I know you know this, but...ROMAN REIGNS IS FUCKING TERRIBLE
 

That doesn't seem to be stopping his push any time soon, though.

His ring work is passable enough, I guess, but he might literally be the worst promo on the roster. And that's with acting lessons. His teacher should be fired. He literally makes me embarrassed to be a wrestling fan when I watch his promos.

Is the WWE really so disconnected and desperate that they're not noticing that Roman Reigns is simply NOT the guy? Are we doomed to yet another cycle of Cena-level throat-shoving with this dude? Is it going to take Vince himself to pull the plug?

Or do you disagree and think that he'll right the ship?

Let's talk about it.

Well, everyone LOVED Cena on his rise to fame. Reigns should not be compared to Cena's rise to fame. If anything, we could have another Batista on our hands if he wins at the Royal Rumble.

But no, he won't right the ship. He will not be handed the reigns like Cena was way back when either. He may get a title win or two at some point but will never be THE man.

If it all ends up with Roman Reigns in a pink polo being a douchebag, I might be OK with it.

Word is that Vince is the one writing his promos.

Vince cuts good promos for himself. What seems to be the problem here?

If they keep this going everyone will start booing him hater than the fans ever did for Cena. They need to back track and build him up slow. He needs to grow instead of being pushes to the moon. Which is why the WWE is super luck Bryan is back to take the spot for Reigns.

It's his delivery that's the problem, no emotion or charisma at all. He is like a vacuum. There has been no effort to cover for him or protect him if they wanted him to be a main guy

Big Show was a terrible return feud too, he should have just stayed silent and been running through people. He should have been the guy to cost The Authority and been dark and brooding about how he was treated by Rollins. He needed direction and he hasn't gotten it in time.

I haven't really seen it mentioned, but his injury has meant he hasn't developed at all. Rollins and Ambrose both have their music, merch, character, move set, everything really, progressing really nicely. There is real separation from them and their Shield days.

Reigns is still stuck in the Shield and it makes him look less polished and developed than the other two. Same music, entrance, everything. Even his attire, while still Shield like, has been made worse and makes him look like he got lost in the 90's with those pants.

I actually think the fact that he is a good looking big guy is the only thing going for him. His matches are so far behind the likes of Ambrose and Rollins too, but that isn't even mentioned because his promos are so bad

Will be really awful if he wins the Rumble. I still think he has a chance down the line, but if he is forced down throats as he is now, he might not recover from it

Big Show has been amazing in the feud. Doing A+ work every week.

I agree on Big Show. He's been fun. I don't even cringe when I see him lately.

Roman Reigns was great as that "muscle of the group" kinda guy in the Shield. Leaving Ambrose and Rollins to do the talking, he was fantastic as the silent, brooding one, and had a great moveset for taking hot tags in tag matches.

It just hasn't translated well into a singles run.

The only way I could handle Reigns in any way headlining Wrestlemania is if it was some kinda triple threat match with Rollins and Ambrose. Reigns vs. Lesnar doesn't interest me, nor has it ever interested me.

Yeah, not criticising show at all but he was the wrong feud I think. He needed to look dominant, maybe run over a smaller guy first

Volare brings up a good point. How do you respond ABT?

That photo is all that needs to be said.

Heres my thing If they want Roman to be the guy and not DB why did they do every thing in their power to keep Bryan fresh in peoples minds while he was gone from the yes chants to mentioning him they kept his momentum going in his absence.


Other than that yea Reigns is terrible I can't believe the WWE actually thinks he is the way to go they seem to be ignoring the fact that their biggest succsess wern't pushed straight to the top it took years of building up and fan base (and having actual charisma and a connection to the fans) this is doomed to fail and if the train isn't off the rails already the Philly crowd is gonna throw a big wrench on the tracks. Its weird everyone knows hes terrible EVERY Regins vid on youtube has countless comments saying how bad he is the Rumble is gonna be interesting to watch that's for sure.

The crowd always seem really dead during his matches as well.

Agree about his promos being horrible right now. Having the same problems Ryback had with his big push in the sense the WWE is rushing it too much instead of letting it develop on its own.

Just like Ryback at the time, Reigns would benefit a lot more with several quality midcard feuds under his belt before being thrust into the spotlight. I'd argue him not winning this year's Rumble and instead going against Rusev at Mania will benefit him more in the longer term than whatever the WWE currently has planned.

I think he needs to keep Dean Ambrose around him to soften the blow of his crap promos.

Vince is a natural. He can go out there and wing it and be entertaining as fuck. Trying to write from someone else's voice is a completely different thing though. Writing promos out for wrestlers in the first place is a fucking horrible idea. Not only does every promo sound roughly the same but letting a guy speak from his own voice is how you figure out who's gonna be a star and who's not. Reigns isn't an actor. Don't give him a fucking script to read. Tell him what needs to be accomplished and let him go out and sink or swim on his own while getting a feel for his character and speaking as himself. It's the way it was always done until recently and things ran just fine.

I think Roman's main issue is that he isn't going out there and cutting promos, he's trying to remember lines. Vince needs to give the guys a little more freedom. Bet the guy is 10 times more charismatic in person. He needs to tap into that somehow. But I agree, the push is too much too soon.

Maybe if he had a little bit more skill he wouldn't have to have scripted promos.

Fucking terrible is an over-statement though.

He's like Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars movie. A shit actor but just a force of nature when he just says fuck it.

Few things on Roman - I think it's been massively overlooked that the guy doesn't sell all that well. Say what you want about Cena (and people have for years), but he's not a bad working babyface in the sense of his facial expressions bringing people in during the match. Roman has the emotional depth of a paddling pool, so the crowd dies when the heel is getting the heat.

The problem with his promos are that they're written with the same style as Cena's, and that's an immediate disconnect with the vast majority of the audience already. It's classic WWF of the mid-90s, the Diesel push reborn - trying to shoehorn a guy with some positive traits into a top spot, while forcing him to fit a blueprint that doesn't suit him or make best use of his positive traits at all.

What will change it is if he goes heel, gets to be himself, and has the charisma to carry it in his own unique style. If not, they may push him, but nothing will be different.

I'd rather watch a Cena match than a Reigns match usually.

And I'd DEFINITELY rather watch a Cena promo.

Reigns can't go out there and cut a Cena promo. Why does he have to?

Well, if he's gonna be the face of the company, he can't be really be silent. Hogan, Austin, Cena, hell, even Michaels, Flair, Undertaker etc, none of them are "silent badasses".

Not saying the silent badass character won't work, but if they're trying to push him as the next main star of the company, guys needs to talk to relate to people.

I think it could just be as simple as Vince becoming more and more disconnected from the fans and the product.

Seriously, if I hear Reigns end one more promo with "BELIEVE... THAT.", I might just throw the TV out the fucking window.

Isn't that what he is using as a catchphrase?

Said it in another thread.... but the biggest issue he is facing is still having to be stuck in the Shield attire/look/entrance. It all makes us remember the quiet badass who would get the hot tag and destroy things. Except then he starts spouting off nursery rhymes and stuff.

He needs to change the look and feel of his persona if this is to "fit in". Just feels "out of place".

http://17r1l63fshd52dy9yakdizhkog.wp...-Macho-Man.jpg

This look from the Macho Man impression video package seemed good for him. He should ditch the perpetually dripping wet hair and go with the slicked back look.... wear the shades.... become a cocky kinda guy.... the type of guy who when he talks, it might still be terrible, but at least it won't seem "out of place".

Even in that video package, him doing the "Ohhh yeah"..... looking like that he kind of actually made me go "ha ha...", but if he was in his Shield gear with dripping hair and doing it, I would have been like "Uggggghhhhhh"

Everyone has scripted promos.

If the WWE had pushed Cesaro the right way since last year's Wrestlemania, we would not be in this dilemma today.

This is another problem. At a certain level, all faces become the same generic face and all heels become the same generic heel. I remember it was maddening especially when Wade Barrett returned after those bad ass street fighter promos and within a couple weeks he was running away from guys seemingly just because he's a heel... and that's what all heels have to do. No one can stand out from the norm. It's mainly because they're all written with the same formula right down to their promos now.

That's what worries me ,his momentum is trending down as far as fan reaction and just breaking through.he seems to be stalling


That said he's very young and raw and if he can just get some confidence on the mic he'll be fine

Well we might. I love Cesaro's in ring work, but he's not "face of the company" material on the mic. He's better than Reigns, but not by a lot.

However, I can see him improving in time, where as Reigns doesn't seem to have any natural charisma at all.

It is, but every time I hear him say it, I dunno, it just makes me furious. Maybe because he tries so hard to create tension/suspense by pausing between words, and it seems like he always says the word "that" softly like he's being the subtle tough guy or something.

His look, his style, promos...everything about him except perhaps his outside move where he kicks his opponent in the head just instantly makes me furious.

I'd love to know what management thinks when the crowd dies during his promos and matches.

Roman Reigns should never be compared to THE RYBACK. He was extremely over and the WWE fucked it all up. Roman Reigns is not over at all and yet they keep pushing this fartknocker. Vince must have dementia or something.

It is kinda the exact opposite of the Ryback situation if you think about it.

THE RYBACK is just bidding his time before the WWE Universe feels his wrath again.

<font color=goldenrod>Roman should just come out and Spear the fuck out of people. Stop trying to make him the talker that he isn't.</font>

He should change his name to Razor Roman and have Razor Ramon be his manager and Fake Razor be his bodyguard/food taster. Instant overness.

He has the certain "it" factor to actually be something within the company, but they are just shoving him down our throats, which makes me automatically want to turn on him. Maybe if he had some great mic skills, ala Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, or a really solid in-ring presence, ala Daniel Bryan, I would buy into it. But the guy is just looks and nothing else. I would think that a huge fucking corporation would see how undeveloped this guy is right now and try to give him something that actually gives him more depth, but I really don't have much faith in them.

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Man she's still a fox.

I don't even know how to respond to that that one...............................................umm...Roman Sucks?

Thought I was responding to Ivory shoot.

I think the Shield need to reunite soon. Maybe pretty quickly. He needs to be part of a group to hide his inability to connect. At the Rumble Ambrose and Reigns should come out at the end of the WWE Championship match. They need to lay waste to both Cena and Brock and have Rollins win the championship.

Shield becomes the Kings of the Mountain as Rollins double crosses the Authority. Rollins also would still have the Money in the Bank as a back-up if the Authority tries to screw with him.

So instead of deleting the post and putting it in the right topic, you edited the video into the post? lol

he is

I caught his superman promo the other day on Raw, felt like he (or someone) was trying very hard to make him The Rock.

Obvious mic shortcomings aside, I think this point is being overlooked.

Reigns' moveset fits very well for the face in a tag team who gets the tag and cleans house, but I don't buy him as a credible singles fighter. His moveset just does not impress me at all.

100% percent agree

I agree.

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I think if anything the acting lessons have probably made his interviews worse because he does more of those forced facial expressions and mannerisms when he talks now, like how he scrunches up his face, it's just more for him to juggle.

Pretty much this, Ambrose and Rollins have moved on and evolved since the Shield split, all Reigns has done is change the logo on his gear. Vince cuts a great promo but he cuts one for Vince, same thing I've said before and Fan goes into here, you're forcing the guy to deliver someone else's lines instead of letting him speak using his own 'voice', problem a lot of the roster has because they aren't getting to be themselves and everyone devolves to generic face/heel, if he was given bullet points and even made to pretape a lot of his stuff he could stumble onto something.

Roman Reigns needs to get a gimmick where he is from ancient rome and calls himself a REAL Roman. He can start dressing like this, http://public.media.smithsonianmag.c...n-soldiers.jpg
And riding a chariot to the ring.

Roman Reigns is my least favorite member of The Shield. I always had my doubts about him as a singles entity. The entire dynamic he had as the "bad-ass third man" is now off the table since he's taken center-stage. He's still doing the same Shield stuff, and it just feels very "stuck."

He's actually been booked extraordinarily well, on paper, which is actually hurting him. It's weird -- I think the guy would actually benefit if they buried him a little bit, so more of the audience would feel sorry for him and develop a more organic drive behind him.

This is going to sound like a comment full of "hate," which it is not meant to be -- but I actually haven't watched RAW in a few weeks because I can't stand the idea of him being forced down our throats. I will watch the Royal Rumble, because it's the Royal Rumble, but if Reigns wins and goes against Lesnar, I might just lose interest in the product outside of NXT.

I believe the best thing for Reigns would be for him to end up in a "dream Triple Threat" against Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania this year. If fans aren't going to get into Reigns, they will at least be solidly behind Rollins. I'd even suggest that the best booking for that match would be to put Reigns over. He's the most obvious choice for a "strong" push, and going 3-0 at WrestleMania gives him a hook for subsequent years. Ambrose and Rollins, being smaller guys, don't really need that "invincible" air around them.

Reigns can pin Rollins, leaving Ambrose in the dark, and sort of playing a "you need to prove you can actually pin me" role against Reigns heading into Extreme Rules (which I do wish they'd change back to Backlash or give a new name, so as to not be pigeon-holed into gimmick matches). Reigns vs. Ambrose could have Reigns pin Ambrose, proving that he is the absolute dominant force to come out of The Shield; or you can have Ambrose squeak out the victory, giving Reigns some "doubt" as a character. They can both find themselves in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, which Ambrose can win, this time leaving Reigns in the dark (almost a reversal of their WrestleMania match).

In the coming weeks, have Reigns turn on Ambrose, giving him some fresh life as a heel, and aligning himself with Paul Heyman -- who can then do the talking for Reigns. Maybe Reigns even puts Ambrose out, Reigns wins a big match at Battleground, and then Ambrose returns to raise hell against Reigns for a SummerSlam match between the two? Have Ambrose put the briefcase on the line because he is so certain he can beat Reigns. There's some added drama for the match.

By the time the 2016 Royal Rumble comes along, Reigns might have developed enough personality as a "cool heel" to warrant a Rumble victory. Maybe by this point, Heyman has two horses in the race, and Reigns can turn on Heyman and his other client to go for the client's championship? Sort of a combination between The Rock's heel turn reigniting him before a massive face run, and Batista's "thumbs down" face turn. But maybe he's not ready, and that's cool too -- just have him beat someone else and go 4-0 at WrestleMania.

Curtis is right on the money. Great idea. He can feud with the Jewish rasslers and have a finisher called the crucifixion

Most improved poster my ass!

Shisen's ass, Most Improved Poster 2015

I just wanted you guys to know that I changed my mind. I kinda like Roman Reigns lately.

I think he's ok, but he still needs more time develop in my opinion. WWE pushed him way too fast.


In my view, he's a poor man's Kevin Nash right now..........or a slightly better version of Test/Andrew Martin.


Reigns can obviously still improve, but I think the WWE are kind of throwing him into the fire. If and when Roman Reigns falls on his face after he wins the title at Wrestlemania, will he be able to bounce back from what I imagine to be very lukewarm crowd reactions?


Cesaro should have been the guy that the WWE had pushed, post Wrestlemania last year.

I think this is going to go alot better than people think.

I hope you're right, but I have a feeling that the fans are going to take a massive shit on Reigns a la Cena style. Lesnar will get popped huge.

Philly is a smark crowd. Brock/Reigns could be pretty good. I don't see Daniel Bryan doing it right now. He looks like he's lost a lot of weight and muscle mass. He's been through alot with the injury and really needed more time to recuperate.

I don't think WWE did Reigns any favors in bringing Daniel Bryan back in right now. He has trouble beating Jobbers to the Stars like Kane. Not only is he not ready to go he is now being forced by the fans to try to go at a high level. Now he's going to be in a match with another guy like twice his size and one who is also kinda stiff.

The crowd might have handled Reigns winning the Rumble and being the guy if Daniel Bryan was still at home.

I'd like to Memphis will boo the shit outta Roman...but I'm pretty sure my city will let me down in that regard, he'll probably get a positive reaction that will just die quickly.You'd think a city so drenched in wrestling history would be more smarky and hip to the fact that Reigns sucks. Fingers crossed.

Who is hyped for Reigns vs Lesnar?...........no one?

Pretty much.

I'd rather they used the time allocated for the match and allow Paul Heyman to speak. Heck Heyman reading the instruction manual for an oven to the audience would be more entertaining.

I don't even hate Reigns.... I just don't care. If Reigns wins (and Cena wins) then I am going to take a hiatus from watching Raw. (Except the one right after Mania)

Tits

The elevation of Roman Reigns actually squashed my interest in the main product. Seriously. The guy's not even bad -- he's just not great enough for his spot yet. The more I think about it, the more I think a double-turn with Heyman screwing Brock and helping Reigns is #BestforBusiness. I was thinking that the clean win for Reigns and the "Fuck it, we're all in" thing was the way to go, but I think they're shooting themselves in the dick at this point.

^^ IWC senator

A double turn almost has to happen. Rogue Lesnar ripping through everyone for sweet revenge would be amazing. Hell, you don't even need Heyman to turn. Have the Authority, scared their company's title may be taken elsewhere, throw the kitchen sink at Lesnar, backing Reigns, and screwing Lesnar out of the title while anointing Reigns as the man

You could keep Rollins heel and slow burn an eventual turn for one of the two as the authority re implodes later down the line.

They have to try something different. Reigns isn't working. Having Heyman cut the best promos of his life are certainly not helping his cause either. Aligning him with the Authority at least gives him HHH as a semi mouth piece and partners him with a veteran who can help develop his character further.

do you have faith that this WWE regime could pull off a double turn? do you have faith this wwe regime could define double turn?

For the past 2 weeks Rollins/Orton feud closed out the show. Not the WM Main Event.

That has to do with Lesnar and ridiculously limited appearance contract.

They have shown the ability to put on a compelling event on the big stage. I have they faith they could do a legitimate entertaining double turn. It's more of whether I think they will do it.

the roman empire gave way to the medieval period

maybe this means kevin owens will have a game of thrones gimmick and will become wwe champion and his catch phrase will be the dark ages or something similiar, something appropriate to the nature of medieval times

The Krusade. Let me tell you something kruse a maniacs, that big smelly giant the rusev thinks he is a tough dude but he has never encountered the force of 20 thousand screaming krusaders in the barclay center brother.

some thing like that, which I just posted and you just read, is what I could see happening with kevin owens, the current nxt champion who is out of action at this moment because of a knee injury requiring surgery.

@DR:

Lesnar was there last week.

Doesn't the third hour typically lose 000s of viewers? They're putting the Main angle in the middle of the show (end of the second hour) as that's when they have most viewers.

In that case the should have put Sting out there on the 10 o'clock hour.

I do agree that the third hours loses 000s of viewers. But does the overrun gain those back?

I wouldn't have thougt so. As big as the Sting appearance was, he's not the main event, he's not the thing WWE want most eyes on. He is the thing that might keep people watching though.

Yeup. It usually goes first hour is the lowest, 2nd hour is the highest, and third hour loses viewers but stays higher than the first.

Only gets really bad when the third hour drops below the first since it also has the overrun/main event segment.

At this point, all that matters is what starts and ends the hour since the WWE became way too predictable for when the big stuff happens. Its a big reason why their ratings barely improve since people tune in the most to those points and leave en masse afterwards.

if lestner is not going to resign, I would like to see samoa joe bypass nxt and be part of the screw job to take the belt from lestner. fans would like that better then a lestner Goldberg type end.

Lestner is more.

Yes, all 25 of them

I definitely think this went a ton better than first thought

Gertner is correct.

Credit where credit is due. This was a much better match than I thought it would be. It had little to do with Reigns actual skill and more to do with his ability to take a complete ass kicking. but still...credit where credit is due. It was a very entertaining match.

don't know if Reigns' smiling and laughing throughout made it better or not

It definitely did. Still not completely sold on Reigns as a singles guy who they want as the next big face, but his smiling at the ass-kicking he was taking made him seem like a total badass.

Was legit worried about halfway through the match that Reigns was just going to shit all over the match and no-sell everything and just refuse to lose kind of thing (based on how stiff the two appeared to be working) so I thought he was going to basically blackball himself and fuck up the biggest show of the year.

But in the end, yeah, it definitely ended up working out better than I expected it to. Still wish he had more of a moveset though.

I think the hard hitting style was a choice. What better way to get the IWC crowd to respect you than to take a beating from Lesnar?

The smiling was too much of a "no sell" to me.

Yeah the smiling was horrible

Credit where credit is due Roman Reigns sucks balls but the dude can take a beating and yes he could be the man some day but it's really gonna take time based on his smiling they could give him a masochist gimmick at least it's something.

I didn't mind the smiling. Made him seem kinda "badass"

But how? Just because he was getting his ass handed to him? I could see if he mounted some meaningful offense for more than 2 minutes after the smiling thing.... but yea.