Roman Reigns, Champion For A Minute
Roman Reigns, champion for a minute at the Survivor Series, according to WWE.com.
For the longest time now, Reigns has figuratively worn the “future world heavyweight champion” crown on his head. It began when Triple H fell in love with the way that the Samoan wrestler looked. WWE knew that this guy needed to be groomed so that he could take over the top spot from John Cena some day, and that’s how his character has been played up.
A torn ACL injury has robbed Seth Rollins of his time in WWE. As soon as a tournament was announced to crown a replacement champion, fans immediately predicted that Reigns was going to be the chosen one. After all, he had already been penciled in to take the belt away from Rollins if the injury had not taken place. A lot of fans at the Phillips Center in Atlanta voiced their displeasure when Reigns showed up because they did not want to see him with the belt.
Fortunately for them, they only had to put up with Reigns as a champion for just a few minutes.
Triple H made his grand entrance by walking through a ton of confetti. He offered a handshake to Reigns, who refused, but it was simply a distraction. As soon as Reigns turned around, he was met by the gigantic foot of Sheamus, who indicated that he was there to cash in on his Money in the Bank briefcase. Fans still were not certain that another title change was going to happen, as Reigns is still viewed as the golden boy.
After a second Brogue Kick and a pin, Sheamus stood over Reigns, his hand thrusting the WWE Heavyweight Championship into the air. Triple H joined him in the celebration. An alliance between the former on screen rivals had been formed. There is a very good chance that Sheamus has replaced the injured but determined Rollins as the centerpiece of the Authority stable.
There are a couple of possible reasons why WWE chose to have Sheamus walking out of the Survivor Series with the WWE Heavyweight Championship instead of Roman Reigns.
For starters, the company desperately needs a heel with a lot of momentum. They lost that when Rollins went down and a replacement had not been groomed. Sheamus didn’t have a ton of momentum coming into the Survivor Series, but he does now that he has cashed in the MITB briefcase and stolen the championship from Reigns.
Another potential reason why WWE went with this route is because they really do want Reigns to have his big moment at Wrestlemania. Roman will more than likely stand tall that night at AT&T Stadium, much like he was supposed to have done so at Wrestlemania 31 in Santa Clara, California earlier in the year. Management had to take that moment away from him and give it to Rollins because the fans had turned on the second generation star.
The rise of Sheamus this weekend isn’t so much because they believe that the Celtic Warrior is the best choice to be their franchise player. It was more about wanting to find the right time to elevate Reigns onto the throne.
[ Featured Photo by WWE ]
