Retiring everyone’s favorite WWE Superstar was naturally going to come with a few drawbacks. Surely WWE knew that when they arranged for The Big Dog to defeat The Undertaker in his final WrestleMania. Hell, we all knew the polarizing Reigns would go into the match without the fans on his side and likely come out with even less cheering him on. Still, Monday’s crowd reaction was something special.
WWE played it perfectly, interrupting an emotional five minute Undertaker chant with the grating guitar riffs of Roman’s intro song. Then, after ten more minutes of boos and not safe for work chants, Roman simply said “this is my yard now” and dropped the mic.
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Roman completely owned the crowd by letting them do his job for him. He didn’t have to say a word to get a reaction or to let the WWE Universe know that he was the one who put down the Deadman. The RAW crowd’s vitriol handled all that for him. All Roman needed to do was smirk and it was game over.
Today, Roman was asked about the moment on Twitter and seemed more than proud of the response he was able to get from the most famous wrestling crowd of the calendar year.
Loudest seg of the show. Maybe the loudest of the past 2 decades. And I could of stood there for another 15 min. #TheGuy #RAWaftermania https://t.co/l9Z5zuwYzr
— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) April 4, 2017
He’s right. I don’t know exactly how long he could have showered under the rain of those boos, but fifteen minutes may be underselling it. We may have gone through two commercial breaks before that crowd ever got tired.
Who else can do that? Without saying a word. If you want to believe that is not a skill, I’m sorry, but you don’t understand pro wrestling.
By not clearly turning Reigns heel, WWE has the audience right in the palm of their hands. If they were to have him start running down the crowd and performing nefarious acts in the ring, the boos would stop. He’d be any other wrestler with a clear motivation.
Right now he’s in a zone that only few men have ever achieved. Women and kids still love him. Grown men hate him.
And all he has to do is stand there.
That’s real power. Believe that.
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