Views From The Turnbuckle: Brock Lesnar Vs Roman Reigns In The Match We All Want To See (Not Really)

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of WrestlingInc or its staff.

It is safe to say that the buildup for Wrestlemania 31 (yes, I am still calling the Wrestlemanias by number) has been one of the worst in the events history. There are several reasons for why this is true, but a bulk of the blame is going to go to the main event being Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns. On one side, you have the sporadically appearing champion. On the other, you have the number one contender, who despite being billed as a fan favorite, is currently receiving lukewarm reactions across the country. Despite this being the most important and influential match of the year, few fans are genuinely excited for the encounter.

Roman Reigns has managed to do the impossible, he has managed supplant John Cena as the most polarizing figure in WWE. Because WWE has decided to book him as clearly the next big thing for their company, he has received the opinions of pretty much any fan who pays even the slightest attention to pro wrestling. The problem with Reigns isn't really that he is main eventing Wrestlemania, most fans would be able to live with Reigns, but it is the implication that Reigns is not only going to main event Wrestlemania and win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but that when he claims victory, it will signal 10 years of Reigns being shoved down our throats.

In today's society, we tend to really hone in on not just the big events themselves, but the events that give us a sneak peek at what those big events could be like. For example, only the Super Bowl receives more coverage and analysis than the NFL Draft, despite the fact that after the draft, no team has managed to win or lose a football game. The NFL Draft is so popular because it gives fans an idea of what might happen when their teams actually start playing games. That is why Reigns has become such a controversial figure amongst wrestling fans. Reigns main eventing Wrestlemania isn't just a one-shot deal, it is a sign of things to come, much like the NFL Draft is for football games. Since Reigns hasn't really done anything to impress a lot of wrestling fans, fans are obviously going to reject him as "the guy" for the next 10 years.

Standing in the way of Reigns is Brock Lesnar, who has been controversial in his own right.
Lesnar has become the first part-time WWE wrestler to become World Champion (The Rock wrestled on all the scheduled PPV events when he was champion) and the results have been less than inspiring. While Lesnar only appearing every few months to defend his title has made the title defenses bigger deals, the fact that the WWE Champion is only appearing every once and a while is hurting the championship. The WWE Championship has drawn more money than Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Steve Austin, Triple H and John Cena combined, and the fact that it is being treated often as an afterthought is not a very good idea. In addition, despite the intention for Lesnar to be a "special attraction" the fact of the matter is that Lesnar doesn't really move the needle that much anymore. If you examine the Raw ratings when he does appear to the Raw ratings when he doesn't appear, there is hardly any discrepancies between the two.

Lesnar has created waves over the last month with his apparent contract dispute with WWE. According to different reports of various levels of reliability, Lesnar and WWE cannot agree on a contract extension once his current contract expires after Wrestlemania. The rumor currently is that that Lesnar is interested in returning to UFC, and that Vince will have to throw a lot of money his way to retain his services. Despite this being a totally logical scenario, some fans haven't shied away from creating their own explanations for why Lesnar is upset with WWE management. The most common one being that Lesnar doesn't like Reigns and that he doesn't want to do the job to someone has inexperienced and as unpopular as Reigns. This is almost certainly not true. Lesnar could care less about doing jobs, he has lost to Cena and Triple H without any issue. What we should know by now is that Lesnar only really cares about making money; and WWE has given him a cushy contract where he only works a handful of dates a year, and if WWE wants him to lose on some of those dates, he hasn't had any problem doing that.

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Lesnar's contract drama is nothing but a work by WWE to try and get fans more invested in Wrestlemania. If fans really believe that Lesnar is working without a contract at Wrestlemania, who knows what will happen? Maybe he will refuse to do the job, maybe he will oversell the way that Shawn Michaels did for Hulk Hogan at Summerslam 2005, or maybe he will shoot on Reigns. Whatever happens, you better not miss it! Hardcore fans are not very excited for the Wrestlemania main event, but they have proven in the past to be susceptible to online rumors. If WWE can work them a bit with this contract drama, then perhaps they will be more inclined to support the Wrestlemania main event.

The result of the match has been pretty obvious for a while now, Roman Reigns is going to defeat Brock Lesnar and become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and go on to be the next face of WWE for the next decade. WWE has very unsubtlety pushed Reigns to the moon since he came back from his injury, using pretty much any moment of TV time to get guys like Paul Heyman to put him over. WWE is very familiar with this formula; they utilized it just last year with Daniel Bryan. It would be a complete 180° for them to suddenly either have Lesnar retain, or have Reigns turn heel. Numerous rumors have sprung up about potential changes to the plan, but I doubt any of them will actually take place. As much fun as it is to rag on WWE for making bad decisions, we genuinely want them to do the right thing. I think that is why we allow ourselves to entertain these possible alternative results, because deep down we don't want them to be THAT stupid.

The match itself could be anywhere from very good, to unwatchable. When we are not spending time complaining about how Lesnar is never on TV or PPV, we can appreciate just how damn good his matches tend to be. Reigns is a limited worker yes, but he has shown the ability to have a decent match with a good opponent, as evidenced by his encounters with Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton. Lesnar and Reigns could end up having a very entertaining match. The major issue is likely to be that Reigns is still green has never wrestled in a match that was even close to the main event of Wrestlemania before. While Lesnar was able to drag out good performances from John Cena, who will never win any technical wrestling awards, the difference is that few wrestlers have more experience wrestling in big and important matches than Cena. It is extremely foreseeable that Reigns is going to have some butterflies going into the main event, which could hinder the overall quality of the match.

A concern that has been expressed is that the fans, knowing Brock Lesnar might leave after the match, and already possessing a dislike of Reigns, will boo both men out of the building, similar to Lesnar's match with Goldberg at Wrestlemania 20. I don't think that will happen. Wrestlemania 31 is taking place not in a closed arena like Madison Square Garden, but in a large, open aired stadium. The crowd can still make noise, but I doubt it will have a large effect on the event. The true test for Reigns will be the Raw after Wrestelmania, which will take place in a compact arena and will be filled with hardcore fans. If WWE thinks they can trot out Reigns in front of all those hardcore fans and expect him to be cheered, than they are truly hopeless.

Lastly, lost in all of this is just how damn impressive Brock Lesnar has been booked over the past year. After batting about .500 in his matches, Lesnar did two of the most impossible things in wrestling in 2014. He conquered the streak, and he squashed John Cena. An argument can be made that nobody has been booked to look stronger in WWE history than Lesnar has been. Because of that, when Lesnar eventually loses the world title, it is going to mean something. The issue is, WWE has likely chosen the wrong person to beat Lesnar, someone that the fans either dislike, or shown indifference towards. When WWE has to build a campaign around the guy ignoring all of the fans booing him, when he is supposed to be the next great babyface, YOU PROBABLY CHOSE THE WRONG GUY. Alas, WWE has stubbornly stuck to their guns, and Roman Reigns unfortunately awaits his fate, which will be decided not by Brock Lesnar, Vince, Triple H or Reigns himself. Instead, he will be subject to the will of the crowd, and with under two weeks to go until Wrestlemania, things do not look good for Roman Reigns.

Jesse Collings is a columnist for WrestlingInc. You can follow him on Twitter @JesseCollings.