Projecting Roman Reigns' Road to WrestleMania 31 Match with Brock Lesnar

At the 2015 edition of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in Philadelphia, Roman Reigns shocked the world and outlasted 29 other WWE Superstars to win the over-the-top-rope battle royal and earn a spot in the WrestleMania 31 main event.

If the majority of the WWE Universe receives Reigns the same way the Philadelphia crowd did Sunday, the company may be dealing with a situation similar to 2014, when Batista won the Royal Rumble.

The problem is that Reigns is not ready. He lacks the ability to cut promos, and while his matches have improved, he is still missing the in-ring experience to be the top star in the company right now.

Unfortunately for some wrestling fans, Reigns will be rushed into the main event of WrestleMania and it will be on WWE world heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar to carry the fresh talent to a passable match before putting him over.

From this point forward, the company must do whatever it can to get Reigns over with the fans. If this is the decision the WWE is comfortable with, it must sell the hardcore and casual members of the WWE Universe who have been alienated by the decision to let Reigns win.

The effort to get Reigns over started last night with The Rock. While the raucous crowd in Philly was not going to accept anyone but Daniel Bryan winning, many other crowds will react more favorably toward Reigns if the company is using The Rock as his mouthpiece.

The former champion likely won’t be there every week, but one way to ensure the crowd doesn’t boo Reigns out of the building will be having The Rock do the talking for him as often as possible.

Most wrestling fans love The Rock, and telling the majority of the WWE Universe how good Reigns is will be the correct start to building him up as a WrestleMania main eventer.

The company must build on the momentum Reigns created at the Royal Rumble and carry it into the Fast Lane pay-per-view next month.

With Reigns going into the match against Lesnar as the clear underdog, he needs practice telling that story. With the company teasing tension between the Big Show and Reigns for weeks prior to the Rumble, a match at Fast Lane between the two will be a foregone conclusion.

Big Show is not as talented as Lesnar in the ring, but he does have the aura of a monster and will be able to mimic some of the situations Reigns will face at WrestleMania. Consider this feud a practice run for the biggest show of the year.

Once Reigns moves past Big Show by beating him at Fast Lane, Lesnar must return and begin beating down Reigns. Week after week, Reigns should be attacked by the world champion, thus adding to the possibility that Lesnar could successfully retain.

The WWE must make it clear that Reigns is the underdog, regardless of how cool he is or how well he was booked coming out of the Royal Rumble. One way to do that is to have The Authority interject.

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon have issues with every wrestler who stands against them, and Reigns showed his anti-authority personality at times leading into the Royal Rumble. With The Authority coming out and expressing their displeasure for Reigns and The Rock celebrating the victory after the match, it’s clear Triple H will make life difficult for Reigns leading into WrestleMania.

As hard as it is for fans to comprehend, the WWE needs to use almost an identical storyline to the one they would have used with Bryan in this position. Reigns isn’t the prototypical underdog, but with a match against Lesnar looming, a feud with the Big Show on the horizon and The Authority making it clear they don’t like him, there is still a chance this storyline could work.

After the rest of the WWE Universe watched Philadelphia’s reaction to Reigns winning the Royal Rumble match, though, it is clear that the WWE will have to execute the perfect storyline from now until WrestleMania to save the Reigns vs. Lesnar main event.

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