Reigns/Rollins: The Rivalry

[MCMG]

The dust from Wrestlemania has settled and it was certainly an enjoyable show. The match of the night was arguably the main-event which ended with Seth Rollins pinning Roman Reigns to become the new World Champ. This in itself is massive.

Rollins has become the first "new" World Champion since I think Bryan at the end of 2011. Of course, the WWE were setting up for Reigns to be that guy but some things happened that prevented him from fulfilling his destiny. Now Rollins has taken his chance and there is something truly special in the air.

These two were, of course, team-mates in The Shield. They debuted together. They wrestled their first WWE match together and they even won tag-titles together. Rollins then "stabbed" Reigns in the back leading them to go their separate ways. This is where it gets interesting.

Rollins has cemented himself has one of the top heels in the company while Reigns is making decent progress. It hasn't been perfect but the improvements have been gradual with his performance at Wrestlemania being another example. His match with Bryan is another.

So when it was all set up for Reigns to get his moment and fulfil his destiny, a certain Seth Rollins appears to take that all away. It's beautiful and some wonderful story telling. You wouldn't be an idiot for thinking Rollins would be the least successful of The Shield trio. You wouldn't be stupid for thinking Reigns would win a World Title before Seth but he has done just that.

The back-story is all there. Former team-mates (brothers) who fell out. They go there separate ways only for Seth to appear at the most important moment in Roman's career. Indeed, Seth pins Roman to win his first World Title. Seth and Roman have now already main-evented Wrestlemania together. An aside - if you listen carefully- you can hear Rollins thanking Reigns as he makes the pinfall. Pretty amazing.

This is an incredible story thus far. It can surely only get better as the two feud for the World Title and being the "face" of the company. Simply put, they can feud to see who is better. I honestly don't think there is a limit on how good this feud can be. Ambrose is somewhere in all of this but his role might become clearer in the upcoming year. Right now, Reigns and Rollins have all the momentum.

Rollins is fantastic in the ring and has his character nailed to perfection. Roman has done enough to prove his worth inside the ring and is still trying to find himself on the mic. This rivalry has so much potential and I can't be the only one who thinks this might be THE feud of a generation. Indeed, it has all the potential to be one of the true great feuds of all time.

 

[Wrestling Mind 300]

I hope we still get to see all three members of the Shield in a triple threat match. We have witnessed Reigns pin Rollins on the Raw before Night of Champions, and Rollins pin Reigns about a month ago on Raw due to interference from the authority. And not to mention all those handicap matches. So maybe one more match between the two with some sort of stipulation would work and put the feud to rest until they hopefully build up Ambrose to retrieve some lost momentum so we could get a triple threat match at either Summerslam, Wrestle mania or maybe even Survivor Series where they made their debut.

 

[Max Headroom]

Seeing that there is no question here, I'm assuming you just want to discuss the potential feud, and ways it could progress, yes? If that's the case, then I agree with the majority of what you said. Rollins is certainly the top heel whom is an active wrestler, however Reigns seems to be in a sticky situation (although the last two crowds DO tend to be quite different). I do feel this has potential to be an amazing feud, but I also feel for Roman to truly get those against him to finally respect him, he has to step away from the World Championship picture for now.

However, that poses a problem in logic. Why on Earth would Roman NOT chase Seth for what happened? Although what Rollins did was 100% fair, as he did earn the opportunity by having the MitB case, he did technically "rob" Roman of his chance on the big stage. So Roman has every reason to go after him (as does Brock, whom never got pinned. As does Orton, whom pinned Seth cleanly earlier that night.). It wouldn't be surprising to eventually see a 4-way sometime down the road, when Lesnar returns.

But, there is still the gap between now and then (SummerSlam, probably?). What do they do here? I feel Seth should hold the title for a good while, so having Roman or Orton just win it off him at the next PPV would do nobody any favours. There is also that problem of keeping Roman around the title, which a lot of people (not everybody) just do not want to see. I say the best thing to do is have Roman, Orton, and maybe Ambrose (he belongs in the picture, and deserves to be in it, considering his previous stuff with Seth) all go after Rollins. Each PPV one of them, or combinations of the 3, gets a shot at Rollins. But, due to animosity between the three (because all of them want to be the one to get at Seth), along with help from J&J, Seth always manages to escape with title in hand.

This would prevent any of the three from looking weak, as they keep getting screwed over (by **each other**, and MAYBE J&J. Keep BS and Kane away from them), and it would also continue garnering tons of heat for Seth, as he keeps escaping with title-in-hand. Also have him put on good performances each time (as he is clearly capable) to show that he does have it in him, regardless of the fact that he resorts to heel tactics to maintain victories.

 

[Mustang Sally]

However, that poses a problem in logic. Why on Earth would Roman NOT chase Seth for what happened?

In real life, he would chase Rollins, of course. The thing is, I believe the reason it went down as it did was a change of plans by WWE management in the development of Roman Reigns.....he was slower to grow up than they hoped he'd be.....further impeded by the time he spent off with injury interfering with his training.....all of it pointing at his not winning the world title at WM31. Apparently, they waited 'til the last possible moment before deciding to keep the belt away from him......hopefully, for just a while.

We can argue whether or not that was the right decision, but if you can accept Roman's demotion, Seth Rollins appears to be the right guy at the right time to wear the belt.

The thing is, if the company wants to give Roman time to become what they want him to be, they might do well to keep him away from Seth Rollins and the world title at this point. Let Seth use his gang-warfare approach on someone else; we've already seen plenty of it with Roman Reigns. The break from that might be a good thing for everyone.....and would give Roman a chance to gain the experience he needs while, hopefully, winning over the fans.

I've been suggesting Rusev as Reigns' next opponent, after Rusev's program with John Cena ends. For Roman, this would be a decent way of bridging the gap between keeping him away from main event level.....while not demoting him so far that it looks as if he's been banished to the midcard.

So, I think they should hold off on Rollins-Reigns for at least a few months. By the time they're ready to resume the feud, Rollins will be well along in his title reign, while Reigns will (hopefully) be at main event level.

Then, let 'em at each other.

 

[OYDK]

I would be okay with seeing this happen, as it seems the pressure is finally off Roman Reigns to be the next "man", at least for the foreseeable future. Seth Rollins has picked up that ball and run with it, so the focus should now be on him. Roman can now afford to lose a feud after being built so strong so he doesn't necessarily need to win the WWEWHC for this to be a great feud, but just needs to hold his own with Seth. It makes sense that Reigns would go after Rollins following his match with Randy Orton (which he should surely win, right?), as it could be used to help both men. Rollins can beat Orton at ER and than beat Roman at Payback and Battleground, which would set Rollins up for a terrific title run.

How does this help Roman, you ask? Well, I like others would put him up against Rusev, but I would wait until around Summerlsam time. Have Rusev lose his match to Cena at ER and than come back strong with a two-month feud against somebody like Dean Ambrose, where he comes out on top. That would set up Reigns to come back and beat Rusev without really hurting his momentum. If Reigns and Rusev were to begin a feud following ER, somebody will lose a great deal of momentum. Rusev losing two feuds in a row or Roman losing to Rusev after nearky beating Brock Lesnar hurts one or the other greatly imo.

 

[L@RISANO]

I agree that the story has been told rather well and WrestleMania allowed it to get back perfectly on track.
However, as others have pointed out, Roman as a babyface just isn't working, and that is neither good for him as a Face nor for Seth as a rather brilliant Chickenshit Heel.


I know the Viper, Randy Orton, is also in the title picture, and will likely get the ER title shot ahead of Reigns. However, I'd honestly have sidetracked Orton with a lesser feud going into ER, and instead have Reigns get first bite at Rollins come ER. Cue Authority shenanigans which result in Rollins emerging victorious in a sly manner as his character is supposed to do, and Roman Reigns can finally restart the Authority storyline that his injury robbed him of, and with HHH going over Sting at Mania, the stage is set for a possible Huge Roman Reigns vs Triple H match come SummerSlam, with Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins(c) being the other big draw.



However, one thing I have loved coming out of Mania is the amount of directions each character can be taken, and that increases the level of unpredictability and allows for more subtle build-up.
That said, I have noticed that the majority of fans today, just don't seem to have the required patience for a long-winded build-up of storylines to the point that sometimes WWE seems to rush them which results in underwhelming payoffs or shock value occurences with no sense of long-term planning.

 

[kadroan]

I agree that the story has been told rather well and WrestleMania allowed it to get back perfectly on track.
However, as others have pointed out, Roman as a babyface just isn't working, and that is neither good for him as a Face nor for Seth as a rather brilliant Chickenshit Heel.


I know the Viper, Randy Orton, is also in the title picture, and will likely get the ER title shot ahead of Reigns. However, I'd honestly have sidetracked Orton with a lesser feud going into ER, and instead have Reigns get first bite at Rollins come ER. Cue Authority shenanigans which result in Rollins emerging victorious in a sly manner as his character is supposed to do, and Roman Reigns can finally restart the Authority storyline that his injury robbed him of, and with HHH going over Sting at Mania, the stage is set for a possible Huge Roman Reigns vs Triple H match come SummerSlam, with Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins(c) being the other big draw.



However, one thing I have loved coming out of Mania is the amount of directions each character can be taken, and that increases the level of unpredictability and allows for more subtle build-up.
That said, I have noticed that the majority of fans today, just don't seem to have the required patience for a long-winded build-up of storylines to the point that sometimes WWE seems to rush them which results in underwhelming payoffs or shock value occurences with no sense of long-term planning.

I could see Rollins/Orton drag out to Payback. MITB/Battleground/Summerslam we'll probably see Reigns/Rollins then the inevitable Brock/Rollins matches at NoC/HIAC (HIAC will be in LA, need Brock's star power). Brock could win the title/successfully defend the title against Rollins then take his winter break into WrestleMania season.

 

[Navi]

Okay it's six of one, half dozen of the other here, and the WWE is in a pickle either way. It's natural for Reigns to go after Rollins now because this is the second time he's screwed him over. First being when the Shield broke up, admittedly Ambrose tried to take care of that one, and now Rollins screwed him for the title.

So what do you have Reigns do here? Go after Rollins or keep him out of the main event picture for awhile. He needs the time for a repackage of sorts and to get the fans back on his side. If he waits too long to go for Rollins, then it looks like he doesn't care, which he was accused of last time he didn't do anything, but he's not getting the response the WWE wants as a babyface.

Personally I would have him bide his time until the spectre of Randy Orton isn't involved in the title scene, and have Reigns go for the guy who started the ball rolling, HHH. Which is something he should have done a long time ago. Start taking the Authority down from the top. Keep him away from Big Show and Kane, they'll do nothing for him except for hold him back even more. But I wouldn't have him wait too long. He has to remain relevant and get a good feud under his belt. What would be better than HHH not a crowd favourite.

Once he starts winning the fans back then have him go for Rollins, or have HHH throw Rollins out there after Reigns just to keep him off his back. Either way the WWE has a bit of a situation on their hands, and while Rollins seems to be getting the best of the booking here, there is money to be made with a Reigns/Rollins feud. It has to be booked perfectly though in order for it to work. Oh yea keep Wyatt away from it as well.