DeMarco: Can’t We Just Be Happy About Roman Reigns?

Roman Reigns is back on WWE Raw on Monday night, and very little is known as to why. But that hasn’t stopped the internet from complaining about it!

For years, Roman Reigns has been a name that immediately elicited emotion from WWE fans–and most of it negative. Coming out of The Shield, Reigns was pushed to the moon (for some internet fans, that should read “down our throats”), and he ended up being positioned as the guy (THE GUY) that he said he was. Then it all went away.

In October, Roman Reigns announced that he was battling leukemia, and would need to take time off to fight and beat this adversary once more. He beat leukemia earlier in life, although that timeline was disputed by Dave Meltzer because…well I can’t think of a good reason for it. This is the same guy that felt it necessary to point dispute Bruno Sammartino’s Madison Square Garden sell-out streak on the day of his passing. So there’s that.

Now The Big Dog Of The World Wrestling Federation is back (I wish I knew where that came from so I could credit it), and the internet picked up right where it left off–showing their ass when it comes to Roman Reigns.

I seriously don’t get it. I’ve seen everything from people claiming Roman Reigns faked leukemia (think about that for a second…), to Vince McMahon is manipulating the situation for ratings. And hey, maybe that second part is true–I don’t know. But if it is, Roman Reigns is a willing accomplice.

Many people are comparing the handling and pending return of Roman Reigns to the same situation for Daniel Bryan. The latter provided nearly weekly updates on his efforts to get back to the ring, eventually painting a picture showing WWE as the ones holding him back. Bryan ultimately returned, and in less than a year he transformed himself into one of the few true heels working today. Despite the regular updates, Bryan’s return announcement was–like Reigns–announced ahead of time. No one screamed ratings-bait on that one, did they?

But Roman Reigns isn’t Daniel Bryan. Roman is a company guy. I’m not saying Bryan isn’t, but Roman when Roman says he’s THE GUY, he means in the WWE. Bryan made his career on the independents (mainly Ring Of Honor), and that helped his WWE success. Roman Reigns is a creation of the WWE machine, and he eventually became its leader. Now that he’s coming back, it only makes sense for him to talk about it standing in the middle of the ring, with a microphone in hand, talking to the WWE Universe. That’s HIS universe.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Roman Reigns overcame The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33, and proclaimed WWE to be his yard. He worked hard to make that point impossible to dispute.

Many are intersecting his return on Monday with WrestleMania. Some have gone so far as to say WrestleMania doesn’t need Roman Reigns. I’d say those folks have never been responsible for drawing fans from the WWE’s intended market.

UNPOPULAR OPINION, don't really give a flying fuck. Vince needs to go. Bringing Reigns back to TV is nothing more than a CHEAP ratings grab to bring someone who is supposedly ILL back to work. I question now if any of this was real to begin with. Wrestlemania DOES NOT NEED REIGNS

— #AEW Chief Information Officer (@JDfromNY206) February 22, 2019

Like this guy above! To say that WrestleMania doesn’t need Roman Reigns is so short-sighted and agenda driven it’s not even funny (I know who JD is and I know that’s his gimmick, but he’s not alone in what he’s saying). Saying WrestleMania doesn’t need Roman Reigns is like saying it didn’t need Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Triple H, and John Cena before him. Love him or hate him, from a business perspective he’s become a staple of WrestleMania, and that can’t be ignored.

In just a few hours, we’ll know what this return means for Roman Reigns. My gut instinct tells me it’s a declaration of his intentions to work WWE WrestleMania 35. I could see him getting added to Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship (either as a referee or as another challenger, since he had to surrender the belt), or teaming with Braun Strowman and Kurt Angle against Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, and Bobby Lashley.

Maybe he won’t–we’ll see! But either way, The Big Dog of the World Wrestling Federation returns to Raw tonight, bringing (reported) boosted ticket sales and (likely) increased ratings. You can’t argue with success, especially when Roman Reigns is doing it his way.