Roman Reigns; The Big Dog is about to take on Braun Strowman; The Monster among Men tonight at WWE Great Balls of Fire. (a very big) David vs (an even bigger) Goliath. Face vs Heel. For weeks, months even, heel Braun Strowman has consistently defeated face Roman Reigns. At the end of a feud, face always wins right? Well hopefully not this time, and with that in mind here is why Braun Strowman must defeat Roman Reigns.
Roman Reigns gets a lot of heat. For whatever reason he is hugely unpopular with many fans. For me I think this is incredibly unfair. Reigns is not the best in the World on the mic, which admittedly is an important part of wrestling. But he is a decent wrestler, who consistently gives absolutely everything every single night, despite the boos from the crowd. On the flip side, Strowman is incredibly popular and is getting more so. Last week on Raw, Roman Reigns confronted Strowman and he received a huge pop from the crowd. This doesn’t happen and WWE will need to capitilise on this. They want Reigns to be a star and they want him to be popular. If he beats Strowman like he beat Undertaker, there is a risk that the crowd will turn on him again just when his popularity is starting to make some momentum. This would not hurt Reigns at all… this would help him! It doesn’t hurt to lose a feud even if you are a face. I think not seeing Reigns consistently beat very popular wrestlers will increase his own popularity and that is something WWE must hold onto if they want to keep Reigns at the top and not turn fans away.
Now to Strowman. He has had a fantastic push since he split from the Wyatts and moved to Raw. He was very green in the Wyatts and Luke Harper did a lot to mentor and help him through those early matches. WWE has done exactly the right thing in the split and slowly building him as The Monster Among Men. This is not something WWE often gets right, but with Strowman they have nailed it. It has got to the point where Strowman can convincingly beat anyone on the roster… Including Brock Lesnar. Lesnar is the best the company has and despite what should be a brilliant match against Samoa Joe tonight, he can walk through everyone… except Strowman. Strowman is the only wrestler who can legitimately offer a challenge for the belt. And that is required. Lesnar needs a challenge, and in order to keep that challenge credible, Strowman must go into a feud with Lesnar with momentum. He has to go in on wins and looking strong. Ultimately it should be his next feud and it has to be off the back of a win over Roman Reigns. If Strowman goes in on a loss, he will look weaker. In our minds Reigns cannot beat Lesnar. So if he beats Strowman, it massively reduces his credibility against the Beast Incarnate. If Strowman beats Reigns tonight in a close, exciting match, everybody wins and everybody will come out stronger than they went in. So here’s hoping the Monster Among Men comes out on top in a fantastic match against the Big Dog.
Disagree? Tell me on Twitter here @cw_stagg
Chris