Welcome back to WrestleMania In-Depth, where SLTD Wrestling’s own Ciaran Legend, Kyle Bowman and myself, Adam O’Brien take a closer look at WrestleMania 32’s upcoming main events.
With less than two weeks to go until the grandeur and excitement of the Showcase of the Immortals, it’s make or break for WWE to secure those final ticket sales, PPV buys and network subscriptions.
Personally I’m looking forward to the show. I always root for an underdog, and since this year’s event seems to be plagued by injury and an abundance of other setbacks, it means the show we would have gotten a year ago is very different from the one we are getting. But I don’t see why people are frothing at the mouth to see WWE fail.
Not to go off on a tangent before we get to the matter at hand, but I’ve been a WWE fan for nearly fourteen years now, and I know many people who’ve been watching it for a lot longer. Some of those people, however, nitpick every little thing and bitch and moan when this whole thing is just meant to be a bit of fun.
Okay, I’ve been frustrated with the company before, but the WWE has been put between a rock and a hard place in this scenario, and they’re trying to make the best of a bad situation by being innovative and deliver a lineup worthy of the name “WrestleMania”, and I respect that. I think some people just need to lighten up, realise that we’re all on the same side here and appreciate the card for what it is. And what it is, is an intriguing line-up, filled with stars both old and new, who are going to do their best to entertain you come hell or high water. Take that into account next time you shit on the company for not booking the match you wanted.
Minor rant aside, you’ve seen the title of this article, so you’ll know exactly why we’re here. Last week I discussed the history leading up to the rivalry between Triple H and Roman Reigns, which you can read here, but this week we’ll be discussing that rivalry itself over the last couple of months.
We closed off last week with Reigns being forced to defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the Royal Rumble match, and as you probably know, the Road to WrestleMania was officially kick-started when ‘The Game’ returned as the #30 entrant to win the title, exacting revenge on Roman for his brutal attack at TLC.
The Authority was back in undisputable power, and Reigns was left with nothing but an opportunity. Instead of a rematch which would usually be in a champion’s contract, ‘The Big Dog’ had to fight his way past his best friend, Dean Ambrose and an old nemesis in Brock Lesnar. It was a hard-fought battle, but as one would expect Roman overcame the odds and secured his second consecutive WrestleMania 32 main event with an emphatic spear to ‘The Lunatic Fringe’. The night closed off with a staredown between champion and challenger.
Things heated up the following night on Monday Night Raw, when Triple H interrupted Roman Reigns’ main event match and put a beating on him that left the man bleeding like a stuck pig. Having “shattered his face” Triple H could rest easy for a few weeks knowing that Reigns wouldn’t be around to wreak havoc.
But when ‘The Cerebral Assassin’ went face-to-face with Dolph Ziggler just a couple of weeks later, Triple H’s security would soon fade as Reigns fired right back with an ass-kicking of his own, that led to Triple H receiving six staples in his head and having to get glass removed from his back. The next week, Triple H seemed afraid to get into another scuffle with Reigns, arriving at the arena only to pick up his wife. But Reigns was waiting for him and got in some good hits before The Authority high-tailed it out of the building, leading us to where we are now.
Looking at how long this rivalry has been brewing for, the actual substance we’ve received over the last couple of months hasn’t been that much, but I think that’s a good thing. A lot of fans were fed up of this rivalry before it even began, so it made sense to let Triple H and Roman Reigns do their talking in the best way they can; with their fists. The two men benefit most from wanting to tear each other apart. There’ve been promos, but rarely face-to-face between the two men themselves. I’m hoping to see them do so on the final episode of Raw before WrestleMania, but even if they don’t it still works.
This rivalry is built on dominance, and nobody (except for maybe Vinnie Mac and Paul Heyman) asserts their dominance on a microphone. You can talk a big game, and sometimes it does wonders for the characters and the product itself, but more often than not, the only way to prove a point is with a good ol’ fashioned brawl.
After all, Triple H took one of the most important things in the world away from Roman Reigns away from him when he eliminated him from the Royal Rumble match, so it makes sense that when the two are officially slated to trade blows on the grandest stage of them all, Reigns wouldn’t hesitate to get some pre-match beatdowns in there. The man took his pride and joy, and Reigns wants redemption under the spotlight of WrestleMania. Get it? No? Okay.
If I could change anything in this rivalry, obviously I would have tried to make Reigns’ rise to the top a bit more organic and actually entertaining, starting in 2014. Reigns being hot-shotted into the WrestleMania main event so soon last year was a catalyst for the fans turning on him. If he had done more to earn the respect and adulation of the WWE Universe first, things could be a lot different today, but there’s no changing that now.
With all the negativity surrounding the match, enough to even have WWE management question whether or not to actually book it in the final slot on the card (which I sincerely hope they do, it’s the most fitting main event on the line-up), I still think they did well with the build-up to this match. It’s been a long time coming, and personally, I can’t wait to see how all of that hard work pays off at WrestleMania 32.
Thanks for joining me today folks. Keep an eye out the rest of the week to see Kyle and Ciaran talk more about Dean Ambrose’s match with Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker’s match with Shane McMahon respectively.
You can also do me a solid by liking, retweeting and commenting on this article, and following me on Twitter @AdamOB_UTS. I also write for WhatCulture here, if you want to check out more of my work.
Thanks for stopping by, folks. See you next week when we take a look at predictions for Triple H vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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