WWE News: Roman Reigns Continues To Put Over New Stars

One of the biggest criticisms of Roman Reigns is that the WWE is allegedly forcing him into the main events without him earning it and are doing it over wrestlers some of the fans want in the top spots. However, this week on Monday Night Raw, Roman Reigns lost to another one of the top new WWE stars, Samoa Joe.

This seems important because Samoa Joe isn’t the only person who has beaten Roman Reigns, and the “Big Dog” hasn’t won many big event matches for the world or universal championship since beating Triple H for the WWE world title at WrestleMania. He did start off hot, beating AJ Styles at Payback in May.

However, at Money in the Bank 2016, Seth Rollins pinned Roman Reigns and won the WWE world championship, only to fall victim to Dean Ambrose and the Money in the Bank briefcase, allowing all three former members of The Shield to hold the title in one night.

At Battleground 2016, Dean Ambrose won a three-way match against Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins to hold onto the WWE world title heading into the brand split, taking that title to SmackDown Live, something Stephanie McMahon blamed on Roman Reigns.

The very next night on Monday Night Raw, Roman Reigns won a match to get into the Universal Championship title tournament, but he then lost cleanly to the debuting Finn Balor, making Balor the first ever WWE Universal Champion.

At SummerSlam, the WWE tried to get fans on Roman Reigns’ side by making him feud with the heel Rusev, but it only partially worked. After Reigns tried to work as a dominant face at that event, he then went on to win the title from Rusev at Clash of Champions, Roman Reigns’ first PPV win since WrestleMania.

Roman Reigns beat Rusev again inside a Hell in a Cell match at the next PPV. In November, Roman Reigns was on the losing team in the Monday Night Raw vs. SmackDown Live traditional Survivor Series match.

During this time, he was also feuding with Kevin Owens, and he actually took some losses to Owens, although it was usually with Chris Jericho interfering. While the heels were cheating to win, the Universal title never went to Roman Reigns.

As a matter of fact, not only did Roman Reigns not win the Universal Championship from Kevin Owens, but he lost to Kevin Owens at the last PPV of 2016, Roadblock. After his big win at WrestleMania, Roman Reigns went 3-4 in PPV matches with two of those wins coming over Rusev. He also lost a big time match with Finn Balor, giving him a losing record in world title matches as well.

This year started off with Roman Reigns getting some revenge over Chris Jericho, but then he lost the United States title in a handicap match to Jericho on Monday Night Raw. While some may argue that Roman Reigns is losing the matches because his opponents are cheating, that is what the Chris Jericho-Kevin Owens heel dynamic is all about. It is no different than the Ric Flair-Four Horsemen dynamic from year’s past.

Finally, Roman Reigns lost to Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble by pinfall thanks to Braun Strowman interfering. He lost to Randy Orton in the Royal Rumble match itself. He has now lost to Samoa Joe by pinfall, once again thanks to Braun Strowman interfering. Next, Roman Reigns will face Braun Strowman at Fastlane in March.

Fans have every right to boo who they want, but the fact is that Roman Reigns has not held a world title since beating Triple H at WrestleMania and guys like Kevin Owens and AJ Styles have received long runs with the titles.

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Roman Reigns has been in upper mid-card feuds for the last half of 2016 before losing his Universal Championship feud to Kevin Owens. Next, he will go up against Braun Strowman with no title on the line and is looking to take on Undertaker at WrestleMania in a big match that also is not for a title.

Yes, Roman Reigns is pushed as a main event star, but he is no different than anyone else pushed in the upper mid-card right now. As he has shown against Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, and Finn Balor, he seems willing to lose to whoever the WWE puts him up against and works hard while doing so.

[Featured Image by WWE]