RAW Deal: Christmas comes early for Roman Reigns

PHILADELPHIA, USA —In the end, everyone gets what they deserve.

Roman Reigns, after a year of chasing and getting told en masse that he isn’t good enough to deserve it, finally wins the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, seemingly for good, on this week’s episode of RAW.

To get to that point, however, we finally got what we deserve: a Roman Reigns that finally sounds like the surefooted, badass hero that almost everyone can get behind. Not the Roman Reigns that preferred to tell jokes and treat all his matches like they were a game of kanto basketball. Not the Roman Reigns that could only work around 5 moves. You’ll have to pardon the sense of entitlement, but we’ve deserved this for putting up with the company far too long despite what it’s been lately.

This is a Roman Reigns that’s set foot in antihero territory, a man through whom we can live out vicariously our fantasies of kicking all the evil and corrupt men in the ass. A Roman Reigns that finally epitomizes all the reasons why we cheer for the heroes in professional wrestling.

This Roman Reigns is the result of an aggressive sort of evolution—a predator that knew that it had to fully evolve to survive in its harsh environment. I have personally never seen anyone progress faster, in the space of roughly a year, with regard to his or her ring work. Around this time last year, we were criticizing him for dragging matches; now, even though his offense remains a little rudimentary, he has polished them all to become an exciting presence in the ring.

The only thing that was holding him back, really, is his characterization, something everyone knew was beyond his control. Although some will argue that better performers can make do with less, it’s also pretty foolish for a booker to not play to someone’s strengths while they’re working hard on their weaknesses.

Vince McMahon also got what he deserved, whether he intentionally scripted himself to take the fall for the fans’ entertainment or otherwise. Reigns’s championship victory was assisted tremendously by that spot, a culmination of longstanding frustrations over McMahon’s stubbornness regarding the creative direction of the show. He probably knew it was going to get that reaction, and he actually didn’t even have to take that fall, but some of that old genius shined through in that little (but significant) moment.

The only shameful thing, lobster head, about this is that it really shouldn’t have taken this long for them to do something like this. It shouldn’t have taken them consistent fan backlash and steadily declining ratings for them to get up and deliver an exciting product. We should be thankful that they never let it get way out of hand, but we—that is, everyone with any sort of vested interest in mainstream professional wrestling—should also remain vigilant and hold them accountable over the show.

Just when we thought we’d fallen into a sense of malaise when it comes to the WWE, they manage to find a way to end the year in an optimistic note. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty stoked about all the possibilities that have been opened for 2016. 

It’s the magic of pro wrestling once again, just in time for the holidays.

Do you listen to podcasts? Would you want to listen to a local podcast about pro wrestling? If the answers to those questions – especially that last one – are yes, then you should check out the cleverly-named Smark Gilas-Pilipinas Podcast, featuring Mellow 94.7 DJ and PWR General Manager Stan Sy, wrestling writer Romeo Moran, and all-around multimedia person and former voice of PWR Raf Camus! On their latest episode, they break down Roman Reigns’s big night on RAW and fantasy book a 2016 Shield reunion, as well as a quick (spoiler-free) Star Wars review! Listen to it here! – Rappler.com