Wrestlemania 32 is this Sunday, and its card is now set in stone. Shane McMahon vs the Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell for control of Raw, Dean Ambrose vs Brock Lesnar in a no-holds barred street fight and the main event as WWE Champion Triple H does battle with the challenger Roman Reigns. Last year I talked about how the WWE ruined Reigns' big Wrestlemania moment due to poor booking and terrible promotion of the man who by all intents and purposes has been built to be the top face of the company. Now here we are a year later, where you'd think the WWE would be a little older and wiser. After a Wrestlemania build that did no favors for their hand picked star, did they learn their lesson?
The answer is, of course, not at all.
Here we are in the same position as last year, only amazingly worse than before. Roman is once again heavily pushed as the face of the product while John Cena recuperates from a shoulder injury, and like last year, he's been heavily booed for the majority of his run on the road to Wrestlemania. What's saddest about this is that it almost felt like it was on the road to repair after Reigns won the WWE Championship in December in Philadelphia, the same town that was home to his Royal Rumble win. The same town that booed him fervently was now cheering him on to victory. The result of a well booked beating of Triple H the night prior at the TLC PPV. Reigns was finally being accepted as the main eventer and it felt like smooth sailing.
Then the Royal Rumble happened. Boy, that seems like a running thing now. Instead of regular booking for the event, making the winner the top challenger for the title at Wrestlemania, they instead went with Roman defending his championship in the match itself. Putting heavy emphasis on the "once versus all" catchprase they've placed upon him. It didn't go well, as Reigns was heavily booed by the crowd. This already bad reaction was made no better by the idiotic booking decision to have Reigns destroyed by the League of Nations mid-match. And instead of being stretchered out, Roman just walked to the back, only to return to the match at its very end. A brave babyface star indeed. This backfired so bad that when Triple H eliminated Reigns it got one of the biggest pops of the match and loud "Yes!" chants.
So, now you'd at least think that maybe they would have a strong backup plan for Reigns. Maybe make him force an automatic rematch clause for Wrestlemania. Nope, instead he's put in a triple threat match with two infinitely more over stars in Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar. Which considering the fact that the storyline for the past month was that the authority didn't want Reigns anywhere near the title makes it more befuddling that they would even give him another chance. But such is modern WWE booking. And of course, having Reigns spear eternal bridesmaid of the Shield Dean Ambrose in the match once again did Reigns no favors. So much so that the crowd in Detroit the following night cheered on heel champ Triple H as he smashed Reigns' nose on the announce table and hit the pedigree on the steel steps.
With Reigns off selling the injury (and healing up after surgery on a deviated septum), the WWE could have left well enough alone to maybe garner some sympathy for Reigns during his time off. Instead they went the route of making a more interesting feud between Triple H and Dean Ambrose for the WWE Roadblock event in Toronto. And, as expected, Ambrose did not go over, meaning that the main event of Triple H and Reigns was still on. And as expected, Reigns returned to no love from the live crowds. Even with him now coming from the entrance ramp and being a more focused killing machine, it's still giving him the same reaction of boos from a crowd that is not willing to accept him.
And because of it we now have what could be one of the coldest main events in a long time for WWE. Even last year's feud with Reigns and Lesnar fared a bit better than what has become an absolute mess for the WWE. This company that are happy to tout that they will have a record crowd in Texas for Mania have to sit and listen as Reigns gets heavily booed by a record setting crowd. But it won't change anything. Two years of the same outcome has taught Vince nothing. He'll dig his heels and push Reigns harder as a face. Determined to prove to everyone that he's not out of touch. He's not the one who clearly doesn't get what's best for the company. It's the people who are wrong.
The Reigns project is a failure. Plain and simple. What should have been the biggest star of the company. A guy who isn't even that bad in the ring, has been destroyed by horrible modern booking, bad scripting, and being overpushed in a company with far better stars more deserving of such a spot. Vince wants Reigns to be the Cena of tomorrow, but for as hated as John Cena can be, he has never aroused the ire of this many people who just don't want him in this position. Wrestlemania this Sunday will be interesting indeed. And if the reaction is as bad as expected, maybe, just maybe it'll be enough to finally convince Vince to do something drastic enough to fix this. But let's be honest, we'll be right here next year talking about how badly they screwed up the main event of Wrestlemania 33.