10 Worst Booking Decisions in WrestleMania History
By Tim Sherry
credit: wwe.com
3. Roman Reigns vs Triple H: WrestleMania 32
This match comes down to one word: stubbornness. Vince McMahon is convinced that Roman Reigns is a mega-star on the same level of John Cena, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels. There’s just one problem. He’s the really the only that believes that. He apparently doesn’t hear the boos when Reigns’ music hits, he doesn’t hear the animosity from the WWE Universe when Reigns wins and conversely the joy when he loses, and he apparently definitely did not hear the pure rage from the 100,000 plus fans at the AT&T Center in Arlington, Texas after Roman won the belt from Triple H at WrestleMania 32.
I mean really think about that last part for a second. Triple H has been one of the best and successful heels in the WWE for over two decades. Sure he’s had a couple of runs as a baby face but this guy is a natural bad guy and as such the crowd reviles him for it. But not even he, one of the most hated men in the company’s history could get Reigns over as a fan favorite and it was not from lack of effort. He’d spent the two months leading up to WrestleMania wreaking havoc on Reigns, pulling every heel tactic he had out of the book but it didn’t help. No matter which way the company tried to present Reigns, it had little to no effect on its fans.
So, of course, the match at Mania was doomed from the very start with the fans never accepting it as their main event title match. The boos were resounding and the match suffered for it. One year later and Vince still believes in the Reigns project and he’ll get the honor of doing battle with The Undertaker at this year’s marquee event. Will another bad performance be enough to derail the Reigns hype train? Let’s hope so.