Rambling about Wrestling #4
In the Court of the Crimson King: Why the character progression of Roman Reigns is good-bad... bad-good? (Or, I want to talk about SuperEyePatchWolf's video and my own ideas on his strange character development.)
Characters Discussed: The Bloodline: (Roman Reigns, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa, Paul Heyman.) Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens.
Brief Mentions: Brock Lesnar, Logan Paul, Bryan Danielson, Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley.
I only took the dive into modern wrestling a few months ago after my WWE 80's-90's-00 world tour. And something was just off.
Wrestling is just not as popular as it was at the time. Little kids don't really fill the stands wearing Hulk Hogan shirts and Macho Man foam fingers; their faces aren't painted like Sting, and they don't buy a little pair of glasses like Bret Hart. It's just not as cool as it was, not to mention the internet didn't exist as it is now until the mid-2010s. There are still kids, they have fun and love all of these talented men and women, but everyone else is an adult, and 16oz light beer is 5 dollars with a refillable cup.
You learn about Roman Reigns from Summer Slam 2022 because, quite honestly Brock Lesnar is a sight to behold. He looks like he could break into a quadrupedal sprint and grab Cody Rhodes by the throat with his teeth. But Roman, he's a beautiful man, well sculpted with long flowing hair; he looks like he was carved in marble by Caravaggio. And not to mention, I respect anyone who wrestles fully clothed with unathletic pants. But he's really cool. He knows what he's doing; he has his signature move down and knows how to move and take a hit. But you know, Brock got out a front loader and tipped the ring, but he's not the guy we're talking about here. Even after interference from The Uso's (Jimmy and Jey) and their dear little brother Solo Sikoa, the attention goes right back to Brock because they had to start piling chairs and debris on top of him to keep him from getting up. Roman stands on top of the Brock pile, triumphant. I'm sure the next fight will be just as good.
All right! Logan Paul. For some reason, Logan Paul is a wrestler now; he debuted at that Summer Slam! So we're at the Crown Jewel, and yeah, he (sadly) knows how to wrestle; I mean, they all do, but this guy legitimately knows how to wrestle. He knows how to plan a stunt, take a hit, heckle, the whole nine yards. And, of course, he gets his shot with Roman because, of course, he does. He is famous and has money. And that's weird, isn't it? When facing someone with a completely different physique, it's more or less the same fight you saw at Summer Slam. He tousles, performs his special punch, and outmatches Logan throughout the fight. But oh man, it's really good. It's an entertaining fight that goes on and on. Constant close calls and devastating hits and it gets close,
1-2-2.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
Nope, okay, it looks like the Uso's and Solo help out again, and Roman retains. Roman is a strange guy. He's this big guy who has had the championship belt for almost three years... and that's kind of it. I don't mean anything mean by it, it's a definite acomplishment that will be appreciated for the rest of time or for however long the WWE exists. But you've held the belt for one thousand thirty-something days, beating several previous holding records, and that's the only thing he's done so far out of his already long career. What I want you to consider is the stagnation of the character. Has the character made connections or long-term impact story-telling-wise? For the entirety of the middle part of his career, 7 years from The Shield to the start of The Bloodline, I don't think a lot of growth occurred for his character. But I'm almost certain the loneliness of losing the Bloodline will break the character and cause him to develop more. And that has already proven to be true.
That's where my watching of SuperEyePatchWolf's "The Unreality of Pro-Wrestling" comes in.
I wanted more from him, so I looked into him. You see on Instagram art pieces commemorating his many victories, commemorative posts of his signature point, or photos of him holding the belts. But that's it. That's what the video brings up; he's corporate through and through. He has proven himself to be an individual, but he's still stiff, and if anything, he leaves me wanting more. You have all of these great champions of various sizes and talents; they make their character memorable through talking on the mic and the relationships they have with other wrestlers; they participate in eye-catching matches that you could look back on fondly after a few years, they have kids wearing their shirts and dressing like them. You have parents telling their kids about how cool so and so was when they watched them as a kid. But ever since I saw that video, I'm just stuck thinking,
"Is that where it's going for him?"
Roman has the moves and the crowds that know his signature by heart, but that comes with time; think about the current developments but the previous overall stagnation of the character. All he has now is Paul Heyman and Sikoa; he had The Bloodline for almost two years as well as Sami Zayn. The Bloodline allowed these characters to achieve their goals on the side while also boosting Roman and giving him a controlling role. The Uso's won the belts, and Sami found a family and grew even larger career wise after realizing the toxicity of it.
For Roman, 2 and 1/2 years practically means nothing, he's been the captain of a slowly sinking ship, and he keeps telling you it's fine. Think of the previous champions; they usually have a history with their competitors. People like reunions and bringing up past beef, like Sami and Kevin Owens or Sikoa and Rhea Ripley. They have connections that intrigue the viewer, but Roman doesn't really have that. Roman has done 28 championship matches, and the only cohesive long-term stories that have been created for these matches that progress his character were between Brock, Owens, Bryan Danielson, Seth Rollins, Sami, and Jey. There are ten other people I didn't mention. Because after these 28 fights, no one wants his belt anymore. He is actively avoided as a character; they made a new belt category because no one wanted to deal with him. After all, the complex character that goes against him becomes the villain of the weeks/months for the Tribal Chief to defeat and that's why he needs his family and he needed The Bloodline to succeed.
I didn't watch Clash at the Castle. Because I knew what would happen, and I'm sure many others did too. I'm not a hater; I genuinely like both of these guys. I like the unique style of both men and the unique stories they both tell, but I also like complexity. I like being on the edge of my seat when a two-count happens, but from what I heard, it was constant. One's and twos constantly, and oops, Roman won again. However, this time around, you could tell people were not very happy with this outcome. But this brief story also helped The Bloodline guys out because at this point, Sami is now somewhat included in The Bloodline, like they're getting buddy-buddy and having fun on the mic. And yet Roman remains distant.
But that's okay! The Survivor Series War Games is our first warning. You have Owens, those Irish guys, and the entirety of The Bloodline going at it in a cage. Sami does everything in his power to help his guys at the absolute behest of his friend Owens. They win because Sami wants The Bloodline to remain a positive, awesome force rather than a negative brooding one, but then Sami starts to get hesitant after Owens questions his loyalties and puts it against their long-time friendship. But you know, when the happy-go-lucky guy goes quiet, it all goes downhill from there.
The King of the Castle sees a weakness.
That part of the video hurt. The character of Roman puts himself at the top and wants his followers to cling to his every word. But it's precisely as he highlights; it's incredibly toxic. The screaming matches turn into apologies and hugs, the hands-on shoulders, and the so-called trust developed between Roman and Sami sours because the character of Roman can't make the same emotional connection with the audience. The character wants his name to be cheered from the stands, he wants them to sing along to his song as they do with his signature move. However, the character's ego is just too large to save at this point. Despite the Usos and Sikoa liking Sami and Sami's attempts to befriend Roman, he just couldn't handle someone being liked more than him.
We saw Cody Rhodes again at the Royal Rumble, which was great. Anyways, after a scuffle with Owens leads to a Roman win (once again with interference), Sami betrays Roman. You have Sami, who's close with both Uso's but especially Jey, betray Roman with a smack to the back with a chair. Roman had been especially cruel to Owens, and you saw the facade of loyalty gradually break as the other members of The Bloodline went to town. Sami opens his arms, accepting defeat, and he gets beaten into the dirt by Jimmy and Sikoa. However, Jey gets hesitant and leaves covering his face. Jimmy and Sikoa pause, but Roman continues like he always does. You notice everyone is quiet and standing away from Roman. Paul and Jimmy are the most withheld, but Sikoa is still the quiet guy of the group, so he's motivations are still kind of vague but his turn to the good guys is inevitable. He screamed at Sami as Jey walked away,
"You did this. I tried to help you. But you did this. You broke my family!"
Of course, they played us all like fools, and The Bloodline very briefly reconciled. But Roman just manipulated Jey back in because what else do you need when your "family" holds the world?
The Elimination Chamber was a good match, I like the gimmick, but we're talking about something else. Sami fights Roman, and of course, Roman wins. But Sami wins in the end; his long-time friend Owens attempts to stop the others from interfering, but in the end, the two have fun and beat up Roman as they reconcile their friendship. Wrestlemania happened; Sami and Owens beat The Usos, which was the second warning that more or less put the two on neutral yet hesitant grounds. But then we get to the Night of Champions, the final warning, and the Usos, Jimmy at first, turn on Roman. After an "accidental" kick to Sikoa, Roman shoves the two around and slaps Jey. Jimmy finally stands up to Roman and kicks him; Jey is distraught but the two brothers leave, and Sami and Owens maintain.
Roman is desperate for connection but too egotistical to reach out. He keeps his connections through his power and record breaking status; The Bloodline was built around the idea of,
"You have to respect me for us to be successful."
He's on the highest possible pedestal of fame you could imagine, and yet he gets mad at the people who want to reach out and be on the same level as him. The quickness of which he turns on people after they don't fall for his lies only highlights the character's growing fragility and weakening state of power. You saw on Smackdown (06/16/23) how he screamed at the Usos in the most distraught and angry sounding way,
"YOU WON'T LEAVE ME!"
Before the two kick him upside the head once again. The two continue to have success; they're cheered as they enter the ring to deal with Sikoa. They're cheered and applauded for their character development, yet Roman is just Roman. He's been Roman Reigns, the guy who had to fend for himself after The Shield disbanded, and I feel like they've just started working on strengthening his story line now. And I'm just confused. Why now?
The character of Roman Reigns is incredibly egotistical base of a heel. He wants his family to cling to his every word because he's held the belts for the longest so they have to listen to him. The main "good bad" I'm trying to summarize here is that it's a little strange to me that they're adding to him now. They just now gave him depth even though there were 7 years of stagnation they could have worked on. The reason I'm going to watch Money in the Bank is entirely because of the growth of Roman and the dissolution of The Bloodline, because I want to see how he acts now. That's the "bad good", it's good storytelling, which makes me want more. Yeah, he's smacking around his poor cousins and manipulating their youngest brother to do his bidding, and I want more. But I'm almost certain these are the gradual, let me emphasize GRADUAL the signs of his reign ending. He's getting more intense because he's losing control over his family, he thought these three (I'm saying three because Sikoa is going to turn sooner or later) would want to maintain his reign and keep him at the top, but he refuses to consider that they have other options of success. He refuses to acknowledge that they want more and that they're finally getting the success they deserve because he's the only one allowed to be at the top. I think the only way to continue the magnificent reign of the Tribal Chief is through character development and plot progression because you can't be a winner forever; you need a weakness.
My prediction is that with his gradual decline his wins will become closer and closer calls. By not having the Uso's at the ringside he's getting close to an actual loss but when he eventually loses Sikoa it will only get worse. Then Paul will leave and then he's screwed. His constant win streak will become close calls and then degrade into the skin of his teeth. I'm sure the Money in the Bank Civil War (07/01/23) will be a handful. It will be a screamer and a crier, and I can only hope Solo or Paul will start to lose interest in Roman. Because right now is when Roman is at his weakest, I'm hoping that this story doesn't regress into 2020. I like where it's going because I think Roman needs a big old-fashioned emotional push, and this is what MITB might do.... I hope. I also hope Sikoa turns on Roman because he's my favorite.