The WWE did a thing.

So, I'm writing this for the satisfaction of getting these thoughts out of my head and onto some kind of published format. I'm thankful if anyone is able to read and appreciate this post, and your responses are most welcome. But yeah, some thoughts and grievances that I've been carrying around for a long time.

Do I hate Roman Reigns? Yes. I wouldn't say that I hate Joe Anoaʻi though. He seems like a really good guy, and seeing him succeed makes me feel good inside.

Remember wayyy back when, during a time when the WWE started to push this Roman Reigns guy? It was shortly after his call-up from NXT. They introduced a fun-filled faction called The Shield. I bring this up because I recall how obvious the WWE's intentions were. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins were there only to get Roman over. Dean had street-cred for his work as Jon Moxley, and Seth had similar accolades for his work as Tyler Black. Roman was just some dude, who stuck with a stone-faced expression as if that would convey a sort of demeanor of silent confidence. For me, he just appeared to be a dud.

But wait! Roman entered the 2014 Royal Rumble, and from the start he was destroying that match. Bodies were flying over the top rope faster than the commentators could keep up, and the crowd was loving every minute of his rampage. Then they didn't let him win, and they went with a returning Batista instead. This was the start of a very slippery slope to being the most hated wrestler of that era.

Roman won the 2015 Royal Rumble, one of the worst of all time. This was supposed to be the Royal Rumble appearance that catapulted Roman to heights of superstardom, and instead left his reputation indelibly tarnished. The crowd HATED how that Royal Rumble ended, and while it wasn't Roman's fault, he was still seen as part of the reason that the result was booked in the way that it was. Big Show simply punched the remaining participants in the face, and they sold like death while he and Kane easily dropped their rag-doll bodies out of the ring. It looked very fucking stupid, there are no words to accurately explain how stupid it looked. Roman was able to wake up, find his second wind, and eliminate both Kane and Big Show. The crowd booed the SHIT out of him. I distinctly remember that Rock came to celebrate with Roman, and gave the crowd a very shocked look as they were absolutely outraged by the nonsense they just witnessed.

Not a good start, and the WWE kept on failing in their attempt to help Roman save face. Roman wasn't allowed to beat the champion, Brock Lesnar at that years' WrestleMania. They instead went with Seth Rollins, which should have opened the opportunity to have the WWE to build Roman in a more creative and fan-friendly manner. The WWE did no such thing, and after allowing Roman to win the Championship at the next WrestleMania in a match with Triple H that nobody remembers, they allowed him to defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33. Nobody liked that. I mean, NOBODY liked knowing that The Undertaker's few losses at a WrestleMania included one to Roman Reigns.

Woo boy, then at WrestleMania 34, something weird happened. There's speculation, for what it's worth, that Roman was supposed to defeat Brock clean at that event and become the champion again. As I remember it, the boos from the crowd were described as "deafening" by the people there. The speculation is also that Vince chose to change the result of the match at the last second due to the crowd's behavior, and that this decision made Brock furious, owing to the infamous clip of Brock throwing the world championship at Vince in the Gorilla area.

Roman was still the WWE's golden child, and they simply HAD to get the championship back on him. Then came the pandemic, and the lack of crowds. With that, based purely on my own personal opinion of why any of this happened, Roman was able to become champion again only in August of 2020, and by the time the crowds came back it was just part of the continuity of the show that Roman was a dominant champion who could convincingly eek out wins against over opponents like Brock Lesnar.

As much as the WWE has tried to jazz up the content of a Roman Reigns title defense, for my money they're very boring. He doesn't use anything like Cena's five moves of death, he doesn't really use anything except tons of interference and the random application of a spear, a superman punch, or the guillotine submission. Somehow, these moves are a thousand times more brutal than they look because a badass like Roman Reigns is the one using them. Roman isn't someone who has very interesting or exciting matches because of his involvement in them, more like he endures the more entertaining opponents that are fed to him and eventually is allowed the inevitable spot where he finally gets to pin his opponent. The apparent penance is that everyone gets to kick out of the first few finishers, prompting Roman to show a rare example of emotion and go "NO WAY". Given that kicking out of a spear or a superman punch happens in every match now, it's not as surprising for the audience.

Now the conversation is focused on how long Roman will remain the Universal Champion. He's apparently, as of this post, only a year and some days away from surpassing Hulk Hogan. That would be a fun feather in his cap, but would be absolute bullshit for us fans who can easily predict how his matches will go and are aware that he'll be skipping a lot of PPVs on his way to that milestone. Mark my words, it's going to happen.

The other world championship, the medium gold belt as I call it, was created -- in my opinion -- as a means of allowing us to still see world championship defenses that are actually worth a shit. Good job WWE, you fucked up with Roman but you found a way to make it seem like it's actually working.

Sorry for making this post consist of 90% introduction, but knowing the full scope of my hatred of Roman Reigns is important to fully appreciate the following opinion.

The WWE sucks. They do. I hate them more because they're in a very fortunate state that they do not deserve to be in, more like that beneficial stature fell into their lap. The WWE is, and likely always will be, the professional wrestling standard. They will make money, and see growth in their earnings year after year, because they're just what professional wrestling is supposed to be. There are upstarts like AEW that have massive financial backing, but they don't have decades of moments that absolutely defined professional wrestling. The WWE was able to absorb their old rivals, and thus inherit their best ideas.

I wouldn't have been able to fully appreciate how much the WWE sucks if I didn't have an example of Roman Reigns, and of how -- in spite of their efforts to properly build him being a complete failure -- they are still winning. The steroid scandal should have ended them, and their investment in Roman Reigns should have ended them. They're in a position now where they can produce absolute garbage, and they'll earn more money for it.

Rant over, satisfaction setting in, bye bye.