The Rock/Roman Reigns post show interview - did they really expect that?

[DCLXVI]

So after the Rumble went off, they aired a post show special featuring an interview with The Rock alongside Roman Reigns. It was pretty painful to watch, and even The Rock... one of the best talkers to ever work in the business, was visibly rattled and was trying to recover by making fun of Tom Phillips - telling him he's fired, to wipe that stupid look off his face... and telling him that women pay good money to see them, telling guys off camera to stop laughing, and even stumbled over a word or two (something he never does).

He then says something about Roman Reigns fighting Brock Lesnar, and looks around like "Wait he isn't around is he?" which got a nervous laugh from Roman Reigns - making it even more clear he isn't ready. Reigns looked like he'd just seen a ghost, or like a confused child who'd just been scolded. He then says his strategy against Brock Lesnar is "I just gotta watch some TAPE.". Really?

Between this and the Jack and the Beanstalk references I'm not even sure what his character is supposed to be anymore. I'm sure they anticipated some backlash, but do you think they ever envisioned The Rock himself getting legitimate boos and people canceling their Network subscriptions en mass?

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

They KNEW that reigns was going to be booed out of his ass, thats why rocky was there.

but even his star power wasnt enough to make people embrace his cousin, it was a complete and total disaster.

 

[A11oftheLights]

Dont see what was wrong with study some tape line. But yes clearly the Rock was rattled but what do you want Reigns to do? People have just shit on what is meant to be the greatest moment of his career so far all because he's not Daniel Bryan and management see him as the next big star. How would you react to all that?

 

[MrMojoRisin]

You gotta hope that is the start of a double turn... with Lesner being the kick ass babyface and Reigns the heel, with the Rock in his corner helping to sell it with a variation of his Hollywood Rock chickenshit heel character.

Because otherwise...

I just don't know.

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

You gotta hope that is the start of a double turn... with Lesner being the kick ass babyface and Reigns the heel, with the Rock in his corner helping to sell it with a variation of his Hollywood Rock chickenshit heel character.

Because otherwise...

I just don't know.

Absolutely, they still have time to fix this. Embrace the hate on reings, embrace the positive reaction lesnar is having the last few apparences. Use it to create the main event you wanted but with changed positions.

As i said in another thread, Rock being booed early in his carreer (royal rumble debut anyone???) and then becoming the great one....doesnt mean that reigns will suffer the same fate...... Khali was booed his entire career and never became one of the greatest of all time, and neither did hundred of wrestlers.

 

[Ryan1025]

I was wondering how scripted that was. I thought Roman was great in the backstage segment.

 

[GeneralKarim]

Well I'm done watching Raw. I'm just gonna read the spoilers from now on until I read smth interesting. 2 big Royal Rumble dissapointments in a row. You know you fucked up when the Rock gets booed. I liked that they tried to flip the crowd by having him come out just as Roman won. Pathetic. I'm glad CM Punk is gone. I cant imagine how pissed off he would be if he would've gotten eliminated in favor of the pretty boy.

 

[FightOwensFight]

I was actually waiting for Reigns to turn on The Rock last night after the match. Just lay him our with the Superman Punch and then cut a promo about it being his time, and he is sick of being in the Rock's shadow. That kind of thing.

But yeah, it was a pretty bad reaction last night. You could just imagine Vince in the back getting more and more pissed as every time Reigns did something good he was booed and every time someone took him down they were cheered. Certainly not what they hoped for.

 

[kumarjtk]

only reason those idiots hate roman is bcoz of bryan. They want bryan wins every match and every title and never lost. This makes me to hate bryan.

 

[justinept]

only reason those idiots hate roman is bcoz of bryan. They want bryan wins every match and every title and never lost. This makes me to hate bryan.

You couldn't be more wrong. The reason people booed Roman Reigns is because he's not organic. Vince McMahon gets a lot of credit for 'creating' stars, but if you look at the history of the WWE's stars, you'll notice one simple trend - the audience made them stars, not Vince.

That's not to say that Vince didn't play a role in the star-making process, it's just to say he wasn't the initiator. Whether it was Hogan, Savage, Hart, Michaels, Rock, Austin, Triple H, Foley, The Undertaker, Cena, Edge, Jericho, Guerrero, Benoit, Hardy, Punk, Bryan, etc - the common thread with all those wrestlers is that the audience accepted them first and only then did Vince turn up the volume. That's the organic route. And it works because it validates what the crowd is feeling.

With Reigns, they're doing the opposite and turning up the volume before the audience has accepted him. That's what makes it forced. And there's nothing an audience hates more than to be told their feeling about a certain guy is wrong. When you force a guy who hasn't been accepted by the audience, that's what you're doing - you're saying to the audience "You're wrong; we're right." That's a terrible philosophy on entertainment.

To blame Reigns' failure last night on Daniel Bryan is to ignore that this has happened dozens of times in the past. The WWE has a rich history of trying to create stars before the audience has spoken - and it fails every single time. Whether it was Alberto Del Rio a few years ago or Sid Vicious 20 years ago - Vince has never once been successful in forcing a star. That he keeps trying to do so is just absurd.

 

[Terry Gyimah]

A double turn with Reigns turning heel and Lesnar as a result turning babyface if that is what happens then I could get behind that because that could be WWE's way of fixing this in the sense that they could swerve us in one direction only for us to be swerved in another

 

[kadroan]

They KNEW that reigns was going to be booed out of his ass, thats why rocky was there.

but even his star power wasnt enough to make people embrace his cousin, it was a complete and total disaster.

Pretty much. I can't think of any other reason Rock was there. It couldn't be to help Reigns out because they could have had Orton come out and help him.

It sucks but the promo was hilarious. I like how The Rock is a mentor for Reigns. If they keep it up, it may help show fans more of Reigns' personality.

 

[Draven Filth]

You couldn't be more wrong. The reason people booed Roman Reigns is because he's not organic. Vince McMahon gets a lot of credit for 'creating' stars, but if you look at the history of the WWE's stars, you'll notice one simple trend - the audience made them stars, not Vince.

That's not to say that Vince didn't play a role in the star-making process, it's just to say he wasn't the initiator. Whether it was Hogan, Savage, Hart, Michaels, Rock, Austin, Triple H, Foley, The Undertaker, Cena, Edge, Jericho, Guerrero, Benoit, Hardy, Punk, Bryan, etc - the common thread with all those wrestlers is that the audience accepted them first and only then did Vince turn up the volume. That's the organic route. And it works because it validates what the crowd is feeling.

With Reigns, they're doing the opposite and turning up the volume before the audience has accepted him. That's what makes it forced. And there's nothing an audience hates more than to be told their feeling about a certain guy is wrong. When you force a guy who hasn't been accepted by the audience, that's what you're doing - you're saying to the audience "You're wrong; we're right." That's a terrible philosophy on entertainment.

To blame Reigns' failure last night on Daniel Bryan is to ignore that this has happened dozens of times in the past. The WWE has a rich history of trying to create stars before the audience has spoken - and it fails every single time. Whether it was Alberto Del Rio a few years ago or Sid Vicious 20 years ago - Vince has never once been successful in forcing a star. That he keeps trying to do so is just absurd.

I can only half agree with you here. I really did feel that the crowd was getting behind reigns before he got injured and was out for 2 months. See the thing is I talk to a lot of casual fans (not just internet "gurus" who think they know everything) and before he got injured said fans were always talking about reigns.

After he got hurt i think he lost the crowd because he started trying to cut promos. Goldberg never cut promos, brock rarely cut promos. They were just ass kickers and it worked. Let Roman shut up and fight and he'll do fine. He has something that makes being a star easy. The guys want to be like him, and the girls love him. He has charisma....He's just not very good on the mic

As for the rumble. From the second they eliminated Bryan, the crowd boo'ed almost everything that happened. Just like they did last year when they found out bryan wasn't in the rumble. They Boo'ed the Fucking Rock!!!! They would've boo'ed almost anybody by the end of that night. So yes i wil blame roman's "failure" (i'd call it more of a bad night) on Bryan's elimination because those people weren't going to be happy with anybody winning that rumble not named daniel bryan

 

[L@RISANO]

I can only half agree with you here. I really did feel that the crowd was getting behind reigns before he got injured and was out for 2 months. See the thing is I talk to a lot of casual fans (not just internet "gurus" who think they know everything) and before he got injured said fans were always talking about reigns.

After he got hurt i think he lost the crowd because he started trying to cut promos. Goldberg never cut promos, brock rarely cut promos. They were just ass kickers and it worked. Let Roman shut up and fight and he'll do fine. He has something that makes being a star easy. The guys want to be like him, and the girls love him. He has charisma....He's just not very good on the mic

As for the rumble. From the second they eliminated Bryan, the crowd boo'ed almost everything that happened. Just like they did last year when they found out bryan wasn't in the rumble. They Boo'ed the Fucking Rock!!!! They would've boo'ed almost anybody by the end of that night. So yes i wil blame roman's "failure" (i'd call it more of a bad night) on Bryan's elimination because those people weren't going to be happy with anybody winning that rumble not named daniel bryan

This.

I am in the same boat, as many casuals I talked were getting behind Roman Reigns in his initial push. Myself also, when I restarted watching RAW after a long hiatus post-SummerSlam 2013, from the moment I saw Reigns, his "Look" screamed a star in the making, and at that time, I knew nothing about him. A few weeks later, the dirt sheets had it that he was in for a huge push and that confirmed that the company saw the same thing I, and possibly quite a few others like myself saw.


Ofc, Vince had to go an ruin it by attempting to make him into a Cena 2.0 with the fairy tales and such. It completely messed up what his original character was supposed to be. Ntm, his storyline booking was poor since SummerSlam as well.


As for the Rumble, again, I agree... the crowd came ready to boo the guy because of him being the company choice. Regardless of what could have happened, I dont think the reaction would have actually changed. That said, the booking of the match as a whole didn't do anything for Roman Reigns' supporters either, given he looked like a chump for the whole match either way.

 

[Navi]

Pretty much. I can't think of any other reason Rock was there. It couldn't be to help Reigns out because they could have had Orton come out and help him.

It sucks but the promo was hilarious. I like how The Rock is a mentor for Reigns. If they keep it up, it may help show fans more of Reigns' personality.

That's the only reason the Rock was there, and you have to ask yourself this question. Why did the WWE think they even needed him if Reigns was going to be so well received?

I think they knew this was going to turn out the way it did, and that's why he arrived the day before. I don't think they expected it to be as bad as it was, and reports state that Vince and co. were stunned by the reaction to Reigns. They might as well have left the Rock at home for all the good he did. He didn't help Reigns at all, as a matter of fact he might have hindered him more than anything else.

Reigns has always needed someone to prop him up. First it was his Shield counterparts, now it's his cousin. The fans aren't have any more of it, either Reigns learns to stand on his own two feet or he's done.

The whole interview was just bad, and it's clear both were rattled and couldn't get it together. It's bad when the Rock of all people blows a segment.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

When it comes to Daniel Bryan's popularity and fan disappointment in him not getting what they believe he deserves, WWE officials have consistently underestimated things. According to reports, they expected some degree of backlash but they weren't remotely prepared for just how much of a backlash.

As to the reaction The Rock received, they popped for a bit when he came out, but it quickly faded back into a sea of heat and boos. The whole reason WWE brought The Rock out was because they were hoping his presence would placate or reverse the negative response. Again, just a prime example of Vince underestimating how popular Daniel Bryan is, underestimating the intelligence of fans and underestimating the frustrations of fans essentially being told who they're supposed to support. They knew damn well why The Rock was out there, they knew WWE management hoped to manipulate them by bringing out one of the most beloved stars in WWE history to sort of give Reigns a rub and, if anything, it only wound up making everything worse.

I don't think WWE management could've ever envisioned The Rock getting that sort of negative response. However, as I alluded to, the fans were able to clearly see it for what it was: Vince trying to manipulate them and get them to dance, or cheer as it were, like trained monkeys for the guy that he had chosen while knowingly ignoring that Reigns isn't their choice.

 

[Navi]

When it comes to Daniel Bryan's popularity and fan disappointment in him not getting what they believe he deserves, WWE officials have consistently underestimated things. According to reports, they expected some degree of backlash but they weren't remotely prepared for just how much of a backlash.

So that begs the question, just who the hell is watching this and giving Vince McMahon the information? I can't believe that a man who has grown this company to what it is today, can be capable of making such a bad decision.

Upper management must know that Reigns is not getting the kind of cheers that they want him to have, and Daniel Bryan is consistently beating the roster in responses when he comes out. It's almost inconceivable that they would pick someone who hardly moves the needle and ignore the guy who is off the charts.

Now I fully understand that Daniel Bryan is not to everyone's cup of tea, I can take him or leave myself, but I'm in the minority. Roman Reigns appeals to one segment of the viewing audience, women, and I'll tell you right now women are fickle as hell. I know I am one. Daniel Bryan is universally liked by men and women in all age groups. If I'm a stockholder, I want my money on Daniel Bryan.

 

[Mark Henrys Sandwich]

My intelligence feels insulted that only now out of desperation they make the family ties public, how stupid do they think us fans are, when The Shield were facing The Usos nobody thought to mention it than or when they destroyed The Rock, god knows why they didn't mention it as it actually adds to the drama because you can get more emotionally invested knowing there are real life links there, it's like Bray and Bo.

It's actually incredibly insulting in my opinion.

 

[Navi]

My intelligence feels insulted that only now out of desperation they make the family ties public, how stupid do they think us fans are, when The Shield were facing The Usos nobody thought to mention it than or when they destroyed The Rock, god knows why they didn't mention it as it actually adds to the drama because you can get more emotionally invested knowing there are real life links there, it's like Bray and Bo.

It's actually incredibly insulting in my opinion.

I agree with you, and just by saying it doesn't automatically make Reigns a better wrestler. As he would have you think it would. He quite honestly can't hold a candle to the rest of his family. One day but not now. It is also setting him up for a fall if he doesn't produce.

 

[BuriedByCena]

The Rock's face in the ring was priceless. He has never been that angry since WM18 when he fought Hulk Hogan. He was in shock. If Rock was allowed to, he would have grabbed the mic and bashed the crowd. It would have turned Roman super heel, but it would have been great.

I think it is obvious that The Rock is too busy to watch wrestling so he only knows what he is told. They told him they were pushing Roman as the next good guy/is over and Rock is like "cool, I'll give him a rub and fans will love him..."

What they didn't tell Rock about was the people who were actually over with fans(Bryan, Ziggler, Ambrose). And to a lesser extent(Bray, Ryback, Cesaro).

If Rock watched wrestling, he would have known this was a bad idea and probably could have convinced Vince to change the match a bit. Rock just wanted the paycheck and to do a favor for Roman. Heck if Stone Cold was backstage, he could have told Vince this was a bad idea.

I will give props to WWE this past RAW/Smackdown for doing their best with the damage control but we have a ways to go before fans accept Reigns. Beating Big Show was a bad move and people were actually cheering Big Show at some points. Only the women/kids were cheering Roman, but then the boo's would drown them out right after. They even did a few "lets go roman, roman sucks" chants.

Roman really is turning into Cena 2.0.

 

[Reflection]

About Roman Reigns, I feel he needs to avoid smiling and joking. That's simply not his strong suit; he should stick to what he is strong at. One thing I really liked about him was that serious "badass" expression and attitude. He was the type of character that showed that action is louder than words.

No, I don't think they anticipated that The Rock would get booed too (and I'm certain the great one didn't either). They knew Reigns would suffer the YesManiacs' wrath, but they were sure that once The Rock makes his way to the ring, the fans will get lost in the mark-out moment and forget Daniel Bryan... at least until they go off the air and it's too late to make a difference. For a moment, it seemed to work, but thankfully the crowd broke free of the spell sooner than expected, and the rest is history. As for the network cancellations, even a pessimist wouldn't have seen that coming. When I heard that news, I felt so happy that I forgot the disappointments of the Rumble.

 

[mkw1962]

I did not expect this at all but after the fan reaction when Roman won I thought it was a good idea. I thought Rock was funny and he and Romans reaction to the crowd was only right. The Daniel Bryan fans better get over it, nothing against Daniel but he had his time last year at Wrestlemania. The Rock was a little angry at the fans reaction to Roman so he was just trying to help.

 

[kadroan]

That's the only reason the Rock was there, and you have to ask yourself this question. Why did the WWE think they even needed him if Reigns was going to be so well received?

I think they knew this was going to turn out the way it did, and that's why he arrived the day before. I don't think they expected it to be as bad as it was, and reports state that Vince and co. were stunned by the reaction to Reigns. They might as well have left the Rock at home for all the good he did. He didn't help Reigns at all, as a matter of fact he might have hindered him more than anything else.

Reigns has always needed someone to prop him up. First it was his Shield counterparts, now it's his cousin. The fans aren't have any more of it, either Reigns learns to stand on his own two feet or he's done.

The whole interview was just bad, and it's clear both were rattled and couldn't get it together. It's bad when the Rock of all people blows a segment.

Yeah true. I think Reigns will be fine though. It's still early. That's the beauty of Reigns being pushed while he's young, nobody can say he's predictable because he never been in this position before.

 

[justinept]

I can only half agree with you here. I really did feel that the crowd was getting behind reigns before he got injured and was out for 2 months. See the thing is I talk to a lot of casual fans (not just internet "gurus" who think they know everything) and before he got injured said fans were always talking about reigns.

After he got hurt i think he lost the crowd because he started trying to cut promos. Goldberg never cut promos, brock rarely cut promos. They were just ass kickers and it worked. Let Roman shut up and fight and he'll do fine. He has something that makes being a star easy. The guys want to be like him, and the girls love him. He has charisma....He's just not very good on the mic

As for the rumble. From the second they eliminated Bryan, the crowd boo'ed almost everything that happened. Just like they did last year when they found out bryan wasn't in the rumble. They Boo'ed the Fucking Rock!!!! They would've boo'ed almost anybody by the end of that night. So yes i wil blame roman's "failure" (i'd call it more of a bad night) on Bryan's elimination because those people weren't going to be happy with anybody winning that rumble not named daniel bryan

This "I talk to a lots of wrestling fans outside the internet" stuff always makes me laugh... What is a lot? Where do you people congregate? Do you host meetings? Seriously... I'm curious.

As for Reigns never cutting promos before he was injured - that's not entirely true. He was cutting promos on Randy Orton prior to the injury... and he was wrestling in terrible matches with Orton during that time as well. That's really when the crowd started to turn on him. This was just prior to the injury. Honestly, Reigns has been pretty awful since breaking up with The Shield. Since that time, he's been exposed for what he is... a monster face who can bring high energy in small doses. but who can't do much else in the ring.

And as for his promo ability... well that's difficult because he doesn't really have a character. There's nothing about Reigns that really defines Reigns - or differentiates him from the next "monster face." That's something that can be fixed in time, but it cant be fixed while holding the title. In fact, it was the Big Show's problem when he first won the WWE belt in 1999, and Show NEVER recovered.

Now, you mention that wrestlers have gotten over in the past w/o talking - but the two examples you gave were from 15-20 years ago... Things have changed since then. Wrestlers need to talk these days because every single show opens with a 20-minute promo. The champion can't randomly be missing from all of these. At some point, Reigns will need to actually talk. Now, it's possible that they give him a mouth piece, but Heyman is really the only one capable of doing this - and unless Reigns turns heel, then this isn't likely.

Now, as for the Rumble - Yes, they boo'ed The Rock - why? Because he was an extension of Roman Reigns. Reigns was toxic during the Rumble... not Daniel Bryan. Wanna know how I know?

Because other people got cheered during the match AFTER Bryan was eliminated. Ziggler got a huge reaction, as did Ambrose, Mizdow, Barrett and Cesaro. Now, obviously, Barrett, Mizdow and Cesaro are eons from the main event - but Ziggler and Ambrose were actually at the same level as Reigns prior to the Rumble. If the WWE had pulled the trigger on either of those guys, the audience would've been just fine. But nope - the WWE let Kane/Show dump both those wrestlers over the top rope like a sack of garbage. That's really where the crowd started spewing its venom. If they were pissed at Bryan's elimination... they were downright furious at the ridiculous booking that occurred in the final 5 minutes of the match.

Let's review:

Kane/Show throw out Ziggler with the trash. He was in the match for 2 minutes.

Kane/Show throw out Wyatt with the trash. He lasted about 40 minutes and his elimination was barely caught on camera.

Kane/Show dump out Ambrose with the trash. And now, with only 3 wrestlers believed to be in the match... the crowd knows that this whole thing was set up for Reigns to 'look strong' by eliminating the monster tandem of Kane/Show

Only... that's not what happens because Kane/Show basically eliminated each other! And then, two seconds after fighting with each other, the two big men shrug it off and attack Reigns inside the ring for no reason!

That's when The Rock came to the ring - to a huge cheer, mind you... Seriously, the pop was deafening - and cleaned house. At this point, the TV side of the audience notices that Rusev is still in the match... and they actually cheer "Let's Go Rusev!" Think about that one, though... a monster heel was hiding under the ring during the Royal Rumble. If that running away from the fight doesn't scream invincible monster, then I dont know what does!

It's only after Rusev is eliminated that the crowd let out their disgust with the decision to put over Reigns... and the match itself. The Rock was basically caught in the cross hairs.