NWK2000 wrote: ↑Aug 31st, '20, 14:21
I was going to post a 2 Cents of why I'm genuinely pumped for Heel Roman Reigns, but this guy sums it up better than I ever could.
https://www.bodyslam.net/2020/08/31/i-h ... C2AXA3QQ78
Roman basically being a kayfabe version of what Brock Lesnar was IRL is going to be a good touch.
I'm going to disagree with this. The issue with "the bell already rang, he missed his chance," is key, because the problem there really isn't Roman; it's WWE's lack of internal logic and enforcement. Roman hadn't signed the contract yet and thus wasn't officially "in the match," and yet it was still introduced as a three-way, so he was. The right way to do this would have been to have it be a singles match because Roman didn't sign the contract; then have him come out and sign the contract. Vince/Pearce/whoever (not someone like Hunter or Shane who would have to get back up) would come out and tell him "no, it's too late," and he would punch that person out. The referee wouldn't count his pins so he'd beat up the referee, Heyman would put on the shirt and make the count, and they'd leave, stealing the belt.
Also, the "he waited like a coward" thing is right... but at the same time, he was taking a calculated risk. Any one of those nearfalls could have theoretically been the finish, and Roman would have been sh*t out of luck because he was sitting in the back, waiting. I don't want to say it's hard to be angry at him, but I do think that it's important to acknowledge that his strategy was not without serious risk.
And as for the overall idea, the flaw in "Roman being a kayfabe version of what Brock was IRL" is as follows: What Brock was IRL was also what Brock was in kayfabe, and people were sick and tired of it. I don't think fans are going to stand for an absentee champion, and using Roman as one will get the wrong kind of heat, just like doing it with Brock was getting the wrong kind of heat.
I think the way to take this heel Roman is to make him a combination of what Kevin Owens was supposed to be in NXT, and also just a mean person. He wants to fight to make money, but he's not going to be fighting just to please the stupid fans who hated him just because he wasn't some indy darling who did flips and worked in Japan. He won't fight all the time, but if the promotion makes it worth his while, he's not going to avoid fighting.
Also, he should just be ill-tempered. My favorite thing he did at the PPV was when he yelled "GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" at the second referee. Stuff like that. I'm not saying to go as far as having him call Charly Caruso a whore out of the blue, but just make him someone that you don't see why anyone could possibly want to be friends with. Someone that everyone would want to spend as little time around as possible because he's just so miserable to be around. As a general rule, he should respond to everyone other than Heyman in the rudest way possible while still being just barely socially acceptable, and even Heyman he should be gruff with and merely tolerant of.