Is it 2016 or 1998?

Courtesy WWE

By Chad Smart

@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter
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I’m probably in the minority but I hated the main even to the 1/4/16 RAW. I will admit the main reason I hated the WWE title match between Sheamus and Roman Reigns with Vince McMahon as referee was because it wasn’t fresh.  It was paint by number rehash. Sort of the same way I’m not going crazy over the new Star Wars movie, but more on that in a future blog. 

I get what WWE is trying to do with Roman Reigns. The problem is anyone who watched wrestling during the Attitude Era saw this same storyline of the evil owner McMahon not wanting the “popular” (I use quotes only because I’m not sure how popular Reigns really is at the moment) face to be champion. It worked back in 1998-9 because it was something new and because Steve Austin had the charisma and popularity to get the audience behind him. Right now, Roman Reigns doesn’t’ have that organic support. I don’t know how many people are clamoring for Reigns to be champion. 

A big problem from a logic standpoint, and long time readers know how much we talk about wrestling logic here, is if the McMahon’s don’t want Reigns to be champion why do they put him in situations to earn title shots? Or, why even have him employed in the first place? Vince and Stephanie don’t like that Roman beat up Triple H, strip Reigns of the title and banish him to Superstars in a never-ending feud with Fandango. Just don’t insult my intelligence by having a title match where the special referee refuses to count a pin fall for Reigns while doing fast counts for Sheamus. 

I am intrigued by the stipulation of Reigns defending the title in the Royal Rumble match. I wonder if this is being done because for the first time that I can remember, the Royal Rumble is going head to head with either the AFC or NFC title game. By putting Reigns in the actual Rumble match there is now some uncertainty into the outcome.  Will Reigns retain and face a challenger to be decided at the next monthly special or will he lose and have to earn the chance to regain the title at Wrestlemania? Personally, I hope Reigns doesn’t lose at Royal Rumble and then regains at Wrestlemania. I’m not a fan of titles changing that frequently. 

I’m going to sound like a broken record but whatever direction WWE decides to go with Reigns, as a fan, I simply wish they would ditch the authority figures. Austin-McMahon happened nearly 20 years ago. If WWE hadn’t been trying to redo the same story every 2 years since then, maybe I’d feel differently about the McMahons trying to sabotage Roman’s reign. Right now though, I’m tired of the same old same old. 

On another note, can Fozzy finally become a big enough band to keep Chris Jericho from making another WWE comeback? Talk about played out.