Operation OverPush: The Roman Reigns Story

by Joey Evans/MrShadowAcers

At Survivor Series 2012, a dominant trio of wrestlers known as The Shield made their WWE debut. One of those men is a strong 29-year old Samoan American named Roman Reigns. This is his story.

It seems that since The Shield debuted, WWE was looking to position Reigns as the alpha male of the group. In most six-man matches The Shield competed in, it was Reigns that would deliver the final blow with a devastating spear. Apparently, backstage it was no different either.  According to CM Punk in his recent podcast with Colt Cabana, The Shield (which Punk claims was his idea) was going to consist of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Kassius Ohno aka Chris Hero. Management turned down Hero, and instead suggested Reigns, who was going by the name Leakee at the time. Punk begrudgingly accepted, knowing that WWE wanted “the pretty one”/”their guy” in the group. In part two of the podcast, Punk tells the story on his match with The Shield at TLC 2013, noting that an agent told him to make Roman Reigns look “really, really strong” in that match. Every two minutes after that,  person after person would remind Punk to make Roman look strong until he finally told them to shut the f---k up and let him do his job. From that story alone, we get a clear picture of how WWE wants Roman Reigns to be booked. On a side note, the next month at the Royal Rumble, Reigns broke Kane’s record of most eliminations in a rumble match when he threw out 12 men.

Now, we have a huge problem. And when I say huge, I mean HUGE. Andre the Giant huge.

In September, Reigns was sidelined with an incarcerated hernia that required emergency surgery. During that time, he would cut promos via satellite that mostly fell flat. He also won the 2014 Superstar of the Year Slammy award WHILE STILL INACTIVE.  Did I also mention his promos fall pretty flat? Seriously, watch his promo from last week’s Raw and tell me he didn't stare directly into the camera for a good five seconds at least. It looked like the camera was slowly eating away his brain. However, the icing on the cake came at last night’s Christmas Raw when Reigns faced off against Big Show. That’s right, Big Show.  The same Big Show that changes alignment like he changes underpants. Their match was so slow and plodding that the fans chanted “boring” and even chanted for Daniel Bryan at one point. The same Daniel Bryan who is also currently inactive and unsure if he will ever return or not.

What I’m saying is, things are not looking good for Mr. Reigns. Wrestling Big Show on Monday night did him absolutely no favors whatsoever. The less than favorable reaction he received kinda makes me think that WWE might want to reconsider pulling the trigger on Operation OverPush. If Reigns is pushed too much too soon before he is ready, the crowd will turn on him faster than you can say guacamole. Sound familiar? To make matters worse, this year's Royal Rumble will take place in Philadelphia, home to the Philly cheesestake, the Eagles, oh and also ECW. I guarantee you those fans will eat him alive and spit him right back out. As a longtime wrestling fan and supporter of the company, I challenge WWE to think over what they are doing with Roman Reigns. You must make sure he is ready and able to be the new "man" of the company. Or you can begin the first stage of Operation OverPush in January. If you thought last year's Royal Rumble was a disaster, you haven't seen anything yet. WWE holds the career of a promising young superstar in their hands, and I hope the Roman Reigns Story can come to a happy ending for all of us. 

...well, maybe some of us.

On a much lighter note, since Christmas is just around the corner, I thought I would share this special song that was featured in the comments section of  The Best and Worst of Raw written by a blogger named Brandon Stroud. I encourage readers of this blog to check out uproxx.com/prowrestling and follow him on Twitter @MrBrandonStroud. He's a funny and talented dude who loves pro wrestling. Anyway, here is the song, by the user Spitty with a slight modification provided by yours truly!

On the 12th day of Christmas creative gave to me…

12 Wins by DQ

11 Pins by roll up

10 Rosebuds raving

9. 99

8 total divas

7 pointless angles

6 Boring Promos

NO BRASS RINGS

4 Champions losing

3 Black guys dancing

2 minute matches

and I wish I was watching NXT

Happy Holidays from PW Manifesto!