Wrestlemania 32 - World Heavyweight Championship: Triple H VS Roman Reigns

[Dave]

Last year, I didn't give the WWE, and Roman Reigns for that matter, enough credit. Credit for being able to put on a great match with a compeering narrative. And credit for being able to entertain me in a match that, I thought, had no change of being anywhere near good. I thought that Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar would stink the house out at WrestleMania 31 and it turns out that I was so wrong it was comical. The truth was that, even without the interference of Seth Rollins and his cash in, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar well on their way to having a very good and entertaining match.

This year, I am willing to give the WWE the benefit of the doubt. Triple H is my favourite wrestler of all time and he will do what he always has done in his career. He will lead Roman Reigns through a decent enough match. But the hones falls on Roman Reigns to be the entertainment in this match. Triple H has become a lot slower in his older age and will take the pace of this match all the way down to the slowest possible. Roman Reigns is going to have to be the man who brings it back up to speed. And I am willing to believe that he is able to do that.

The build for this match was slow at first but it has been booking 101 since then. Roman Reigns has had enough of the way The Authority and Triple H handle their business and now he is looking to end it all. He hasn't been able to get his hands on Triple H in any real capacity and it will all come to a head at WrestleMania 32. Everyone quite rightly believes that Roman Reigns is going over here and it is the right thing to do. For as much as Roman Reigns as Champion isn't something that I am interested in seeing, the same goes for Triple H. Roman can do more than Triple H as Champion and it is time for Triple H to drop it back to Reigns. The good guy needs to win and this is the occasion.

 

[BringThePain834]

For what it's worth, this poster at Axxess claims this is gonna be a No DQ.

I don't think the result will necessarily change, but this does definitely leave room for something out of the ordinary to happen.

 

[Navi]

I doubt it will change either, but this gives them a chance to throw the Rock and HBK in there to quell the crowd reaction if it's negative. It might work never know till Sunday. Still not the best match on the card and I love both guys.

The only thing that will save this match would be a Shield reunion and that's not going to happen with Rollins out.

 

[El Rev sXe]

After TLC, I was invested in Roman Reigns, finally I could cheer for him, he showed personality, he showed that he is a badass and not a goody goody like Cena. But then the Royal Rumble happened, he was "injured" and was taking to the back. He picked himself up, he said to the refs "I dont' need your help....to get to the back". For me, that moment told me as a fan why should I cheer for him? That's not a badass, that's not what a great babyface do...

That being said, I'm going to watch this match but I'm not interested, maybe it's going to be a good match but it's 90% certain that Reigns wins the championshiop finally...for a third time in 4 months.

The build up for this feud has sucked! Since RR, we didn't see many confrontations, when Trips destroyed Roman, it looked like it was going to be a great build up. However, Roman disappeared, granted the problem with his nose wasn't his fault, but taking him out for a couple of weeks in the road to Mania, imo, was a big mistake.

Then he finally came back and was willing to destroy HHH...with a trash can, not the ones they use in wrestling, but an actual trash can... And not much more has happenned...A couple of punches here and there but nothing worthy of Wrestlemania.

I dislike Roman Reings, maybe this is going to be a great match and probably he is going to win but when your "babyface" wins and most people are booing him...there's something to be reconsidered.

 

[Dave]

Worst match of the night by far. I am the biggest Triple H mark on this board and even I will tell you that this match was nowhere near good enough to be the main event of the biggest WrestleMania in history. Not even nearly.

The pace was deliberate and slow, just the way Triple H likes it, which I don't mind. Triple H has made a career on being known for being very deliberate and for commanding the pace of a match. But there needed to be some sort of pay-off for that. Yes, have ti slow down and push the fact that Triple H is controlling the match. But give the fans something as a result. Reigns is nowhere near fast enough or entertaining enough to contrast the slow, methodical pace of Triple H and this is what was missing here. This match needed some life in it towards the end, it is a wresting staple to be perfectly honest. But the more we waited for it, the more we realised that it wasn't coming. The high point of the match was seeing Stephanie McMahon get speared right out of her high heels. But even that didn't come close to bringing this match onto par.

I am not a Reigns hater in the slightest. But I think that the WWE painted itself into a corner and it just had to follow through with it. I think that the WWE knows that Reigns is never going to be the star that they want and I think that they are willing to listen. But it was far too late for them to change the plans for this WrestleMania and they just had to roll with it. Reigns will be a short-term Champion, mark my words. As soon as Seth Rollins is back, Reigns will be dropping that Championship. In fact, Cena might even take it from him and that would be interesting to see.

Still, the fact of the matter is that this was not good enough for the main event but that is something that the WWE knows very well. The audible boos at the end told the WWE everything that they needed to hear. I have faith in them to get the picture now and start pushing others in Reigns' place.

 

[OYDK]

Rough go for Reigns in this one, although there was a pretty convincing pop right after his title win... until they were drowned out by boos. I really don't see WWE keeping Reigns as the prototypical babyface going forward, I don't know if he was just reacting to the boos or trying to play into the crowd, but some of his mannerisms were really heelish last night. I fully expect (silly me, right) Reigns to cut a scathing promo and change up his attitude now that his feud (hopefully) with the Authority is over. Whether that means trying to re-invent himself as a no-nonsense tweener or a full-blown heel, it's time to try something different. They've established Reigns successfully, the guy's a legitimate main eventer. Now it's time to get him over. Ironic eh?

It was an alright match but they were really just going through the motions. Whoever the fuck booked the actual sequence of the match needs to give their head a shake, and I'm almost sure that was HHH. Why did they book Roman as the underdog when it was OBVIOUSLY not working? Why did his whole offense consist of clotheslines, SMP's, and Spears? That was a huge criticism of Reigns earlier in his push that he had been able to shake off. Why was the whole formula so damn fundamentally basic? The right decision would have been Reigns beating the hell out of HHH and enjoying every second of it, but God forbid HHH doesn't look strong at Mania.

The right man won, but something needed to happen at Mania instead of everything taking place on Raw the next night.

 

[Bernkastel]

Rant time...

The match was garbage. And not from a worked perspective. It followed whatever standard that a typical match should, and would have worked for your typical RAW. Except that this was not RAW but the biggest Wrestlemania of all time. It didn't follow any of the logic and buildup that the WWE had laid out. I expected to see Reigns come out guns blazing and whipping Trips ass every step of the way. I'm not saying that Triple H should have lied down and taken it, but the match should have been a gritty slug-fest. We got the slug-fest, only that Reigns spent about half the match getting his ass kicked. Where's the sense in that? WWE has portrayed Roman Reigns every way except the Roman Reigns way. He felt like Daniel Bryan 2.0 in this match. The plucky underdog going out to topple the hardened veteran. No, that approach doesn't work when you are 6'5 and 270 pounds. I lost interest in this match about halfway through, and I'm not surprised the crowd did too. I have no idea where Reigns goes from here. WWE caught lightning in a bottle when Reigns defeated Sheamus for the title in Philly. Looking back on this Reigns never should have lost the belt at the Rumble. That was a huge mistake.

 

[L@RISANO]

Rant time...

The match was garbage. And not from a worked perspective. It followed whatever standard that a typical match should, and would have worked for your typical RAW. Except that this was not RAW but the biggest Wrestlemania of all time. It didn't follow any of the logic and buildup that the WWE had laid out. I expected to see Reigns come out guns blazing and whipping Trips ass every step of the way. I'm not saying that Triple H should have lied down and taken it, but the match should have been a gritty slug-fest. We got the slug-fest, only that Reigns spent about half the match getting his ass kicked. Where's the sense in that? WWE has portrayed Roman Reigns every way except the Roman Reigns way. He felt like Daniel Bryan 2.0 in this match. The plucky underdog going out to topple the hardened veteran. No, that approach doesn't work when you are 6'5 and 270 pounds. I lost interest in this match about halfway through, and I'm not surprised the crowd did too. I have no idea where Reigns goes from here. WWE caught lightning in a bottle when Reigns defeated Sheamus for the title in Philly. Looking back on this Reigns never should have lost the belt at the Rumble. That was a huge mistake.

How much of that is on Triple H's ego, Bern? I have to think that HHH wouldn't want to allow himself to be manhandled and that is why the match was booked in that way, storyline logic be damned.



But, you know, Give Triple H his "due", since he did some amazing stuff last night.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

This match was pretty shit, up to the main event I was middle of the road with Mania (not bad but not great) and then this match happened at made it bad, not because Reigns won (although it didn't help the situation) but because the match was a lot worse than I expected. Reigns has some pretty damn good matches under his belt and this one was completely underwhelming. I understand the story called for Triple H vs. Reigns but Trips just isn't that good at really putting over younger guys and has done a fairly shit job doing it since Batista. For Triple H to do it well he needs someone that can actually outperform him in the ring (like D.Bry) or have someone on his side to play off of (Evolution vs. The Shield) and if he doesn't have that then the match is more or less trash. That's essentially what happened here, it's not that Triple H didn't try but he's just not the guy to put Reigns over.

 

[laodaron]

This was one of my favorite matches of the night. I think HHH should have won, but that's because I don't think the smarks are going to let Reigns ever be the champion, because they find their own opinions too important.

 

[HBK-aholic]

The match was ok, but just not the match they should have had at Mania. The last few weeks, we've had a furious Reigns beating on Triple H, and a Triple H who didn't even come to the stadium with Reigns there (Aside from to pick up Stephanie, of course), yet the match didn't convey any of that intense hatred I was a) expecting and b) hoping for. Instead, it was worked as an 'Underdog finally gets his title shot' match. Ignoring the fact Reigns was already a 2 time Champion, and looks like, you know, a monster.

It didn't help that this match was the main event of the biggest Mania of all time. And also the longest. The fans had been in that arena almost 7 hours by this point. Yes it's Mania, and it's awesome. But come on now! I'm a huge Reigns fan, and glad he won. But moreso, I am so glad this feud is finally over.