In January of 2014, at the inaugural Royal Rumble event, Roman Reigns saw his first glimpse of solo superstardom. Eliminating opponents left and right, while challenging for Kane‘s Rumble eliminations record, there was a certain aura from the crowd. They wanted him to achieve that and cheered him on with every body he threw over the top rope. While the crowd booed the omission of Daniel Bryan, they latched on to anything that went against the system, or against Batista in this case. When it came down to the final two, Reigns stood across the ring from Batista, who by this time was the guy that was heading to WrestleMania. There was hope, maybe just a shred but there was hope that Roman would overcome the Animal and win the Rumble match and with every ounce of offense the Samoan could mount, it was met with thunderous cheers. Ultimately, he would not overcome those odds, and his elimination was met with a chorus of boos and jeers towards Batista.
Fast-forward one year later, and Roman Reigns had the tables turned on him. The boos and jeers Batista faced, were now directed at Reigns himself. Suddenly he was in the position that Batista was in just one year ago and he too was the odds on favorite to win it all, much to the dismay of the WWE audience.
How fast things can change. The end result was Roman winning and booking his ticket to WrestleMania… or so he thought. His journey hit a road bump when Daniel Bryan got the opportunity to take that spot away from him at Fastlane, but Reigns stood victorious and stamped his name in the main event at Mania, scheduled the following month.
It was the battle of the beast incarnate versus the man trying to win over the crowd and convince all his detractors that he belonged in the main event of WrestleMania 31. In the fantasy booking world of professional sports and entertainment, fans would have put just about anybody else in the main event picture before Roman Reigns, a man who tore up the ranks in December, leading into his Royal Rumble victory the following month. Popular belief was that it was too much, too soon for Reigns and his determination to prove everyone came up short.
In the two months leading up to the granddaddy of them all, Paul Heyman made it clear to the world and to Roman that there was no miracle happening. His client, Brock Lesnar, was in a world alone, standing tall above every other competitor in professional wrestling. The Powerhouse of the former Shield responded by coming up with his own slogan. I can, I will. Believe That. Unfortunately for Roman, the only thing people would believe is his drop from the main event picture once Lesnar systematically destroyed him. There was nothing Reigns could say or do to win over the crowd, it wasn’t happening. Only a strong performance at Mania could possibly sway some of the WWE Universe and even then, it wouldn’t be enough to distract the fans from the participant they disliked in the Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns match-up.
The Match
The entrances were short, sweet and full of pyrotechnics. Reigns made his way down to the ring with a dozen security guards surrounding him. He felt the heat almost immediately, as a slight altercation broke out at the top of the stairway, where Reigns had to shove a fan aside. From that point on, it was evident enough that Reigns was the ultimate bad guy, the man everyone wanted to lose. Lesnar did his usual thing; pacing, flexing and lots of explosions. The intimidation factor went through the roof the moment he stepped out. The two superstars didn’t need fancy camera work, video vignettes or even the pyros they received. All they truly needed was the stare-down.
The opening lock-up was a clear indication of what was to be expected – Brock dominating. With every front, German and back suplex, Lesnar gained confidence. He took a punch, a knee, an elbow to the face and it left marks, but he smiled and continued to suplex Reigns, even hitting an early F5 to plant his opponent into the mat. Lesnar even welcomed Reigns to “Suplex City, Bitch”, a slogan that has since become an internet meme, a t-shirt and even a song. Oh, Internet, how we love you so.
It was a situation many believed would be the reality. Lesnar continued his onslaught of physicality and the occasional offense that Reigns would mount would be met with vicious clotheslines, as a way to show Reigns that whatever he could dish out was not enough.
Adding insult to injury, Lesnar would begin to slap Reigns in the face, treating him like a child. But in what would be the turning point of the match, Reigns began to laugh. In a pure move of “this all you got?” Reigns chuckled with each punch thrown, which eventually led to Lesnar becoming frustrated over the fact that his behemoth-like power was no longer affecting Reigns. On the outside, Reigns would show the world that Lesnar was human when he pushed the conquering Champion into a ring post, busting him wide open on the forehead. The beast was staggered, blood dripping down his face and onto his arm. Back inside the ring, Reigns hit countless Superman Punches and a Spear.
But then he got F5’ed. The beast was back.
With both men down, suffering from their wounds, Mr. Money In The Bank ran down to the ring, briefcase in hand, to cash in his guaranteed title shot. The singles match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns turned into a triple threat match, including Rollins into the main event match. As Lesnar regained himself and hoisted Rollins onto his shoulders for an F5, Reigns speared Lesnar. Before Roman could make his way back up, Rollins used his signature Curb Stomp, winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career.
The fans got what they wanted. A good main event match, a winner that wasn’t Roman Reigns and a successful cash-in by Seth Rollins. A win-win-win.
What Worked
For weeks, the majority of fans were doubting this match. Not only that, they were not looking forward to it whatsoever. However, I believe the WWE did things right with this one. They made Brock Lesnar look super human by getting up from repeated Superman Punches and spears. They transitioned his persona from beast to human with the blood spot perfectly. In the meantime, they also made Reigns look good despite minimal offense. How? By laughing in the face of Lesnar as he got pounded on. Sure, he was getting demolished, but the image of his smile as he took the beating made him look better than any promo he cut in the weeks leading up to this match.
Despite not having much history against each other, nor Roman having enough history as a solo wrestler to create enough hype for this match, the two competitors told a story in the ring that more than made up for the lack of actual wrestling. To many wrestling aficionados out there, the story demonstrated in the ring is the most important thing in a wrestling match. Without it, it’s just a bunch of moves performed, a few high spots thrown in and a finish to decide who wins and who loses. In this case, both men were gunning for that title and to close out the show as the champion, but there were moments in the bout where all that mattered to both of them was to one-up the other. Exchanging punches to see who could drop the other to a knee, kicking out of finishers to show their opponent they weren’t done yet, it was a beautifully-told story of two performers not willing to let the other out-do them.
Then there’s the finish, which of course had the wrestling world buzzing after the cameras went to black. The cash-in. It marked the 8th time out of 15 MITB briefcase winners where the superstar cashed in at a PPV event, but it was the very first time in history that it took place at WrestleMania. The closest thing to that feat before this moment was Dolph Ziggler cashing in on Alberto Del Rio, the Monday Night Raw following WrestleMania 30. The cue of the music and the image of Seth Rollins running down the aisle, briefcase in hand. As a wrestling fan, the cash-in has been one of the most exciting moments in the nine years, and to have it done at WrestleMania, with all the events that went down during the main event, was nothing short of spectacular. The closing image of Rollins, the championship in hand, celebrating as the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, is an image that won’t soon be forgotten.
What Didn’t Work
It’s hard to pinpoint something wrong with the match itself because sitting on the other side of the fence, I enjoyed the match in it’s entirety and everything about it. The entrances and stare-down created an electric atmosphere, the story told as aforementioned was brilliant and the finish had everyone salivating for what the future holds. Unlike many others, I enjoyed the match for what it was and never felt like Reigns didn’t belong in the ring with Lesnar, nor did he look particularly out of place.
But the build-up was probably what did it in the most. Reigns has never been a smooth talker. In fact, his best moments where fans appreciated him the most was when he was the silent muscle in the Shield, the guy that got the hot tag, hit his signature moves, roared at the crowd and hit the triple powerbomb. Now, all on his own, his weaknesses have been greatly exposed and his stock took a big hit every time he opened his mouth. This wasn’t his fault, as Reigns had to go through the motions of cutting promos on an opponent that was never around, so the hype he had to create was near-impossible to achieve. That, and the interaction between he and Paul Heyman was nothing to be impressed with, apart from Heyman’s remarkable ability to invest fans in on even the dimmest of lights.
Roman’s emergency surgery, which took him out for a few months, hurt his push but the rise to the top never stopped, which is another reason why fans were so down on him. The biggest failure in this entire situation was the inability to draw fans away from the reality that Roman didn’t have much to build on leading into his victory at the Royal Rumble. You had the same problem as last year with the Batista situation, only this time around you had no Daniel Bryan to save the main event, unless you include Seth Rollins’ appearance which only happened towards the tail-end of the match. I digress, the match was good. I left it believing Reigns was better than most expected him to be and the after-math of it all left me wanting more. Sometimes there are things that are beyond your control.
Overall Thoughts
From opening bell to the final seconds of WrestleMania 31, I was invested. Feeling every suplex, taking in every cheer and jeer and enjoying the story unfolding with each blow given, there was nothing I could have asked more for. Sure, as I mentioned earlier, the build could have been given a little more but with all that went down in 2014 and the lack of appearances from Lesnar, the trio of Lesnar, Reigns and Heyman provided the fans with just enough to anticipate the bout between the two large men. All three men look good leaving the event, which is something that has gone underrated since WrestleMania 31 came to a close. Brock Lesnar still looks like a complete beast and was never pinned. Roman Reigns solidified his bad-ass persona by laughing in the face of a man that was beating him down. And then there’s Seth Rollins, who left the arena as the new face of the WWE. An overall product that left fans content, which is what you ask for in the end.
