Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31 Under Threat from Fan Reception

The haunting feeling of inevitability that lingered over the Royal Rumble on January 25 was an unwanted throwback to the showpiece event’s outing one year previous. Following in the tenuous footsteps of disparaged 2014 winner Batista, Roman Reigns was booed from start to finish en route to what should have been the greatest night of his career to date. It was not.

Instead, the event was turned into a farce as the cacophonous disapproval of the crowd rained down on the Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner. Such was the level of condemnation that even the appearance of The Great One did little to curb the hate. The collector’s item of an out-of-form Rock in his post-Rumble interview spoke volumes about the impact the crowd had imparted on not just the Rumble winner but also his cousin and 10-time WWE world champion.

The fallout from what many perceived to be poor booking for the Royal Rumble led to #CancelWWENetwork trending worldwide and could serve as a massive wake-up call to those in charge. If they aren’t careful, the crowd reception for WWE Network’s second-ever WrestleMania could threaten any credibility of the bout and do untold damage to the company’s reputation moving forward.

Much has been said about Roman Reigns’ meteoric rise to the summit of the WWE roster. Just one year ago the standout member of The Shield was championed by everybody in the Consol Energy Center as he eliminated an all-time record 12 members of the Rumble before eventually being disposed of by Batista. True, part of this widespread adoration was down to the fact the crowd wanted anyone but Batista to win, yet the potential victory of newcomer Reigns was still welcomed by the Pennsylvania crowd.

Fast forward a year and the crowd has done a 180-degree turn. Struck down with an ill-timed hernia, Reigns’ progression as the new face of WWE was hampered significantly. Many will remember Stone Cold Steve Austin’s nine-month hiatus stemming from an injury sustained at SummerSlam 1997. During his absence the rest of the locker room picked up the mantle and, on the WWE Network’s Austin vs. McMahon Rivalries feature, Austin openly discussed his trepidation at returning to the ring.

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With me gone, [The Rock and Triple H] were main event status and they were tearing it down. I was nervous that the people would accept me after being gone for so long, because to be gone from TV for so long and from action, that’s career suicide.

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The two situations are not directly comparable; Austin was a much bigger star and his injury was significantly longer. Yet the fact that arguably the most popular WWE superstar of all time was concerned about how his absence would affect the fans’ perception of him suggests somebody like Reigns should have shared similar worries, particularly given the fact both of his former Shield teammates had excelled in his absence.

Perhaps a fairly gradual introduction would have fared better for Reigns, but instead he was thrust right back into the limelight with a series of poorly received promos penned by Vince McMahon himself, as per cagesideseats.com. One particular segment saw him ridiculed by large proportions of fans for a highly contrived and outdated reference in which he actually delivered the line “sufferin’ succotash.”

All wrestlers receiving a big push have their share of critics and the anti-Reigns brigade have highlighted his lack of mic skills as a key shortcoming. It's remarkable, then, that he has been fed some of the worst segments in recent memory as part of his WrestleMania build-up. Simply put, it isn’t all Reigns’ fault, yet this laughable exchange did little to endear him to the WWE universe.

Should WrestleMania’s paying fans choose to use the opportunity to voice their displeasure when Reigns challenges Brock Lesnar for the WWE Heavyweight title, the event will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Just over a decade ago at WrestleMania XX Lesnar faced off against Goldberg with Steve Austin acting as special guest referee. It was public knowledge both wrestlers were on their way out of the company and so the crowd hijacked the event, ignoring the in-ring action and mocking both competitors. What could have been a great match in WrestleMania history was destroyed by the fans, the biggest cheer of the night coming from a Stone Cold Stunner on The Next Big Thing.

Speculation about Lesnar leaving WWE to return to the Octagon is widespread, reported by MMAWeekly.com and many other reputable sources, with the belief being that he may leave when his contract expires just after this year’s WrestleMania. With one hugely popular competitor potentially leaving and the other not having earned his slot in the main event in many people’s eyes, the match could unfortunately become a cringe-worthy homage to Lesnar vs. Goldberg.

There is plenty of time for the event to be salvaged. The road to WrestleMania is a long one and Reigns can still turn things around. In the midst of an unprecedented blizzard that resulted in a makeshift episode of Monday Night Raw, the Samoan-American tackled his critics head-on and came off well in what was a refreshingly natural interview. This led to a much more positive reception from last night’s episode of Raw in which The Authority established a clear agenda against Reigns which will encourage the audience to get behind him.

The fans are hankering for the real Roman Reigns to shine through instead of the plastic product that is being put in front of them. If WWE Creative guide Reigns down the right path, the match with Lesnar will be an exciting and unpredictable event. If the situation isn’t handled correctly, it could be the most poorly received main event in WrestleMania history.