Is the WWE flying by the seat of their pants here?

[Navi]

Last night I had a conversation with my son, and the topic turned to the Wyatt/Reigns feud. Neither one of us can even begin to fathom why it's even happening, until he mentioned something and it gave me an idea.

Now bear with me because it might get a little convoluted. First of all we go back to the Rumble when the WWE was clearly pushing Reigns as the next big thing. That was a disaster, and the WWE had to change horses in the middle of the stream at Mania, by having Rollins cash in. Cause we all heard the boo's at Levi Stadium when Reigns was announced. I think the plan was to have Reigns win the title and then Rollins cash in later.

So the campaign to get Reigns over begins. With a lot of help from his friends, Bryan, Heyman and Ambrose it's working, the fans seem to be coming back to his side. Because let's face it feuding with Big Show ain't doing nothing for him.

Fast forward to the MITB and the plan is for Reigns to climb the ladder and grab the suitcase. The unthinkable happens, the fans start booing him again. They like him but don't want him as champ. And this is where my idea started to form.

I firmly believe that the WWE had a Plan A and Plan B. Plan A was to get Reigns over, win the MITB and then have a guaranteed shot at the title. That didn't happen when they saw the crowd reaction. Plan B is to get Reigns up the ladder and wait for to see what happens and then send someone out to put a stop to it. That's exactly what happened. Wyatt came out, knocked the ladder over with Reigns on it, and got cheered for the effort.

Now you have Reigns not winning the contract and a what to do with him. Okay put him in a feud with Wyatt, who's pissed because Reigns took his spot in the match. A match that Wyatt was never in but could have been inserted at any time. He was in last year's. Also Wyatt has never been about titles, he's always banging on about saving someone, or bringing out their dark side. Never once has he said he wanted a belt around his waist.

Sheamus ends up winning, quite honestly the last guy who I thought would win. He has no reaction from the crowd when he comes out, and giving him the suitcase hasn't worked in that regard either. And no one can tell me he's a top merchandise seller. I just won't believe that. Haven't seen his latest shirt, but the old one that said "Fella" wasn't all that fantastic.

So is the WWE making this up as they go? It still looks like they are determined to make Reigns champion, and how many times will they back off pulling the trigger on him before they say enough is enough? The push last year has done more damage than I thought. According to reports out of the live show in Philly this week, he was heavily boo'd and Wyatt who he was facing was cheered.

So am I out in left field again, or does this idea have some merit?

 

[laodaron]

To be honest, the WWE just isn't that obtuse. They know that Roman Reigns is probably the second or third babyface on the roster, but they also know that smarks all over the place are going to shit on the guy no matter what.

So, the employ what HHH calls the Reality Era. They MAKE the smarks think that they are influencing booking decisions. They allow smarks to think that THEY, the quite oblivious fan, can make determinations for a business that's been around as long as traveling Carnivals have.

Pro-wrestling exists behind a curtain of kayfabe. The WWE wants you to think that you control who gets pushed, who gets booked, etc. So they do things like surprise everyone with a Rollins cash-in (which we all knew was coming anyway, just not DURING the match), they let Roman get pushed off the ladder. All the while, his merch is flying off of shelves, he's SUPER over to casual fans and regular fans, and he's keeping guys like Bray Wyatt employed.

The safest way to look at ANYTHING from the WWE is that you're being worked, that I'm being worked, and that it's ALL a work. Because without that veil, these Carnies have zero value in the real world. For their sakes, no matter how many shoot videos we watch on Youtube, it's more important to exploit the marks. And there is no bigger mark than someone who thinks that they have the business figured out.

Roman's getting a natural push. His push has been organic from jump. It just so happens that marks in today's era think that ONLY the guys they like should be pushed, and every single one of them should hold the belt, and if they don't really like them, then they should never get a push EVER.

I really like what they're doing with Reigns. Hell, if Bray Wyatt was any good, I'd like what they're doing with him, too. The REAL Anti-Hero.

 

[R-Buck]

I don't think so. I think they put a lot of thought into it, yet it still sucks.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Sometimes WWE does fly the seat of its collective pants in order to keep up with Vince sometimes changing his mind more often than he pumps iron. At any given time, I'm sure any or all members of the WWE creative team and wrestlers alike would love to just verbally unload on him because he has to be driving them crazy sometimes.

In terms of Roman Reigns, I'm of the opinion that they're in the process of doing the slow build up with Reigns in order to eventually give him a title run. While I obviously have no way of knowing this, I'd be extremely surprised if any number of people in the locker room and on the creative team feel like that this is what they should've been doing in the first place instead of trying to shoehorn him into the main event at WrestleMania. I was wrong about how enjoyable the match between Lesnar and Reigns was, I think we were all surprised at how entertaining it was; however, that doesn't change the fact that we were really given no true incentive during the build up for the match to invest in Reigns aside from the fact that Vince was impressed with Reigns' look and physical stature. The guy has a helluva look, that's never been debatable, but just tossing him out there before he was ready and expecting us to be wowed by him physically just doesn't cut it.

Reigns gutsy performance against Lesnar, in what looked to be part wrestling match/part shoot fight at times, was a huge plus for him and did cause people to start looking at him differently. Why? Because we were actually shown something about him other than the fact that he's a good looking man: we saw that he's physically tough enough to take some really stiff shots from Lesnar and wasn't at all afraid to give some equally stiff shots in return. That was something to build off of, that was something that gave him some credibility instead of just deciding to put him in the WrestleMania main event after having only been completely on his own as a singles wrestler for about 6 months or so.

Now, after said gutsy performance coupled with a more newfound respect, being targeted by The Authority and screwed out of MITB by Bray Wyatt, fans are no longer booing him out of the building. Some smarks are going to rain hate on him no matter what, that's just how it is, but h no longer has damn near every male in the buildings against him. His current program against Wyatt, to me at least, looks to be part of building Reigns up to win the Royal Rumble next year and face Brock Lesnar again at WrestleMania for the championship. Another possibility is building up Reigns' credibility as a whole in order for him to go after one of the mid-card titles at some point, which could also work as a strong run with one of those titles could further elevate Reigns in the eyes of fans if he's booked to look like a strong champion.

However, I think it's more likely that they're grooming Reigns, and I mean actually grooming him by giving him time to get over with fans, forge a connection and show legitimacy as a challenger, to have him go after the WWE Championship sometime within the next 8 to 10 months.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Dont think that they make those shots in a second. If they did, they would pull the plug at Rumble when they saw reaction lol.

Wyatt feud was set in stone before so think it was predetermined to happen. Thought they would give Sheamus Intercontinental title but they gave it to Ryback. After that, it was either Reigns or Sheamus in that match(all others were just the filler) to win and they decided to pair Reigns(for some reason) with most overated man they have on roster today in Wyatt instead. Guess they decided to do what Jack- Hammer said, to groom him slowly. If it was me I would have him go against Authority and HHH at some Summerslam build, but seems that WWE doesnt have that in plan some time soon.

 

[Navi]

I see what you guys are saying, but can you not admit it looks a bit strange now. Before he was pushed so fast and so far, and it backfired not on him but on them as well. It seemed that he was jumping the line over much more popular wrestlers in Ambrose and Ziggler, and the fans made their feelings known. Fully agree he has a hell of a look, but that's not the only thing that counts. They keep teasing him a champ though, and keep getting told, no.

 

[rmp0012002]

I don't think Vince had a plan B with Reigns. Vince dictated Reigns was to be the champion but ran up against Daniel Bryan's fanbase. Just because you're popular doesn't mean the fans want to see you as champion, as in Sting or Ronnie Garvin. A lot of people won't remember those guys time as NWA champion but a heel champion is preferred and sometimes fans just like those guys chasing the champion not beating him. The way to help Reigns is to get in a lengthy feud with the champion or people involved with the champion and don't tell the the damn people ahead of time who's going to win. When you surprise or swerve the fans they will enjoy it much more.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I'm sure WWE does do spur of the moment things, usually due to negative crowd reaction.

It's clear they want Roman Reigns as WWE Champion and over with everyone.

However, one thing WWE should realize, and though I did get a lot of heat for saying this on another thread, some people (including me) will never accept Roman Reigns as WWE Champion. Royal Rumble 2015 left a stain that will never go away.

When Reigns got some boos, maybe then did they decide to send Bray Wyatt out there.

IF that's what happened, I'm sure they told Reigns before the match.

 

[Messiah]

Roman Reigns is exactly where he's suppose to be, you guys need to learn WWE isn't shoving him down our throats and they never were... and Rollins cashing-in wasn't spur of the moment, they're not going to change the ending of WrestleMania during the show, that's ridiculous, you sound very delusional when you talk about Reigns.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

If The WWE creative/decision making guys were smart, they would ALWAYS have a plan B or a backup plan in case of ....

A ) A wrestler getting hurt early in the main event or prior to the event hurting the card in some way after weeks of promotions.

B ) A popular wrestler doing something to damage the reputation of the WWE , like not following the script - going REAL with another wrestler - doing something outside of wrestling like raping - doing drugs - killing.

C ) The crowd really, really, really hating the product being displayed as a main event match. I.E - call in the popular guy to save the match --

D ) The show is not having the reaction the owner wants. It's all about the current owner of the product after all.

 

[BenChillin]

I'm just curious how Ambrose will win the Rumble and how Reigns will get the title shot to make it a Shield title match at Mania.

 

[kumarjtk]

come on guys nowadays boos and cheers are no sense. everybody wants roman wins the mitb. bcoz of that boos now we have sheamus. I hate this mitb. actually I want to make wrestlemania rematch at summerslam. Rollins as champion vs Brock vs roman as mitb winner. but now we have no reason matches from roman vs Wyatt.

 

[MartialHorror]

Did people really boo Reigns at Money in the Bank? I don't remember, nor do I think that they were anticipating any boos. I personally suspect that Sheamus will fail to cash in and that's why he was chosen, but I don't know.

I think they should've had Bray take the case and the next week or two would be dedicated to the MitB competitors trying to get it back. Maybe it would've failed. Maybe it would've been too reminiscent of the IC Title scene not long ago, but it would've been more interesting than having Sheamus win.

 

[Navi]

Did people really boo Reigns at Money in the Bank? I don't remember, nor do I think that they were anticipating any boos. I personally suspect that Sheamus will fail to cash in and that's why he was chosen, but I don't know.

I think they should've had Bray take the case and the next week or two would be dedicated to the MitB competitors trying to get it back. Maybe it would've failed. Maybe it would've been too reminiscent of the IC Title scene not long ago, but it would've been more interesting than having Sheamus win.

I didn't watch the match live, I was at work. But watching it back on the network you can hear the boo's. My son who did watch it live said they were audible. Plus the place erupted in cheers when Wyatt showed up to push the ladder over.

 

[mral82]

Does anybody remember The Wyatts and The SHIELD having that Stare down and mini feud as this has been in the works since then so this has been planned since Punk Quit. So this is not random to me at all it's a Generational Feud as we were gonna get this Feud eventually might as well give it a run now.