It seems Roman Reigns’ massive ego has gotten in the way of WWE crowning a new main event star.
Roman Reigns isn’t as well renowned as some of his peers and predecessors when it comes to ‘bringing out the shovel’ but he’s up there when it comes to refusing to lose or just having his thoughts on a storyline. Reigns famously refused to lose to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39 and thought that it was “not the right time.”
It seems the same is true for Penta once again as The OTC seems to have defied all odds and won the World Title match on WWE RAW in Mexico City letting down everyone in the process. Penta had all the momentum in the world in his favor. The star is coming off a hot Intercontinental Title run, has the aura and presence of a world champion, and could have had the biggest crowning moment of his career in Mexico City of all places.
At one point in the match Roman Reigns got hit with the Mexican Destroyer but jumped back in with the spear. You can argue that he no sold the Mexican Destroyer and Penta’s finishing move looked weak and feeble, but then the former AEW star also kicked out of the spear and forced Roman’s hand at trying something now. It’s the same kind of spot everyone criticises AEW for, and Reigns used this spot to his advantage to aura farm some more.
Many online were joking that Reigns would never lose to someone who has more aura than him, and perhaps there’s more to it than being just a joke. In reality, Roman Reigns thinks he’s too big a star to lose to Penta on a random episode of WWE RAW.
This was his first match on the show after 617 days, the first since the Tribal Combat against Solo Sikoa on RAW’s debut on Netflix.
WWE And Roman Reigns Failed To Mark The Occasion By Crowning A New Megastar
Over the past few days in Mexico and Latin America, WWE have turned heads with some insane decisions. It started with Sami Zayn winning the Undisputed Title against CM Punk on SmackDown and then moved on to Stephanie Vaquer winning the Women’s World Title at house show in Santiago, Chile. At AAA TripleMania La Catalina and El Grande Americano both won the women’s title and men’s title.
And on WWE RAW, four world title changes in four days could have turned to five. But it seems that Roman Reigns wasn’t very willing to lose the title. He could have easily won it back in the news few weeks or even sometime down the line, and given the fans one of the biggest moments of the year.
There has been no hard and fast rule that The OTC can’t lose anywhere except WrestleMania, but it seems that WWE has it unwritten somewhere in their minds. At this point, if someone deserved that world title win and had the hype to win it from Roman it was Penta. He is already extremely over, has insane charisma, and clearly has the build to become a main event star.
This was the opportune moment to pull the trigger, to make it happen and show the world that the promotion does not shy away from giving deserving superstars fair opportunities. Since his arrival in WWE, Penta has been a revelation, perhaps the greatest luchador addition to the company’s roster after Rey Mysterio, and it was obviously apparent Triple H and his creative team out a lot of effort into making him an ultimate star.
Since then Penta has slowly risen through the ranks, and now, he has become a legitimate top star. Is he a draw? Probably not much outside of Mexico, but imagine what this world title run could have done for him.
It’s a missed opportunity, and perhaps one that Reigns should have convinced to take up. It was a chance to do something fresh, unique, and out of the ordinary for a company who rarely step out of the status quo. But perhaps, Roman Reigns is now too big a star and his ego too great to let great opportunities go by.
