Reigns-Lesnar. Tug-of-war.

[gasM]

A lot of people online and reportedly in the arena last night were not happy with the ending of Raw. Six days before the biggest wrestling show of the year, Wrestlemania, and the main event square off live in the ring for the first time ever to engage in...A tug of war?

However if you actually go back to Paul Heyman's excellent promo that preceded Roman Reigns' entrance, the ending makes perfect sense logically. Heyman said that to take Brock
Lesnar's title Roman Reigns would have to be the kind of man to take Lesnar's wife and house and car and children, etc. So Reigns shows himself to be that man by storming to the ring and taking Lesnar's physical title belt. Perfect sense.

The issue is with the execution, I feel. First, the only way that works is if Reigns takes the belt straight away, without hesitation. Waiting until Lesnar holds the belt up for several moments before slowwwwwly staring at it and slowwwwwwwly making a decision and doing it makes it seem like a response to Lesnar holding the title up - not Heyman's promo. Second, the image of two grown men snatching at leather and gold is just ridiculous - if Reigns is going to take the belt, he has to take it and leave with it, or a fight has to break out over it. Thirdly, WWE has just spent weeks conditioning the audience to laugh at men stealing titles with the IC title build, so you can't have it both ways and expect the people to take it seriously.

So although the segment was poor and did nothing to sell 'Mania or Reigns or Lesnar, it was grounded in an interesting and logical idea. Did anyone else pick up on this? Those of you who did dislike the segment, how would you have booked it instead?

 

[laodaron]

I thought it was good, for just that reason. Paul Heyman said that no one would have the balls basically to come and take that belt from Brock. Reigns came in, and took the belt from Brock, and looked CRAZY strong in the process.

OBVIOUSLY, I was rooting for physical violence between the two. But, this was a close second in necessity.

 

[DB-Fan]

It was utter crap. They may have been going for epic without words and physicality, but it came off like two toddlers arguing, "Let go of my Eggo." It was just terrible. To be honest, Heyman was so good last night he had what should have been a very pro-Reigns crowd in California actually cheering more for Lesnar and less for him. That was the weakest reaction Reigns has gotten since FastLane, whereas based on recent weeks and the location of last night's Raw, it should have been his strongest. Sad. Very sad.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Second, the image of two grown men snatching at leather and gold is just ridiculous - if Reigns is going to take the belt, he has to take it and leave with it, or a fight has to break out over it.

You make good points, but I liked the segment the way it was done. It was the symbolism that counted....and to that end, it made good sense to avoid having a brawl erupt over the tug-of-war.

Of course, in pro wrestling through the decades, that's exactly what happens with these "violent" people; they wind up fighting. But this is no ordinary wrestling match; it's the main event of the biggest PPV in the world .....featuring a man considered an unbeatable champion being challenged by the guy everything thinks (or thought) was the young turk who had the backing of everyone who counts in WWE.....to become the titleholder on Sunday. I don't know about you, but I honestly don't know who will win at WM31, which is fine with me.

When Reigns snatched the belt from Brock's hands, I figured Lesnar would go nuts.....it's what you'd expect from him, right? But he didn't.....in fact, he looked amused but wary as if he were figuring that Roman was coming after the belt and fully intends to be wearing it by the weekend, so it's not as if Brock was thinking that Roman planned to leave the ring with the belt last night. Meanwhile, Reigns was throwing down the gauntlet, letting Brock know he was facing a worthy challenger.

This was more logical than most of what we see in pro wrestling and I enjoyed it for the image it leaves in our minds leading to Sunday. After all, what's the sense in brawling for free on Monday night and possibly taking yourself out of the big payday six days later?

I enjoy subtlety, and the face-down in ring center was far more effective than a premature fight between the two could ever have been.

 

[WimpyKid4Life]

It was great seeing the staredown; 2 lions circling each other getting ready to kill each other for the biggest meat in the land. I liked Brock Lesnar carrying the WWE World Heavyweight Championship up high with respect. It showed that he is a fighting champion. Awesome seeing Roman Reigns snatching it away, symbolizing that he does not fear the beast. You could feel the intensity. Just wished it ended with them brawling. The ending felt anti-climactic. I wanted it to send shockwaves and really hype up the match but instead it gave people more Roman jokes to make and it left the build-up missing something. It would have been cool if they ended up brawling as soon as Roman Reigns snatched the belt and then the refs had to stop them due to the brutality. That would have blown the roof off! Instead we got a "tug-of-war" that didn't deliver something extraordinary. Overall, it was a good segment (Everything leading up to Roman Reigns snatching the belt away from Brock Lesnar) but with a disappointing ending ( Instead of carnage exploding between 2 savages after the belt was snatched away, we got both of them holding on to the belt not willing to let go) .

 

[L@RISANO]

I thought it was good, for just that reason. Paul Heyman said that no one would have the balls basically to come and take that belt from Brock. Reigns came in, and took the belt from Brock, and looked CRAZY strong in the process.

OBVIOUSLY, I was rooting for physical violence between the two. But, this was a close second in necessity.

meh, I'm sorry, laodaron, but whilst I usually try to back WWE on these things and give them the benefit of the doubt... That Tug of War stuff was too tame.

Yes, Reigns snatching the belt was a great start to it, but it went downhill really fast from there, and therein lies the reason why the segment didn't go over well whatsoever.
Don't get me wrong, I do get what you and OP are saying... just saying that it was a bit too lacklustre of an ending given the poor build-up until then...


Thus, any 'hijacking'/'shitstorm' that might occur during the WWE World title match at Mania will, I am afraid be justified after what went down last night, because it simply did little to nothing in terms of increasing anticipation(which was low to start with) for the Main Event of Mania.

 

[L@RISANO]

It was great seeing the staredown; 2 lions circling each other getting ready to kill each other for the biggest meat in the land. I liked Brock Lesnar carrying the WWE World Heavyweight Championship up high with respect. It showed that he is a fighting champion. Awesome seeing Roman Reigns snatching it away, symbolizing that he does not fear the beast. You could feel the intensity. Just wished it ended with them brawling. The ending felt anti-climactic. I wanted it to send shockwaves and really hype up the match but instead it gave people more Roman jokes to make and it left the build-up missing something. It would have been cool if they ended up brawling as soon as Roman Reigns snatched the belt and then the refs had to stop them due to the brutality. That would have blown the roof off! Instead we got a "tug-of-war" that didn't deliver something extraordinary. Overall, it was a good segment (Everything leading up to Roman Reigns snatching the belt away from Brock Lesnar) but with a disappointing ending ( Instead of carnage exploding between 2 savages after the belt was snatched away, we got both of them holding on to the belt not willing to let go) .

When WimpyKid finds a fault in a segment, you know that it sucked and didn't really do much to hype the match at Mania.

 

[L@RISANO]

You make good points, but I liked the segment the way it was done. It was the symbolism that counted....and to that end, it made good sense to avoid having a brawl erupt over the tug-of-war.

Of course, in pro wrestling through the decades, that's exactly what happens with these "violent" people; they wind up fighting. But this is no ordinary wrestling match; it's the main event of the biggest PPV in the world .....featuring a man considered an unbeatable champion being challenged by the guy everything thinks (or thought) was the young turk who had the backing of everyone who counts in WWE.....to become the titleholder on Sunday. I don't know about you, but I honestly don't know who will win at WM31, which is fine with me.

When Reigns snatched the belt from Brock's hands, I figured Lesnar would go nuts.....it's what you'd expect from him, right? But he didn't.....in fact, he looked amused but wary as if he were figuring that Roman was coming after the belt and fully intends to be wearing it by the weekend, so it's not as if Brock was thinking that Roman planned to leave the ring with the belt last night. Meanwhile, Reigns was throwing down the gauntlet, letting Brock know he was facing a worthy challenger.

This was more logical than most of what we see in pro wrestling and I enjoyed it for the image it leaves in our minds leading to Sunday. After all, what's the sense in brawling for free on Monday night and possibly taking yourself out of the big payday six days later?

I enjoy subtlety, and the face-down in ring center was far more effective than a premature fight between the two could ever have been.

I applaud you for trying to sell it to people like me who would usually show some optimism.... however, I think you aren't taking into consideration that this match was already low on momentum from the time it was announced, thus the way they have gone about trying to make people interested has been a huge letdown.


Yes, the haters were never going to give it a chance, but WWE should have at least tried to get the other fans interested in the Main Event, and honestly, I have to say, they never actually tried. Why that is, I have no idea whatsoever, but last night they alienated more people and have given the 'hijackers' even more ammo than ever. That, I have to say, is a huge pity.

 

[laodaron]

Eh. They dropped the ball on violence weeks ago. At this point, a brawl on the go home, when they had ZERO contact since the Royal Rumble except for one interview would have looked contrived.

 

[XXJJ]

I think their needed to be more. The way Heyman described what the title meant to Brock he needed to go ape shit after Reigns snatched it from him. He should of punched Reigns and they could of had "security" break it up and then Brock could of started attacking them instead. Brock needed to go crazy after Reigns took his title out of his hands.

The reaction from Brock was very passive and out of his character. Him and Reigns both showed very little intensity.

 

[kadroan]

I thought it was good, for just that reason. Paul Heyman said that no one would have the balls basically to come and take that belt from Brock. Reigns came in, and took the belt from Brock, and looked CRAZY strong in the process.

OBVIOUSLY, I was rooting for physical violence between the two. But, this was a close second in necessity.

I wouldn't say Reigns looked crazy strong in that segment. It honestly looked awkward to me. Again, this is something I'd expect in the IC title segment not a potential WM main event.

 

[SD619]

I enjoy subtlety, and the face-down in ring center was far more effective than a premature fight between the two could ever have been.

Well, subtlety would have been more appropriate if the WWE (and Heyman) had not tried to build the clash as a unbeatable beast vs a Samoan monster.

Based on the promos by Heyman and WWE, some form of physical confontration would have been much more suitable. This match is definitely not Rock-Cena that it can be built without any physical confrontation.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I can see both sides of it.

On one hand, the symbolism of Reigns grabbing the championship added a nice psychological touch to the storyline, alluding to Heyman's comments earlier in his promo. I thought it was pretty clever in that sense, it's a little deeper than what I was expecting out of this angle.

On the other hand, I can definitely see the notion that this feels incredibly weak when you stack it against the overall build up for this feud. This was the first face to face segment featuring them since the night after the Royal Rumble, which had to be altered due to the live telecast being cancelled due to blizzard conditions. If last night's confrontation with all the symbolism of Reigns grabbing hold of the title would've been played out on the post Royal Rumble Raw or the post FastLane Raw, maybe taken a little further by having Reigns lay Lesnar out before simply walking away with the title, I think it could have hooked people in, gotten them revved up for something more intense at a later time and gotten more people invested in him.

When you have someone like Brock Lesnar, someone that's hyped as "The Conquerer" and "The Beast Incarnate" while considering his background, his persona, & look; you expect things to get physical. We've seen things get physical in confrontations with every opponent Lesnar has faced since his return to WWE with the exception of Roman Reigns. While not having that expected physicality can be refreshing at times, i.e. not seeing contract signing segments turn into wild brawls each & every time, it doesn't really resonate with me when there's been absolutely zero physicality whatsoever throughout the entire course of their feud. After all, this is supposed to be the main event at the single biggest show in all of wrestling, yet this program just simply doesn't feel like that for me and last night did not change that perception.

For me, there just doesn't seem to be any real emotion Lesnar or Reigns. As the challenger, Reigns should have that fire in his belly, but he doesn't. Where's that fire, where's the passion that a man that's embarking on the biggest opportunity of his life should be expressing? It's like it's ALL been put on the shoulders of Paul Heyman to deliver some level of emotional investment to this. That MIGHT be fine if this wasn't the WWE World Championship match at WrestleMania or if it wasn't for the title at all, but it is and it just comes off as milquetoast.

 

[Mad Scientist]

In my opinion that type of ending is used as a cherry on top of the proverbial cake. The problem Reigns/Lesnar have is that they haven't had the opportunity to make much of a cake to begin with. It was a nice, subtle piece of imagery that would be well-placed at the end of a red-hot title chase but it was completely out of place last night.

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

I hate to call out someone's opinion, but if you liked this, you must have missed something.

Yes, it was great that Heyman said Reigns needed to come into Lesnar's house and take his stuff, and then he did just that. But the ending was terrible. I was okay with Lesnar not flipping out. I was okay with them not fighting. But having them pull the title back and forth like that was awful. If they had done something where Reigns took it and then Lesnar couldn't get it back due to the surprising strength off Reigns, that would have been something else. But like other said, it looked exactly like two children arguing over a toy.

 

[enviousdominous]

Oh good god! What have they done!?

So Heyman, grasping at straws like a starving goat, is stuck belting out an idea that roughly translates to the world title being able to magically produce food for Brock Lesnar's 2,000 kids. This is a means of attempting to make us think that Reigns can't beat Lesnar, which (shocker) really isn't the direction they should be going with this one considering how the crowd is receiving Reigns.

Reigns is a "Samoan Badass"? Fine, I suppose that'll be on a shirt pretty soon. Maybe have Heyman badmouth the Anoa'i family, or the Fatus. Give Reigns a reason to get mean other than doubting his ability to beat Brock Lesnar. This "I CAN!" bullshit is getting fucking stupid.

The tug of war was FUCKING STUPID. I repeat, the tug of war was FUCKING STUPID.

Stop sugar coating what you saw as if Heyman spent his entire mic segment hyping a fucking tug of war. Stop acting like it was good enough to hype the match; it was Lesnar dangling the fucking belt out there in an obvious set up for the spot, it was Reigns snatching it with that usual "What year is this?" expression god slapped him with, it was the two men who will supposedly destroy each other staring each other down only because neither one would let go or, god forbid, fucking pull harder.

How does this make Reigns look any more endearing to the crowd than he already looks? I have friends who are part-time pro-wrestling fans, they described the horror they witnessed to me today. I missed RAW on Monday and had to catch it on Hulu. The consensus among the part-time fans that I know, of whom the WWE is trying to lure into buying network subscriptions, was that it looked fucking stupid.

This was the last RAW before WrestleMania. I'm sure the WWE wants fans to buy network subscriptions so they can have their feed interrupted every two minutes only to have their phones buzz with spoilers thirty minutes before the show ends. The only other opportunity they have to make this match seem like it's worth anyone's time is on Smackdown, and Reigns does NOT look strong going up against Brock Lesnar.

Reigns is a Samoan Badass who wears riot gear for literally no reason, his career highlights are overshadowed by booing and chants for Daniel Bryan. A FUCKING STUPID TUG OF WAR AFTER HEYMAN'S PROMO DOES NOTHING FOR HIM!!

Wake me up when we're not all pretending to give a shit.

 

[Navi]

Oh good god! What have they done!?

Reigns is a "Samoan Badass"? Fine, I suppose that'll be on a shirt pretty soon. Maybe have Heyman badmouth the Anoa'i family, or the Fatus. Give Reigns a reason to get mean other than doubting his ability to beat Brock Lesnar. This "I CAN!" bullshit is getting fucking stupid.

The tug of war was FUCKING STUPID. I repeat, the tug of war was FUCKING STUPID.

Actually he's already badmouthed the families. I believe he called them a bunch of criminals and hooligans among other things. Reigns response was to do nothing. Lesnar was nowhere in sight, and Reigns was in the back. Didn't bother to come out to defend his families honour, and I don't believe until this day he's said one word about it.

Love the shirt idea, and totally agree with the last sentence. Pretty bad for a go home show.

 

[Heartbreak_Kid_707]

I thought the Raw was pretty good, except for the belt struggle.it did come off as two toddlers arueing!!

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

It was the execution for sure. I can see how on paper it may seem like a good idea. But it came off so corny and cheesy. SO corny! Especially considering how both of these guys are "big men" and all of that warrior, conquerer nonsense... to have them fight like children came off awful.

 

[RedRegan1005]

The best word to describe that segment was, safe. Lesnar isn't great on the mic, and will probably admit it. Reigns hasn't found his groove on mic yet, even if part of the blame are the garbage scripted promos he's given. So they went with the safest formula. Have Paul Heyman deliver another gem of a promo, and then keep the Lesnar/Reigns exchange quiet and intense. The formula was right, an it seemed to be working. When Reigns snatched the belt away Lesnar it work perfectly for me. I actually got goosebumps, and the look on Lesnar's face was like he finally was forced to take Reigns seriously. It was all working for me until the tug of war. That killed it a bit for me. Kinda took them from the two baddest men in the yard, and made them look like two boys arguing over a toy they both want. That said, I don't think it was as awful as many have called it. Just seemed like a simple safe segment with a bad ending.