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WWE Raw: Roman Reigns Makes The Mundane Worth Watching

By Kevin Parvizi

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Last night on WWE Raw, Roman Reigns had an Elimination Chamber qualification match against Bray Wyatt, who has earned the moniker “The Eater of Pins” from the WWE Universe. Nobody expected anything less than a Roman victory, but Reigns helped make this match a solid opener for both the fans in the crowd and at home.

The WWE Universe likes to voice their displeasure at Roman Reigns before the match begins, but by the end of the match, they can’t help but appreciate the work before their eyes. It’s been ages since Roman last had a legitimately bad match, and most of his big programs end up being big successes. Not only is he responsible for the most online interest from fans in the product, but he’s also able to make seemingly mundane matches interesting.

Take last night’s WWE Raw bought against Bray Wyatt as a textbook example of this. The fact that Bray and Roman were in the ring in a match was a clear mis-match. Although Wyatt won the WWE Championship at last year’s Elimination Chamber while a member of SmackDown Live, nobody can take him seriously after a botched feud with Randy Orton and a string of losses on Raw following the “Superstar Shakeup”.

Meanwhile, Roman is destined for a Universal Title match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, he was the second-to-last person left in this year’s Royal Rumble, and he most recently had a string of excellent title defenses as Intercontinental Championship before tearing the house down in two feud-ending losses with The Miz on Raw.

In short, Roman had all the momentum in and out of kayfabe, whereas Wyatt had nothing. There was only every one result, and that was a Roman victory.

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As such, I was tuned out of the match at the beginning, and so was the crowd. The most vociferous chants were cries of “Roman sucks!”, and the entire beginning of the match was filled with Wyatt getting most of the offense. It was slow and boring.

But once Reigns hit a “Samoan Drop” and started to hit something of a comeback, the match started to get interesting. There were a few near-falls, but nothing that the audience could truly buy into.

Why would they? Roman is obviously entering the Elimination Chamber as a favorite to win the No. 1 contendership to face Lesnar at WrestleMania.

And Wyatt, well, he’s an afterthought, and he’s feuding with Matt Hardy, who already lost his opportunity at the EC after Wyatt interfered in Hardy’s match against Elias.

Then something interesting happened. Wyatt started dominating the match again…and he hit Sister Abigail. Us hardcore fans, well, we knew a Reigns kickout was coming. After all, we’ve seen him kick out of finishers before, including The Miz’s Skull Crushing Finale lately.

The crowd, however, had a little bit of doubt in their minds. You could see the fans sitting on the edge of their seats, kids and casual fans holding their breath, wondering if Roman could potentially suffer an upset loss at the hands of the “Eater of Worlds”, who (laughably) called Roman a “failure” prior to the match.

Roman kicked out at the very, very last second. The crowd was chanting, “This is awesome!”, something I could have never even conceived from a random Roman vs. Wyatt match on Raw at this stage of the calendar. This is especially because the crowd was more interested in booing Roman at the start of the match, as they were completely out of it. But Reigns and Wyatt slowly suckered them back in. Because pro wrestling.

Incensed, Bray got up and went for another Sister Abigail. I mean, why not try to hit Reigns with your best move for a second time? But this time, Bray took a little too long with the second kiss, hung up by his own bravado.

Next: WWE Raw Grades And Analysis

Spear. 1-2-3. Roman wins and is going to the Chamber. Predictable result, effective match, and another example of how Reigns can make any match worth the price of admission.

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