What’s Going On With WWE’s Main Event Scene Following Backlash?

The WrestleMania crowd crapped all over Roman’s match with Brock Lesnar, and for good reason. It was a terrible match, an affair that would have been decent, at best, booking for a mid-card bout, but not the marquee match of the entire card. Likewise, the live crowd in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia couldn’t fully get behind Reigns and this is a crowd that gave John Cena a standing ovation. John Cena! The guy who more or less invented the “any reaction is cool” spot Roman Reigns is occupying.

So how did New Jersey respond to Reigns vs Joe? With chants of “Beat the Traffic!”“Delete!” “CM Punk!” “This Is Boring!” and more. There were people leaving in the middle of the match to go home early. There were people visibly standing up and leaving the second Reigns scored the fall.

Here’s the thing, folks. I’ve seen crowds, New Jersey included, that will stay for the whole show, certainly through the end of the final match, if the show was good and they’re into it. If they’re into the show, if they’re invested in the main event, if they’re having a good time and being entertained. They’ll stay and enjoy it and deal with the traffic. That’s the problem. There were a sizable number of people last night that weighed the entertainment value of the show, the main event, the commute home and chose to leave. Why shouldn’t they? They were treated to a lackluster main event filled with rest holds and the kind of lazy and inconsistent booking that has become a staple of Roman’s matches.

WWE cannot be blind to this. They’ve invested untold amounts of money in not only pushing Reigns but trying to cover up the increasingly negative reactions to his push. The longer this increasingly negative response to his spot on the card occurs, the harder it gets to justify the time and money being spent on it without some reassessment.

Also, let’s get one thing straight, this isn’t all on Joe and Reigns. I’m baffled as to why the match was filled with rest holds, why the referee refused to call the match when Reigns was visibly out from the Coquina Clutch and why Joe had to lose to a quick Spear after 15 minutes of beating Roman all over New Jersey. Reigns and Joe are doing what they’re being told to do. This is on the producers and the bookers. The decision makers. 

WrestleMania and Backlash provided a disinterested reaction. You can argue the fans are just trying to hijack the show but I didn’t hear any of those snarky chants being directed at the other matches on the card. 

If I’m WWE, it’s time to seriously re-examine the Roman Reigns project. The man has an entire wiki page devoted to the difficulties he’s had getting over. AJ Styles, Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman are all currently exceeding Reigns in almost every category and they’re doing it without the excessive handicaps that Roman has needed thus far. How far will the Roman push, in its current iteration, proceed before we reach the point of negative returns on the investment?