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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

The Mad Scientist: Why Everyone is Mad that Roman Reigns Won the 2015 Royal Rumble

I'll be the first to admit that I lack any and all practical experience within the sports entertainment industry. Perhaps then, taking my business acumen into account, it is not a surprise that I find myself baffled by the current state of the WWE. I'm speaking, of course, regarding the creative decisions that resulted in the booking for the 2015 Royal Rumble match. The Road to Wrestlemania is before us, and the main event seems set; Brock Lesnar will defend his WWE World Heavyweight championship against the destined face of the WWE, Roman Reigns.

A lot of wrestling fans were put off by Roman Reigns winning the Royal Rumble, as evidenced by the worldwide #CancelWWENetwork trend that appeared on Twitter. Since the Shield imploded in June 2014, Roman has had only a limited run as a singles wrestler. This was compounded by his emergency hernia surgery on September 20th, which saw him out of in-ring action until December 16th - nearly three months. All told, Roman has had 4 months experience as an active roster singles competitor. I won't downplay his impressive physique and athletic ability, but I suspect that his meteoric rise has done little to prepare him for a title match on the grandest stage of them all.