Good pushing? Roman Reigns

[bioshock]

Really from Survivor Series we all knew WWE was pushing Reigns to be the next big star in WWE, some thought he might win the Rumble, not sure all expected him to actually be so close to winning it. And then WWE continued to build him up going into Elimination Chamber where we expected a possible split with a big push going into Wrestlemania, some thought he might even get in the WWE title match or face the Undertaker.

Instead the spotlight was taken off Reigns, he was no longer the focal point of the Sheild, Rollins had seemed to become the guy getting pushed in the Shield following Elimination Chamber, and instead of a high profile match, or split, the Shied are facing 3 vets at Wrestlemania, will that be a good match, who knows. But its not high profile.

While in the past years WWE might of pushed Reigns to the moon giving him a PPV main event by now (Ryback, Del Rio, Lesnar ect.) but instead it seems like they might be taking it slow, or at least slowing down the push.

So has WWE done a good job of controlling the push? Your thoughts?

 

[L@RISANO]

Really from Survivor Series we all knew WWE was pushing Reigns to be the next big star in WWE, some thought he might win the Rumble, not sure all expected him to actually be so close to winning it. And then WWE continued to build him up going into Elimination Chamber where we expected a possible split with a big push going into Wrestlemania, some thought he might even get in the WWE title match or face the Undertaker.

Instead the spotlight was taken off Reigns, he was no longer the focal point of the Sheild, Rollins had seemed to become the guy getting pushed in the Shield following Elimination Chamber, and instead of a high profile match, or split, the Shied are facing 3 vets at Wrestlemania, will that be a good match, who knows. But its not high profile.

While in the past years WWE might of pushed Reigns to the moon giving him a PPV main event by now (Ryback, Del Rio, Lesnar ect.) but instead it seems like they might be taking it slow, or at least slowing down the push.

So has WWE done a good job of controlling the push? Your thoughts?

Thus far; it has been a well handled push for all 3 of the members of the Shield.

First, it was Ambrose who portrayed as the guy in the spotlight, then Roman Reigns, and then, Seth Rollins.
That said; I assume that the intention is to push all 3 as Singles guys at some point in the near future(whether they all make it to the Main Event is another matter altogether), or at least I hope that is the intention.

Now to Roman Reigns' push; As said above and by yourself also, it has been a slow push upwards for Roman Reigns which has made people take notice of him through the Survivor Series and Royal Rumble showings and also the Singles bouts against the likes of CM Punk and Mark Henry.

Has it been slowed down during this Road to Wrestlemania?
Yes, somewhat it has, but I think that is a good thing.
Seth Rollins has been given his time in the spotlight since EC especially, but Reigns has still gotten the spotlight somewhat in small doses at certain points, enough to keep his status in the group relevant, but somewhat less in order for Rollins to thrive(Notice how Roman Reigns has been kept out of matches in recent weeks with the other 2 teaming and essentially signalling that Roman Reigns is now the Top Dog of the Shield, which leads me to believe he will get a huge moment at Mania,lMO).

As for the programme with Kane and NAO;
I hope it has been to start a Shield vs Authority feud, post-Mania.
That is a feud that can be easily booked,lMO, especially if the Daniel Bryan pay-off happens big time at Mania.
Bryan's problem with the Authority has been that they didn't see him as "Best for Business" and as a suitable Champion of the Company. Thus, Bryan finally winning the title after being screwed for so long in addition to winning a match vs his Main Enemy in COO HHH, should be the ending point of their direct interactions.

So, the Authority programme can now move on to an "internal struggle" storyline with the Shield that can possibly run until SummerSlam and give Roman Reigns enough opportunity to hone his skill in Singles matches in that time, with a SummerSlam match with HHH being his catapult into the Main Event scene, by that time hopefully with the fans behind him(Reigns will have to keep himself fresh and with the BadAss attitude,lMO, and not just develop into a pure SuperCena no.2).


All that said above;
it is also a logical programme because Kane still remains a Top Superstar in the WWE, and with Bray Wyatt being elevated by the Cena feud, it didn't really leave the WWE with another viable opponent for the Shield at Mania(Shield vs Wyatt family '2'), whilst tapping into their undoubted Babyface potential(seen during the feud with the Wyatt family).

As for the NAO's inclusion;
it has been reported that the Outlaws themselves requested to be in a programme with the Shield and it seems that has been accepted.

It might not result in a dream,5-Star match-up, but it isn't as underwhelming as many seem to be suggesting it is. Babyface Shield has been an unexpected breath of fresh air, whilst a Shield Showdown can always happen at a PPV where it will get the deserved Spotlight such a Showdown requires,lMO.

Cheers.

 

[Pedigree1]

This has been really smooth on the WWE's part on handling of the Shield! There pushing them equally IMO,clearly Reigns is the focal point but if you didn't know that,you wouldn't be able to tell.. First of all it was Ambrose,the heralded US Champion,who just looks menacing and they way he talks. Now its Reigns,with his amazing superman Punch and strength. Reigns just has a look of death,total focus in his matches.

Has it been shoved down our throats? Maybe a little,but not too much. The WWE clearly,is going to push all 3 of these guys into singles stars eventually. I hope when that happens,if need be from time to time,the Shield re-unites to take care of business,then goes on their separate ways. That would be Genius booking

 

[JJ15776]

WWE has done a fine job of pushing all three. They're not emphasizing one at the expense of the others. Ambrose seemed to be the spotlight for awhile, then it was Reigns, now it's Rollins. I'm sure whenever The Shield breaks up, all three will be given massive pushes as singles stars.

By the way, it's "might have" or "might've" not "might of" pushed him. "Might of" makes no fucking sense.

 

[Logisticalbooker86]

After the abomination that was the Nexus, and all its sub groups, I really had my doubts that WWE could properly book a stable in the Universe Era. The Shield has been refreshing in so many ways, all three guys are immensely talented. They have been together for over two years and I still find myself interested in everything they do. That alone is a tribute to all of those guys and creative.

WWE has done a fine job of controlling the push of Roman Reigns' by booking him to look strong in big moments like Survivor Series 2013 and Royal Rumble 2014. Long-term, I believe those who want to see Reigns as an eventual WWE WHC have very little to be concerned about.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Have they pushed any new talent decently over the last few years? WWE is like a child opening birthday presents - the open one, play with it for a while but then they see another one and start playing with it instead, repeat as long as you have presents. I don't like how they handled The Shield from fairly early on but I don't see why they started pushing to break them up and make Roman a singles guy - it seemed to have no purpose. I don't recall him getting a face reaction when the rest were getting boos, or any real reaction on his own. I don't think the did the push right but I am not sure why they started the push in the first place when they could hold off and probably get the same if not a better reaction.

 

[resignedknight]

I hope you're right about the Shield vs. Authority over the summer, Lari. There's no reason to rush this breakup because they're not stale as a team at all. Let them have a face run and break them up when it fits into a story and makes sense, whenever that might be. I've loved seeing these guys slowly develop their own internal personalities within the group, and I think there's still potential for that to keep developing. By this time next year they should probably be broken up, but there's no hurry.

We all seem to pretty much agree that part of the problem with Orton is that he did too much too soon, so why rush Roman out of something that's working while he's still so young?

 

[L@RISANO]

I hope you're right about the Shield vs. Authority over the summer, Lari. There's no reason to rush this breakup because they're not stale as a team at all. Let them have a face run and break them up when it fits into a story and makes sense, whenever that might be. I've loved seeing these guys slowly develop their own internal personalities within the group, and I think there's still potential for that to keep developing. By this time next year they should probably be broken up, but there's no hurry.

We all seem to pretty much agree that part of the problem with Orton is that he did too much too soon, so why rush Roman out of something that's working while he's still so young?

Indeed.
Rumours state that Rollins and Ambrose will turn on Reigns at some point(although some bizarre rumour going around says that Reigns will be the one to turn; hopefully, if true, it will be done in a way that keeps Reigns' momentum going as a Fans' Favourite, because right now, Seth Rollins is the one with all the Babyface momentum due to his time in the spotlight).

I do hope, that(turning on Roman Reigns) is done as part of the Authority vs the Shield storyline, where HHH bribes Ambrose and Rollins into turning on Reigns at some point, say around MitB. Then, it leads onto a Final Showdown at SummerSlam of Roman Reigns vs HHH.

That will go a long way into pushing Roman Reigns as a Singles worker and have him finally confront his 2 contemporaries, whilst also leaving the door open for Seth Rollins to break away from Ambrose eventually for his own Babyface push at some point later down(hopefully, around 2015).


With regards to the point about Orton:
I also agree with him being given too much too soon, but it can work two ways;
Case in point; Cody Rhodes; who is now languishing in Mid-Card for what seems like ages and badly needs a push, and he is only 28! and has been in the WWE for over 5 years now...


Personally, I think WWE need to start from this Mania30 in putting forward at least 5 New Top Stars.

My hope is that by WM32; The Main Event scene would look like this:

Top Babyfaces: Daniel Bryan; Roman Reigns; John Cena
Top Heels: Bray Wyatt; Dean Ambrose; Randy Orton
Fan Favourites: Seth Rollins; Cesaro; Dolph Ziggler; Cody Rhodes

That is a total of 10 Main Event players; and of course, there will be others who might be in and out at times, whilst some veterans such as Big Show, Mark Henry, Christian, Kane and Batista might be out of the picture by that time. Whilst there might also be some new stars coming up from NXT....

If handled well; I am sure the WWE fans will have loads to look forward to,lMO.

 

[kadroan]

They've done a great job with him. They hadn't rushed him in the main event. He's took advantage of the multiple opportunities to look good against the vets since his debut.

It's great to see he hasn't been in lose/lose situation like Ryback where he had to face Cena/Punk to have them look good while trying not to lose momentum