It was around this time last year that I began noticing the first signs of the nature of Vince McMahon's presenting of babyfaces that came to ruin Roman Reigns' championship angle at Wrestlemania. It wasn't until much later that I pieced it all together and realized what had been going on for months. In April and May they re-turned Cesaro heel after his massive babyface turn following his big win at Wrestlemania. At Summerslam Dolph Ziggler got his big Intercontinental Championship win, but lost it the next month. At Survivor Series, they needed Ziggler to have a big role because Roman Reigns was unavailable. The next night, they ignored that it had happened and credited it all to Sting. Dean Ambrose, who was consistently getting better reactions than his buddy Roman Reigns, was turned into a joke with angle after angle that ended with him losing in humiliating fashion. (Remember, this "star" lost to a TV monitor.)

And, in December, I looked back at all of the booking and realized it was all for Roman Reigns. They made sure that Roman Reigns had no "competition" so that the casual audience tuning in would invest in the one babyface that were presenting as a real star.

But that didn't happen, because the booking philosophy Vince McMahon refuses to update dictates that one person works on top and everyone else is a level below them. When fans began realizing Roman Reigns was getting that spot, they rejected him. The popular belief is that it was because of Daniel Bryan, but the truth is the reactions for Reigns were souring long before Bryan got cleared.

Roman Reigns didn't get over because Vince McMahon's style of booking changes the question for fans that know it's a work from "Do you like Roman Reigns" to "Do you like Roman Reigns more than every other wrestler?"

The fans understand that allowing Roman to be "the guy" means he'll be in the best position in the company, over guys they think are more deserving, for as long as Roman is around.

Was Daniel Bryan's presence in Philadelphia a major factor in the events that transpired at the Royal Rumble? Sure. But the negative relationship Roman Reigns has with the fans started at Wrestlemania 30 and was slowly building until the big blow up in Philadelphia. Every bit of disappointment that fans felt when Cesaro, Ziggler, and Ambrose were marginalized was turned into resentment toward Roman Reigns.

No one dislikes Roman Reigns, they dislike what he represents. He's the physical manifestation of the "golden hand" of Vince McMahon. Others suffer so he may prosper... and that worked when the majority of the fans were people not in on it. It doesn't work now.

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So while watching Raw tonight, I was hit with déjà vu. Despite the support of the Cesaro Section, Cesaro is losing matches every week. Dolph Ziggler has been relegated to a feud with Rusev that makes less sense the longer they go. Dolph Ziggler is in the dog house for Summer Rae spying on him? In what world does that make sense? What a loser! (That's the point.)

But Cesaro is a lost cause. So is Dolph Ziggler. WWE doesn't care about short-term profit. They have this long-term concept of what works for profit maximization and they refuse to deviate from that. Foreigners don't work. Little guys only work as underdogs and can't be pushed as top guys. I can't get mad about that because if I got mad about every dumbass stereotype that dictates the week to week decision making of this company I'd need antidepressants.

My problem came at the beginning of the Dean Ambrose and Braun Stroman match. I knew coming in that Dean Ambrose was going to be presented as a loser and I had a strong indication that Roman Reigns would get to be the big hero. I, obviously, wasn't expecting much.

I shut it off before the bell rang. Why? Braun Stroman's entrance was about Bray Wyatt putting him over as a big killer. Fine. What was Dean Ambrose's entrance about? Reminding you that he's a big fucking loser. Because right after Dean's music hit, Roman Reigns got the grandious Shield entrance where he comes through the crowd.

That's right, a guy NOT IN THE MATCH got the last entrance over his friend. Why do they enter separate in the first place? Because Dean is a loser and Roman is the star and the WWE doesn't want to confuse the casual fans THAT AREN'T EVEN WATCHING THE SHOW ANYMORE as to whether or not Dean is someone worth investing in. He's not. He's a big FUCKING loser. But here is Roman Reigns.

In short, they're fucking doing it AGAIN. Anyone who watched this show and seen the three biggest examples of WWE's negative booking philosophy from last year that all were presented like losers so that Roman Reigns could be the hero and though anything other than Roman Reigns is getting the major babyface championship push heading into Wrestlemania 32, you're STUPID. Maybe they realize, in four months, that it's failing again (AND BY GOD IT WILL) and they'll change their plans, but there is no questioning what their plan is now.

Everyone but Roman is a loser, and when this shit fails AGAIN, they're going to have an impossible time trying to salvage this terrible booking.

I pray that I'm wrong and it's all a big swerve and the hints that they might be going all in on Seth Rollins as the top babyface are valid, but watching this show, I can't imagine that's the case. Roman failed miserably. He's getting a second try. He's going to fail again. They have no idea what's wrong. What a bunch of fucking idiots.

Very well put together. Albeit, unnecessarily long. Roman is supposed to be the next superman. We already know this. So yeah, WWE is going to keep pushing that on us and try to make us not care about others.

But Seth as the top babyface?

Seth & Ambrose should be the top heels.

Roman can be a midcarder babyface

Eeyen:
Now let's all wait till Ambrose turns on Reigns, so that Ambrose becomes heel and Reigns gets an amazing breakout as a face... except the crowd will cheer Ambrose instead :V

Opinion:

It doesn't matter how talented he is, he's never going to be accepted as "the guy" because of what that means to the fans. If they tried to get Steve Austin over as "the guy" to today's fans with The Rock on the same roster they'd boo Steve Austin.

For the record, yes, Roman is talented. I think if he didn't have to work the lie all the time he'd come into his own as a talker. By all accounts, the guy is incredibly charismatic in person. The problem is, he can't sell you that he's the under dog and he's going to conquer the Authority because he's a shitty actor. If you let him tell far more of the truth, I bet he'd come off ad genuine and his shit would get better really quick.

I watched WWE back in February and I thought Roman Reigns as an athletic Junk Yard Dog. His matches were smoke and mirrors to think that he's great.

Whenever it's up to him to have a good match, you know with someone like The Big Show, it wasn't entertaining. It probably also had to do with the fact though they were trying to have him wrestle some kind of ROH style match and he can't do it.

I don't even know if you can use smoke and mirrors with this guy at this point. He booking was really piss poor from Wrestlemania to SummerSlam. If they kept him strong he'd still be kinda hot. But for whatever reason they had their future top guy lose over and over again and made him look like one of the midcard losers for awhile.

^ Not true in the least bit. Roman is very good. He has a lot of natural athletic talent, and he knows how to use it right. His matches with Big Show were ok towards the end, and it's because of him. I agree with Ian though. I hate the way he's being booked, mainly cause I'm a Roman fan and it upsets me to see them slowly destroying any chance he has of ever getting truly over.

Also, Dean would be perfect as the face of WWE. I understand he'd be a good heel, but he's never gonna get booed. He's too entertaining. WWE needs to have a face that goes with the times. Hogan in the cartoonish era, Austin/Rock in the Attitude and Aggression era, Cena in the PG era (and end of RA), and now Dean for the "CM Punk era" of a babyface that isn't a babyface but instead is rebellious and 'crazy' and edgy.

He's not "great" but he's a good follower and can take a lead from someone like Daniel Bryan who can bring him into a great match. Yeah, he needs "Smoke and mirrors" if by that you mean an agenda to make sure he has the top "pop" spots and stuff. Yeah. He needs that stuff. But you know, you couldn't get the kinds of matches with Sheamus as you can you with Roman Reigns.

Eeyen wrote:

In short, they're fucking doing it AGAIN. Anyone who watched this show and seen the three biggest examples of WWE's negative booking philosophy from last year that all were presented like losers so that Roman Reigns could be the hero and though anything other than Roman Reigns is getting the major babyface championship push heading into Wrestlemania 32, you're STUPID. Maybe they realize, in four months, that it's failing again (AND BY GOD IT WILL) and they'll change their plans, but there is no questioning what their plan is now.

Everyone but Roman is a loser, and when this shit fails AGAIN, they're going to have an impossible time trying to salvage this terrible booking.

They've been making Roman Reigns look like a loser lately. They've been making him look weaker, maybe to build him back up again, but guys like Cesaro or Ziggler aren't even getting it worse off than he is these last few months.

They also should be pushing him to that top spot but might go for it next year instead of this year at this rate.

And why can't Dean Ambrose be the Y2J to the Stone Colds, The Rocks, & Triple Hs of the present day? He doesn't need to be the GUY no matter how great he is. He works well in more of a secondary role. I know he's nowhere near even that level lately, and that's the part I agree with you in bashing WWE for what they've been doing, but Ambrose doesn't need to be World champion or the top heel or face any time soon. He'll have a successful career on that second top tier with a few World title reigns down the line and that'll be great.

and to respond to that, why can't Dean be the Austin/Rock/Cena? He could totally pull off being the face of the company. Especially with his rebellious gimmick. He's essentially a male equivalent to Paige.

He can be and it'd be great to see him be on that level of greatness but you can't expect that to happen for every talented superstar. If he's a level or two below the very top then that would still be a satisfying career. He'll take what he can get and make it great and he'll get his big-time opportunities. That's if they don't give him a big push some time soon. I wouldn't have put the World title on him this year either tbh. I could even see him get his first World title reign in 2017 and that's not a bad thing.

They just need to improve on his very recent booking because THAT has been bad.

Burder wrote:

They just need to improve on his very recent booking because THAT has been bad.

WWE can't give fans someone to cheer over Roman Reigns though.

And because of that they'll never get him over.

They book everyone except the one guy they're pushing like a loser and come April when it fails again they're going to have a roster of losers, a failure, John Cena, and heels.

YAY.

imo Dean's true place is the company top heel or 2nd top heel. I think Ambrose is at his best as a heel

I don't hate Roman, nor do I like him. I am completely indifferent to him, which is probably worse in hindsight...