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Looking back, should WWE have just gotten Reigns/Lesnar over with at WM31?

2K views 30 replies 29 participants last post by  DGenerationMC 
#1 ·
Mods, please don't move this to the PPV section where no one looks, this topic has to do with WWE in general and the direction of the company over the last two years. It's not just about the PPV match itself.

Looking at where we are now in 2017 and looking back on the Reigns/Lesnar match from Wrestlemania 31, did Vince actually do the right thing in retrospect by (supposedly) listening to the crowd at the time and changing the finish from Reigns winning to Rollings cashing in? Here we are in June 2017, over two years removed from that event, and Vince is still bent on Reigns and more specifically Reigns/Lesnar as a "big money-making match" in his eyes. Whereas, if they had just gone with the original finish at WM31, maybe this whole miserable fucking experiment would've been long over by now and both the company and the fans would've moved on from this. Everything has been stuck in time since 2015 and although the current period is not the worst WWE has ever been, it sure is the most depressing.

And really, DID the fans actually not want Reigns to win back at WM31? This is what pisses me off in retrospect, yes they were booing him leading up to Wrestlemania but even the biggest haters have to admit that Lesnar/Reigns was a great match and you can tell by the positive reactions from the crowd that he was beginning to win them over.
 
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#7 ·
They should never have even considered the match and kept Reigns in the midcard where he belongs. Compared to getting cold feet though and having to waste all our time again, yes.

Knowing Vince, I wouldn't be surprised if he chickened out again just so he can do it all again next year, because that's what WWE is all about, a supreme hatred of their audience.
 
#10 ·
As far as I'm concerned Rollins did everyone a favor that night. Brock didn't get pinned, Roman didn't end the show in a shower of boos by beating Brock, and Vince didn't have to watch his biggest show end in a shower of boos.

Doesn't matter if it was 31 or 34, Vince is probably going to have Roman main event Mania for the next 10 years. So either way, it doesn't matter.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Yes. Even without losing, I don't think Lesnar was ever hotter than that night at WM31 and he just went back to "losing" to Taker and had a lameduck match with Rollins before the Wyatt/Ambrose crap.

If you're going to have Brock beat Taker at WrestleMania, you should pay it off with Lesnar getting beat by the new top guy.

But Vince got cold feet. Now, he's trying to recreate the magic and he won't. It's gone.

WM31 still wouldn't have helped Reigns, though. Still, it's more a matter of finishing off what you started and not dragging it out for 3 years.
 
#15 ·
No.

They should have dropped the idea completely.

When Coca Cola changed its recipe and it bombed they didn't say well we should have done it two years ago or hey let's try it again next year, they dropped it.

When Universal made Waterworld and it bombed they didn't say well we should have done it two years ago or hey let's try it again next year, they dropped it.

When Kiss recorded a disco album and it bombed they didn't say well we should have done it two years ago or hey let's try it again next year, they dropped it.

When Hipsters tried to make heirloom jicama the hip vegetable and it bombed they didn't say well we should have done it two years ago or hey let's try it again next year, they dropped it.

Wrestlemania 31 should have been viewed as a learning experience by WWE, instead it's viewed as momentary stall.
 
#19 ·
Sums it all up pretty nicely.

The whole idea of making Reigns "the man" shouldn't have taken place until it was clear the fans wanted to accept him as such, and if that moment never really came then fine move onto the next one. Dropping it at WM31 was the correct move to do, trying to pull it off again at both WM32 & WM33 was the wrong thing to do. After Mania 31 they should have dropped the idea completely are only revisited it if it looked as if the fans were ready to accept Reigns as the man.
 
#20 ·
Well if Reigns weren't going over Lesnar in the main event this year, it'd just be someone else, likely Cena.

He's the forced FOTC, so this is just going to keep happening. I would move the timeline up and have Reigns/Lesnar earlier, and then do Reigns/Rollins/Lesnar at WM. Reigns/Lesnar will probably be a good match, the issue is the predictability, knowing Lesnar has no shot of dropping the title until then. So singles matches against the likes of Joe, Rollins, and Strowman won't be nearly as captivating as a result.
 
#6 ·
I still think WWE had other plans for Roman Reigns when you look back at how the shield broke up, if they really wanted to push Reigns they should have turned him heel then by backstabbing Rollins and Ambrose. There was no need for The Authority nor for Rollins to join them. Seth Rollins will go around saying it was his idea to cash in at WrestleMania because he saw it as an opportunity, but I think it's because Brock Lesnar said no to losing to Reigns, and notice who Seth pinned. Even if you look back at Survivor Series 2014, the teams kind of made no sense as you can tell plans were changed because of Reigns' injury. Kind of difficult to have him as a convincing heel when the opportunities to do it didn't materialize, and instead made Seth the annoying heel who can't even be regarded as a face. Something about Creative, Booking, and moveset is limiting Roman Reigns. I don't buy it for a second that his brother was able to have a better moveset but he can't for longevity reasons. Steph and HHH should have said no to The Authority angle and just let Roman turn heel. Just go back to Survivor Series, and look at the stipulation...if Team Cena won then The Authority would go away forever, but we all know how that turned out. Forward a bit and then you have HHH turn his back on Seth and pretty much gives the title to Kevin Owens. Here you have HHH and Stephanie interfering in the progression of Seth and Roman. You have Roman being held back by The Authority storyline wise, then you have Seth cash in at WrestleMania who is still part of The Authority. Okay, Roman beat Sheamus, HHH, for his title, and beat the Undertaker but um when you look at the foundation of his singles career it will be clear The Authority screwed him over, and also screwed over Seth. The Spear has become Roman Reigns' finisher, but in the eyes of many Seth should not be using the pedigree as his own.
 
#16 · (Edited)
no, I wouldnt of been happy seeing lesnar get pinned after only 1 year since the streak ending

lesnars aura has certainly cooled but even then I think most people wouldve been moaning that it was "too soon" if reigns had beaten him at 31, plus lesnar had only just resigned, why chuck it away when youve got to use him for another 3 years.
 
#17 ·
No because it wasn't the right match at that point to begin with.

They just don't know how to get a babyface over organically anymore and what we are seeing now is the result of them not being able to admit they fucked him up.
 
#18 · (Edited)
For me personally no Cause I like the journey Reigns has been on, but yea I think people should of just let Vince get his way that night. Maybe if he did there wouldn't be 3 and soon to be 4 coronation of Roman Reigns.

Had Brock re sign was sooner I really do see them doing Brock vs Bryan with Seth still cashing in at the end by pinning Bryan. Roman faces Rusev for the US title building Roman and his character up in the mid card for a while which eventually would lead to Roman winning the rumble and facing the wwe champ at WM32.
 
#29 ·
Once Brock re-signed a part-time, multi-million dollar deal, it wasn't gonna happen, it would have been a waste of the money they were paying for him. Goldberg only got to do it because of their game and his rarity making him valuable at the right time, but by hook or by crook, a world title was always going back to Lesnar so a full-time guy can get the cachet that will come with pinning him for it.
 
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