I'm excited for the match, and I think Roman Reigns should win, but not for the reasons you might think.
I think they're in a tough spot here. Rollins' Championship reign has been disastrous at best. Instead of helping him, its actually diminished his, and the title's integrity. The constant losses were bad enough, but his presentation sold the fans on the idea that he was a sniveling puppy-dog bereft of any backbone being propped up by two authority figures who treated him like he was a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. On that premise alone, it's time to distance him from the Championship (and the Authority) for a bit.
And if it's going to happen, it might as well be Roman Reigns. There's no one credible enough to take on Seth's role right now. It would be a lateral move instead of a step up, because the entire roster has been left decimated and damaged by the most frustrating era of booking we've ever seen. The last two weeks have provided some evidence that they're trying to make things better, but it's not going to happen overnight. The closest we have to that position is Roman, and in this scenario, it's just going to have to do.
Try as he might, with the rocket firmly attached to his back, Roman Reigns still isn't getting it done. He's notably better than he was, and he's perfectly capable of being
in the match and
in the title picture, just not coming out on top of it. He's not connecting. His reactions are mild to lukewarm in the most generous of cities, alarmingly soft in the rest. They're not booing him anymore, but the problem is, they aren't cheering him either. He's just there, and that's the worst thing you can be. The crowds pop for a couple of his moves and the section benefiting from his crowd entrance graciously applauds their opportunity to fist bump him, but that's about the extent of it.
So why put the title on him? To let him sink or swim. It's time to cut the umbilical cord off of Roman Reigns and let him prove that he can succeed. If you put the title on a babyface Roman Reigns, I'm inclined to believe he will fail. If he fails, then that's it. You tried it, you gave it your all, it just didn't work. Reigns can move back down the card and wait his turn while someone else tries to "grab the brass ring" and win Vince's heart.
That's far from the ideal solution, though. There's a way to make it work, and make it big. Unfortunately, WWE is too far down the Roman Reigns rabbit hole, and too depleted of top babyfaces to make the obvious choice here. If they want to make a huge splash, one that could legitimize two top stars going forward bring out nothing but positive results, executing a double turn at Survivor Series is the way to go. The Authority, desperate to stay in power and unsure of Rollins' ability to beat Reigns, align themselves with Roman, who is willing to do anything to become WWE Champion. Roman Reigns is in the main event, exactly where they want him. He gets to be the natural heel that his personality lends itself to. He has talking heads in Triple H and Stephanie who can carry the weight if he can't hold his own as a heel promo (I think he can.) On the other side, Seth Rollins becomes what he's destined to be - a top-tier (potentially number one) babyface.
Vince McMahon's blinders refuse to acknowledge that Roman's stock isn't rising, it's simply treading water. Vince's most successful characters of the last two decades all had hugely successful runs as big time heels before becoming the ultimate babyface that made him money. Roman Reigns is not an exception to that rule. He may need it more than Austin, Rock, and Cena ever did.
Simply put: it's put up or shut up time for Roman Reigns. Pull the trigger, one way or the other, and let the chips fall as they may.
And finally, to me, the absolute worst scenario here is to have Dean turn on Roman and help Seth win. Dean Ambrose is arguably the most popular babyface on the active roster. He's in a utility, plug-and-play main event role, and all it would do is prolong the inevitable. We don't need to see Roman Reigns get screwed again. We know where it's going, and the longer they drag it out (and the more they entertain the possibility of Roman winning the Rumble again), the less likely it is
anyone gives a crap by the time he wins the title. This is the Daniel Bryan situation all over again, except this time, people didn't even want to see Roman win the belt in the first place.
