Are WWE Actually Getting Things Right With Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman?

As this year’s Fastlane approached, most rational wrestling fans expected that because Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman was taking place on a minor pay-per-view, Strowman would win, setting up a match at Wrestlemania. Unfortunately, nothing WWE does makes any sense, and that’s not what happened. Instead, in what appeared to be an utterly stupid move at the time, Strowman had his first pinfall loss on a minor pay-per-view and the feud seemed to be forgotten about.

At the time, the booking didn’t make much sense. But in retrospect, it wasn’t as dumb as it seemed. Braun dominated the pair’s Fastlane match and only lost when he went to the top rope and tried to fly. Roman moved out of the way and that was that. I mean, anyone with a pulse would try to roll out of the way of a wild Strowman careening toward them, so Braun flew through the air and landed on the solid concrete mat, knocking himself silly enough that Reigns was able to spear him for the win.

So, yeah, it was more or less a fluke win that allowed Strowman to save some face. And it lit a fire under his ass, leading him to go on yet another rampage, which culminated in his tipping over an ambulance with Reigns inside. Look, I’m not stupid, I know that the ambulance was gimmicked, though I can’t figure out how, but I also know Strowman has deadlifted 875 pounds, so his tipping an ambulance onto its side isn’t completely out of the question. It felt believable enough, which is all that matters to me where wrestling is concerned.

I had absolutely no problems with their main event rematch at Payback on Sunday. I thought it was kind of dumb when Michael Cole said before the match started, “Does Roman Reigns have a chance?” Yes, I’d say he does, Mr. Cole, considering he defeated Braun a couple months ago. But whatever, Cole’s not nearly as annoying as some of the Roman-hating fans.

I mean, what gives? At this point, I don’t think some of these people would even care if someone shot Reigns on live TV and then lit the body on fire. They’d probably just start a “thank-you” chant. Reigns can’t help that he’s being booked poorly. I doubt he has much creative control at this point. From what I’ve seen, the man seems to be doing his job as best he can. The fan hate borders on or even gets overtly personal at times. I’m pretty uncomfortable with that.

I have to admit, I was nervous watching this match. It only made sense that Strowman would win, but what the hell does logic have to do with the surreal world of WWE? I mean, we’d just seen Randy Orton get killed with a refrigerator before teleporting to the arena to confront Bray Wyatt. Sense got thrown out of the window a long time ago. Which I’m fine with, under the right circumstances. I’d just hoped that the Reigns / Strowman re-match wasn’t one of those circumstances. But it ended up being quite a good match, with Strowman dominating and killing Roman with solid steel steps afterward, while Reigns chewed on a blood capsule.

Then, of course, when Reigns was backstage in an ambulance, getting ready to be carted away, Braun showed up and said, “Marble goobly-doo!” which my Strowman-to-English dictionary translated as, “I’m not finished with you.” Then he attacked Roman because that’s what he does. It’s his Strowman nature. Neither wrestler was on the following episode of Raw, which probably means they’re taking a breather before their next match. Maybe Reigns will be off TV for a while. Maybe he’s filming a movie called Superman Punch: The Legend Begins. Let us hope, friends.

Now, the logical thing to do would be to have their blowoff match at a big event this time. Something like, oh, I don’t know, Summerslam? That would be the logical thing. But, you know…