WWE SummerSlam is less than a month away and one of the rumored matches will be between Roman Reigns and Randy Orton, but according to a new report, fans probably won’t be thrilled about it.
From the site WrestlingRumors :
“Orton and Reigns faced each other at a series of WWE Live Events over the weekend in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, numerous reports have circulated from fans over their matches being very mediocre.”
Other observers from WrestleZone note:
“Nothing against Orton or Reigns but they just don’t mix well together. Orton is not the same ever since turning heel. HHH and Stephanie are basically taking all the heat and Orton is being seen as an afterthought. He just needs to cut loose and be himself away from Authority… Not to mention that creative should stop feeding him scripted lines.”
“Ha, it’s not surprising that Roman vs. Randy got a negative review. Roman Reigns is an awful wrestler with zero charisma.”
“I’m a big fan of Reigns, but wrestling wise, he has yet to ‘wow’ me. Need to see more, and fast.”
“I try to keep telling myself to keep an open mind with Reigns because he just started his singles career, but his match on SD with Del Rio was terrible! And Del Rio always makes his opponents look good!”
As you can see, much of the criticism is directed at Roman Reigns and not Randy Orton. Orton has been well-established since joining Evolution several years ago, and he’s proven himself in the ring and on the mic time and again.
But as we pointed out with our recent post on Reigns possibly being bad for business , he’s still got a lot to prove, and if the WWE is going to make the mistake of pushing him quickly, it could blow up in their faces.
Now, at WWE SummerSlam, we expect a singles match will go down between Reigns and the Viper, and for all purposes, it should be better than what the crowds in Oklahoma saw.
That’s because the company likes to pit certain talents against each other at live events to work out all the kinks by the time the pay-per-view (or “special event”) happens.
It’s a smart strategy, and it’s entirely possible that they could put on one heck of a match August 17. But Roman Reigns has a lot to lose if things don’t go according to plan. After all, rumblings backstage are that he’s slated for the big show next April. WWE SummerSlam will be a great opportunity to see if he is capable of rising to the occasion.
But considering how long he and Orton have been working together now, we would have expected more improvements than what fans reported this weekend.
Do you think Orton and Reigns will be a good matchup at WWE SummerSlam?
[Image via WWE ]