LogFAQs > #877117322

Zeus posted...

That and they needed an excuse to keep Reigns from going straight after Brock. Heyman went out of his way to challenge Reigns and this gives them a way to delay that fight so they can build up to it more.

To be fair, they didn't actually NEED to do that. Brock's limited schedule means they could have just had him be somewhat elusive (sure, there's the "champion must defend every X number of days" rule, but the WWE ignores that for pretty much every belt constantly these days anyway), or just have other high-level competitors demand title shots first, fail, and then ultimately have the giant brought down by the intended giant killer. In a way, it would mimic how they tended to build the various monster heels that existed solely so Hulk Hogan could beat them in the 80s.

Roman only becomes the de facto destined final opponent specifically BECAUSE Heyman called him out. The only reason they really need to "keep Roman from going after Brock" is because they created that exact problem for themselves.



Zeus posted...

That way the guy everybody knows is going to win will eventually enter the fight as an underdog.

That's one of the problems with how they've been booking Roman, though. You can book him in all the most cliched underdog scenarios you want, but when everyone absolutely knows that he's definitely going to win (and a majority of people don't like him in the first place), he's not an underdog - and he doesn't even remotely benefit from the usual underdog sympathy.

It's the same problem you have with Braun jumping him backstage. Previous sarcasm aside, that was absolutely booked as a traditional face/heel interaction where the evil heel ambushes the face, who will then have a period of being "injured" and ultimately return for revenge (hell, see also Seth Rollins for the last year or so). The intended goal is to make the crowd hate the heel for being a dick and simultaneously engender sympathy and support for the face - it's classic wrestling storytelling. But when the crowd already hates the person you're forcing into the face role, all it really accomplishes is giving Braun the most potent face pop of his entire career, with everyone cheering as he beats the ever-living shit out of Roman. And when Roman returns for his righteous revenge, he's still going to get booed (if not more so than before).

The WWE can mute crowd noise all it wants - whether to hide just how hated Roman really is or to try and protect JBL - but in the modern world where a majority of fans are at least somewhat "smart", and where we as a culture tend to react negatively to blatantly obvious manipulation, all they're really doing is damaging Roman's career and killing his chance of ever really getting over as a face. The longer they keep pushing against the tide, the longer that resentment is going to last.

And again, it literally makes no sense. The Rock is pretty much the prime example of someone the crowd loathed, who then turned heel and won them over, ultimately becoming one of the biggest faces the sport has ever seen (and Cena parallels that evolution as well). On some level, SOMEONE in the company should be at least somewhat aware of the idea that turning Roman heel would probably produce the end-result they want better than constantly trying to force the crowd to love him ever will.

But again, in a company where merch sales are pretty much the be-all, end-all and who Vince likes is way more important than who the fans like, this isn't likely to change any time soon.


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