When Roman Reigns' arm was lifted at the end of WrestleMania 39, it changed the very trajectory of the WWE Universe moving forward.
Suddenly Cody Rhodes went from the champion-in-waiting to Brock Lesnar's plaything, The Usos went from misery loves company to on the outside looking in on The Bloodline following their loss to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn on Night 1, and fans have to return to the drawing board to figure out who Paul “Triple H” Levesque – or Vince McMahon – will book to end “The Tribal Chief's” reign and open a new chapter within the WWE Universe.
Asked about Reigns' seeming inability to get pinned on television, at a house show, or as part of a “Premium Live Event” by Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, Paul Heyman compared Reigns' current winning ways to another famous WWE streak; a streak he helped to finish as the special counsel to Brock Lesnar.
“I like the fact that everyone walks in now thinking this is the last title defense,” Heyman said via Fightful. “I experienced this before, it was something I had a hand in ending, which was the Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Every year, you sat there, ‘Oh, this is it.' During the match, the audience is anticipating and salivating for it, this to be the moment that they get to witness the historical three count on the Undertaker to which the streak would end. Then, when Undertaker would defend the streak, they would say, ‘I don't want to see this end, I can't wait until the next chapter.' Then, it finally ended, and the audience was shocked. They thought they would see it, they thought they would see it, then didn't. It's the same thing with Roman Reigns' title defenses now. You hope this is the one, you think this is the one, you're sure this is the one. You watch the match happening, you know this is the one. Then it turns out to not be the one. ‘Man, I can't wait to see the next chapter.'
“The response to Cody Rhodes, which was louder than the response last week, which was a response more passionate, which was the response of an audience that believes in Cody Rhodes this week more than they did last week when they hung their hopes and dreams on him. He didn't disappoint them. We disappointed them. We took that away from Cody Rhodes. Roman Reigns took that away from Cody Rhodes and the audience. They blame Roman Reigns for it and they appreciate how close Cody came, and they know the next time Cody steps in the ring with Roman Reigns, ‘this will be the one.' That's the business. That's the business at its very best. That's promotion at its very best. That's storytelling at its very best. That's what you want. You want the challenger to come out a bigger star than he would have been if he won because then, where do you go from there? What's the story to tell? Now, you know the story. It's Cody's redemption. It's coming back from what was just taken from him. From the defeat he just suffered that he didn't deserve to have inflicted upon him.”
You know, while Reigns' win streak hasn't exclusively been waged at WrestleMania like The Undertaker's historic run, there are a lot of similarities between the two stars, right down to the Heyman connection. Would fans eventually resent Rhodes for defeating Reigns in the same way many have since come to resent Brock Lesnar for ending Taker's historic run? Or did WWE blow a can't-miss opportunity to build a new star at WrestleMania 39 in favor of prolonging a storyline that has become overripe, as a reporter suggested to Triple H after Night 2 of WrestleMania 39? Fortunately, Heyman had plenty to say on that matter, too.
Paul Heyman believes WWE built Cody Rhodes up the right way.
Later in his interview with Helwani, Heyman was asked if WWE should have pulled the trigger on Rhodes winning the match, as it would have turned Rhodes into a John Cena-style babyface at the top of the card. Unsurprisingly, Heyman wasn't too keen on that idea.
“We'll be hearing this all summer. ‘Oh, this is perfect. The stars are aligned. It has to happen now.' We've been hearing this the whole time,” Heyman added. “Two years ago, last SummerSlam with Brock, the Royal Rumble with Kevin Owens, Montreal with Sami, Cardiff with Drew McIntyre, two SummerSlams ago with John Cena. ‘This is where John Cena gets number 17. Wouldn't it be perfect if he beats Roman Reigns. This is it. John Cena becomes the most decorated champion of all time. Perfect. Everything is in line.' Of course it's in line for it. That's how you make a challenger. If the challenger is, ‘I guess this is okay.' Nobody is going to buy that. ‘It has to happen now!' That's the promotional business.”
On paper, it's hard to argue with Heyman's assertion, as no one gets excited about a title match they don't believe could go either way. Still, at some point, someone is going to have to secure a victory over Reigns, and at this point, WWE is running out of viable challengers who can actually realistically secure the win over “The Head of the Table.”
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