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I knew it was coming, I saw it before it happened on Monday Night RAW.
I knew it once RAW GM Kurt Angle announced the two elimination matches that it was “fate” that would determine who will face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
My first thought after Roman Reigns pinned Bobby Lashley was, ”they’re really going to try this again?”
I knew it would be Roman Reigns.
The only thing I could hope was that Vince McMahon would bend and listen to his audience.
He didn’t.
Roman Reigns is a main event star in WWE. Roman Reigns has also, in my opinion, been creatively mismanaged since WrestleMania 31.
This leads us to this year’s SummerSlam at the Barclays Center where for the third time in 2018 Brock Lesnar will defend the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. They’ve battled at WrestleMania 34 in the main event, again in a steel cage at The Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia and now at SummerSlam.
Both of their preview matches this year begged the question, “Is this Brock Lesnar’s last match as the WWE Universal Champion?” Fans waited to see how Roman Reigns would finally defeat Brock Lesnar. Neither match lived up to expectations. Putting it nicely, Brock Lesnar put forward below average effort and Roman was made to look like another trophy for Lesnar to conquer.
These matches have had a damaging long term impact on how fans view this rivalry.
Roman Reigns isn’t a believable opponent for Brock Lesnar right now.
Brock Lesnar has done little to no favors to help promote the feud with his lack of TV appearances or further elevating the character of Roman Reigns.
It is, and has always been, the champion’s job to make his opponent look credible. This is achieved in the promos leading up to the big match, and by the way the match is structured.
In both of their other matches this year that was not accomplished. Roman Reigns is paying for that now.
Is Brock Lesnar at fault for the lack of fan reaction that Roman Reigns receives? No.
Could Brock Lesnar have done more to portray Roman Reigns as a credible challenger? Yes.
Next Page: Reigns v Lesnar 4: Analyzing SummerSlam’s RAW Main Event & Possible Outcomes That Could Satisfy Fans
