I loved the last segment of Raw Monday. Vince McMahon’s presence puffed things up. Roman Reigns was absolutely fantastic, Sheamus did his part, and perverse amusement was provided by a 70-year-old man taking a bump.
But does it yield momentum moving forward, or is it just a blip on the radar screen? The warning signs point to same old, same old.
I have zero problem with Reigns decking Vince. Vince may be 70, but storyline dictates that he deserves his ass kicked regardless of age. Hitting Vince with a Superman punch was a babyface move. Vince had kicked Reigns low. Tit for tat.
Reigns needed that moment. It brought back some Austin-Vince nostalgia.
Now, moving forward, that nostalgia should be left in the past.
The easiest thing to do would be to plug Vince back in as the heel owner, with him, Triple H and Stephanie ganging up on Reigns. Vince would provide a shot of adrenaline, as he did Monday night.
But that would fade, and fade quick.
Vince may be one bad-ass 70-year-old, but he’s still a 70-year-old. More important, haven’t we finally had enough of the heel authority figure? The Montreal screwjob (or whatever that was) occurred in 1997, and marks have been battered senseless with that storyline ever since. It’s trite, stale and boring.
But it’s not going away, because Trips and Steph have to be on camera. And now Vince has that taste back in his mouth.
It’s a shame, because running Vince out of WWE and into “retirement” would be a good platform for Reigns, and a WrestleMania rematch against Brock Lesnar with Reigns smartened up and toughened up by the events of the last year may be WWE’s best bet, what with The Rock and Stone Cold out of the picture.
If nothing else, though, Monday night proved WWE is still capable of hitting a home run. They need to look at that, and understand why it happened. It wasn’t because Vince was on-camera, although that helped. It wasn’t because Reigns finally connected, and with a tough Philadelphia crowd, although that helped.
Monday night worked because everything that happened made sense. WWE went all in with Reigns, and did so with no strings attached. Even Steph stooged for Reigns, who slapped him but couldn’t rattle him. Reigns beat everybody: He beat Sheamus. He beat Vince. He beat The Authority. He beat the League of Nations. He beat the heck out of Triple H the night before. He beat the odds.
That’s good pro wrestling, and that’s what a babyface does.
We’re looking at a Reigns-Triple H match soon. Reigns has to beat him clean, and with no doubt. That’s what works.
Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkMaddenX
