By now, if you’re anything like me you are getting excessively exhausted of seeing Roman Reigns fight Brock Lesnar. No? Ok, what about Roman Reigns seemingly winning everything except big-marquee matches?
Why is Roman getting shot, after shot after shot AFTER SHOT for the WWE Universal championship? He lost cleanly after taking 15 F5’s, 200 German suplexes and 75,000+ fans not giving a single crap about the entire match. They don’t care to see Roman at the top. We’ve been fed his “Top dog, babyface” gimmick for what, three almost four years? It hasn’t worked and there needs to be a change.
His character is incredibly stale.
His promos are bland.
His matches are good when he’s not making every finisher look like it has the impact of a scoop slam.
So what needs to be done about Roman? Well, there’s one thing that hasn’t been attempted. That, my friends, is a heel turn. I have ideas on how to make this work, and put Roman on the map as a legitimate top contender. The company obviously believes in him, so there’s merit to that and if the company believes in Roman, he’s here to stay. If he’s here to stay than something genuinely has to change regarding him, his character and in-ring performance (I mean different moves, tactics/new finisher). Here’s my plan to fix Roman Reigns and salvage him as a character on WWE:
1. Turn on Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins:
First off, to pull off a heel turn he needs to annihilate a returning Dean Ambrose. I’m talking full-psychotic beat down. Steel steps, chairs, announcers table, and have him (storyline purposes) put Dean on the shelf because of the beat down. His promo the following week highlights how he was always never favored over Ambrose and Rollins. During the Shield run, he’d mention how everyone always preferred Ambrose and Rollins, and never gave a damn about Roman. Final line of the promo should be “I’m going to give you a reason to give a damn about Roman Reigns.”
Following this promo, Roman brutalizes Seth Rollins and injures him before a title defense at the same Raw or the following week’s Raw. After Rollins loses, Roman comes out and gives a similar beat down to Rollins that he gave to Ambrose. Rollins is left a bloodied, broken mess. Roman looks at what he’s done and wipes the blood across his chest, smirking while doing so. Rollins wants retribution against Reigns and lets say for timeline purposes this takes place beginning of July so the ppv would be Extreme Rules, which is fitting because the match would be a Last Man Standing match.
During the ppv, it’s looking like the main event is going to have 20 mins to work with. Rollins comes out and does his usual shtick and once Roman’s entrance begins, Roman takes the offense to Rollins right away and in convincing fashion, decimates Rollins in less than 5 mins. WWE universe think they’re going to get a long, hard-fought match between the two but it’s a one-sided beat down by Roman ala Brock/Cena Summerslam 2014. Roman also debuts a new finisher at Extreme Rules, using the spear as a setup to the new finisher.
The finisher would be something along the lines of a rainmaker-like clothesline finisher. He could even take over the Clothesline from Hell from the bully that used to use it. That, or a discus clothesline would even work for him. He gets rid of the superman punch because he states (later) that the punch was used to please the fans and having something to connect with, but he doesn’t give a damn about them since they’ve never reciprocated the feeling.
2. Build a stable:
The beat downs give Roman a new platform to build off of and uses his recent work to let the crowd know that he’s going to pick off their favourites one by one. He follows up with “There’s not a damn soul that would be willing to step up to chal-“ and we cue Braun Strowman’s BRRAUUUUUUUUUNN theme song. Braun steps up and quite frankly; I’m not the biggest fan of friendly Braun. He needs to go back to less funny segments and more “Lets reek havoc every week” segments. Roman is completely un-phased and even suggests that stepping into the ring will be the worst decision of Braun’s career since he participated being a Rosebud for Adam Rose (fun fact, go look it up it’s both hilarious and a “ah god damn it” moment). Braun is steaming at this point and marches to the ring only to be blindsided by Authors of Pain as they dismantle Braun. They are tossing Braun into steel steps, cracking chairs and kendo sticks into this back and when it looks like Braun starts to fight back, Roman enters the fray and aids AoP in the dismantling of Braun. Braun’s left in the similar state as Ambrose and Rollins, yet he’s a glutton for punishment so the following couple of weeks, he’s beat down again and again. Roman follows up with that while being at the top can get lonely, there’s no reason why you have to be there alone and he’s starting to “recruit” talent.
Stable name: Impending Doom.
Tagline: “Devastation. Isolation. Destruction”
Theme song: “Feign” by Solitude
Now, it’s not a creative name because the group isn’t trying to be creative. That’s what they do. They are devastators. They bring destruction wherever they go. Hearing their theme song gives the crowd the sense that there’s an “impending doom” about to occur.
Within the stable, you can’t just have 3 individuals running with a stable like this, and with the women’s revolution been such a hot commodity, Roman has to acquire one of the most dangerous women in WWE; I of course am alluding to Shayna Baszler. She’s brought into the mix after a losing effort in a title defense to Dakota Kai at NXT Takeover: War Games (Whatever the Takeover will be called before Survivor Series) and two nights later, on Monday Night Raw, while Impending Doom are cutting a promo about the previous nights win against Braun and co, Nia Jax confronts the group, stating how she’s hated what Roman’s turned into and this isn’t how family treats family (because WWE loves to bring in the family card with these sort of things). While Nia is cutting this promo, Baszler comes out and dismantles the champion. She takes her jacket off, revealing the logo on the shirt that of the same as the group of gentlemen in the ring.
After acquiring arguably the scariest woman in WWE, the stable is missing a workhorse-like individual. If Roman is going to go after the Universal title for a 15th time, AoP going after the tag-team titles and Baszler going after the Women’s title, you’ll need someone to complete the “conquering of all championships” in the IC championship. And that man is…drum roll please…
Hideo. Itami.
It’s no secret that the once hot-acquisition of Hideo Itami in WWE has fizzled, due to injury and slightly poor booking. Itami is the perfect candidate for the workhorse, pitbull-like wrestler that competes with the 2nd tier level superstars at the IC title level. Seth Rollins returns and is making a b-line for Roman, only to be met with Hideo Itami hitting the GTS, and revealing himself as the fifth member of Impending Doom. Itami stature is perfect a Rollins-like superstar. I am by no means saying he’s relegated there or that’s his ceiling, but at the moment while he’s not being used, this is a perfect opportunity to unleash the monster that lives within Itami. He’s a S T I F F wrestler and his style of combat complements the rest of the group in I.D.
So to recap, our group is:
Leader: Roman Reigns
Workhorse: Hideo Itami
Woman: Shayna Baszler
Tag-Team: Authors of Pain
This stable is a group of individuals who hit hard, leave a path of destruction and are borderline impossible to stop. I’d book this stable to start picking up steam around Royal Rumble time and have all of their destruction lead up to winning every single championship at the grandest stage of them all; WrestleMania. During the build up, I’d personally not book them in any matches, or book them in the very odd match. Every match they are in, they’re decimating everyone in their paths. The matches that occur at WrestleMania can’t be victories like these. You could potentially get away with one, maybe two tops but two of the four have to provide a lengthy contest, but all ending in clean wins. Clean wins are key for credibility.
It’d look something like this:
Shayna Baszler def. Nia Jax via submission (Kirifuda Clutch)
Time: 12 mins.
This match will be a hard-hitting, rough match (physically) for both competitors. Nia gets offense in quick but once Baszler stomps on the arm of Nia, the end is near and Baszler chokes out Jax for the win. I’m not purposely making the women’s match shorter because they are women; this needs to be a methodical dismantlement of Nia from Baszler. Baszler sets a new standard in women’s wrestling and needs to be put on the map in a proper way.
Authors of Pain def. Revival, Bobby Lashley/Braun Strowman, and Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt in a Fatal 4-way Tag-Team elimination match via Pinfall (Last Chapter)
Time: 15 mins.
AoP eliminate all teams. One by one, the teams all fall to AoP. I’d go with eliminating the champions first, as a shock that Wyatt turns on Hardy and slithers out of the ring for an easy first-fall.
Second team that bites the dust is The Revival. The hit Shatter Machine on Braun Strowman but weren’t aware of the tag-in from AoP and get hit with both Super Collider and Last Chapter.
The last bout see’s a finale that makes Vince McMahon’s heart grow two sizes bigger; Four gargantuan-like men. Just when it looks like Lashley and Strowman have the upper hand, Lashley accidentally hits Strowman with a spear, gets tossed out and Braun Strowman experiences Last Chapter and you have new Tag-Team champions.
Next up, it’s Hideo time.
Hideo Itami def. Seth Rollins in a No Holds Barred match via modified GTS.
Time: 23 mins.
This match is complete back and forth bout. They fight all over the arena, without going backstage. There’s a diving-elbow-table spot from Rollins to Itami and a stiff kick session from Itami to Rollins. Ending of the match occurs when Rollins is going for a springboard stomp on to Itami’s head (which is placed on a chair) but in one swift motion, as soon as Rollins springs up, Itami pops up and catches Rollins with a jumping knee to the face. Imagine it like a “catching RKO” but it’s a GTS. So basically Rollins springboards himself into a knee to the cranium and it’s lights out for Rollins.
Final match and the main event of the night:
Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, and Samoa Joe in a 6-way title match via RainMaker.
Time: 35 mins.
It’s important that this match brings out the most in not only Roman, but all other competitors. Do I believe for a second that Brock would wrestle 35 mins? No, but I do think with the talent that’s in the ring, he’d be able to keep up. This match has tons of false finishes, finisher after finisher sequences and for added pleasures, this match is originally announced as a fatal 5-way but there’s been a last minute addition to the match and the rev of Dean Ambrose’s theme begins and the arena becomes unglued. You have Cena, Ambrose and Reigns putting the boots to Lesnar and because OF COURSE, you get a shield bomb through the announcers table, yet this time it’s from half-way up off a ladder, for added impactful-ness.
Towards the end of the match is when everyone is hitting either their signature or finishers on each other, ending with all men laying in the middle of a ring and receiving a standing O from the crowd. Just as all the men in the ring begin to stagger up, Lesnar pops up from the mess he was laying in, to serve a proper dish of suplexes to everyone in sight. Everyone receives at least two to three (resulting in 10 to 15 total German suplexes! Math is fun)
Ambrose is completely out of the equation after receiving the first F5.
Owens is the next victim of an F5.
As Lesnar flexes and screams to the crowd, Cena attempts to deliver an AA to Lesnar but he counters and gives Cena an F5 that begins with Lesnar spinning and tossing Cena into the air (Youtube “F5 Shannon Moore” to understand what I’m saying).
Lesnar pops up but is immediately locked into Coquina Clutch by Joe. Lesnar is fading, and he’s fading fast. Lesnar makes one more attempt to get out, and successfully does and German suplexes Joe but Joe, with a guttural scream, gets up and locks in the Coquina Clutch again. Lesnar is losing consciousness.
He falls over; Joe still has it cinched in.
Ref raises Lesnar’s hand once. It completely flops down.
The ref raises it again, and as Lesnar’s arm is falling, Roman from seemingly out of no where boots Joe off of Lesnar and lays out Joe with a spear, causing Joe to roll out of the ring.
Roman looks down at a barely conscious Lesnar, makes a finger-gun gesture, pulls the trigger and lays Lesnar out with one thunderous RainMaker.
One. Two. Three.
Finally. Roman finally slays his own beast. He falls over from pure exhaustion. As he slowly staggers to his feet, the arena is giving Roman (as well as all the others) a standing ovation.
The crowd finally gives a damn about Roman Reigns.
Well, how is everyone doing? Did you make it through? Did you read the title/opening paragraph, groan and immediately angry tweet me? Well regardless, this would be my idea of revamping the Empire of Roman.