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Roman Reigns was subjected to a lot of scrutiny on the road to WrestleMania but at the end of the day, the last laugh belonged to him. He won the Royal Rumble, went over against Daniel Bryan at Fast Lane and will go on to headline WrestleMania alongside Brock Lesnar.From the looks of it, he might win the WWE Championship as well. The Era of Reigns looks all set to begin after the granddaddy of them all and his Road to WrestleMania is worthy of a look back.As Reigns prepares for his WrestleMania moment, here is a look at how the Samoan Superman faired with so much expectations being rested on his shoulders by Vince McMahon.
#5 Post WrestleMania 30
Shield faced off against The New Age Outlaws and Kane in a squash match at WrestleMania 30. Another New Era vs. Old Era feud followed against Evolution before Seth Rollins decided to backstab his brothers.
All three superstars of the Hounds of Justice then went on to have an impressive singles run. Reigns was all of a sudden main eventing pay-per-views and challenging for the WWE championship. However, all of those matches were multi-superstar matches and not a chance for him to shine on his own.
Filler feuds against Kane and Randy Orton followed but the much rumored Triple H – Reigns match never materialized. Reigns was then taken out due to an injury and by the time he came back, the Road to WrestleMania was right in front of him.
#4 Momentum for WrestleMania 31
After his return, the word was around the block. Reigns within no time became the favorite to win Rumble and slay the Beast at WrestleMania. But then the twist in the tale came: Daniel Bryan.
Bryan was not expected to back in time for WrestleMania, but since the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him, Bryan decided to take the risk and came back before Royal Rumble.
And with that, Reigns was relegated into being a second choice. A mass revolt from the fans is what followed. They wanted Bryan to headline Mania no matter what but the company didn’t want it to happen due to a plethora of reasons. So when Rumble hit the Land of Extreme, the pretty boy Reigns was crucified.
No one accepted his win and in an effort to make him look good, the company had to book match at Fast Lane to put Reigns over. Bryan was the chosen victim and he played the role perfectly and breathed some credibility into Reigns.
#3 What to Expect
You cannot expect a wrestling clinic from Reings. He is clearly not the brightest technician in the WWE roster but Reigns does have some good brawling skills. In addition to this, the flashy Superman punches and Sphere helps big time as well.
The big man dynamics is what WWE will bank in on and Reigns will most probably be projected as a warrior going up against the Beast. The Underdog storyline will not work with Reigns in the picture so their only option is to go with the 'John Cena' type of match design.
Reigns might get beat down by Lesnar in the initial stages only to come back later and win the match. Anything less than a win would be career suicide for Reigns but if Lesnar is staying in WWE, we never know.
#2 Immediate Aftermath of WrestleMania 31
There are two possibilities here. The first one is Reigns winning the match and Lesnar leaving WWE. If that is the case, then Reigns could easily slip into a feud with the likes of Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, or even Daniel Bryan.
The second scenario is Lesnar staying in the WWE for a longer period and Reigns losing at Mania. This however would crash the stock of Reigns on short term but for the long run, it might work wonders for him.
On both occasions, the most possible immediate feud for Reigns after WrestleMania will be against Rollins. Rollins holding the Money in the Bank briefcase further improves the chances of this possibility.
#1 What the future holds
Win the title at Mania or not, Reigns is going to be in the title picture for WrestleMania 32. Even though there is a lot of criticism on Reigns at the moment, he has the ability to make it up in a year's time.
John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Rusev will be instrumental in building Reigns up to next Mania. Also there is a possibility of Reigns turning heel at some point if the fans have trouble accepting him as a baby face.
No matter what, the bottom line is, Reigns might go on to replace John Cena on top of the mountain and if he doesn’t, the blame should go on Vince McMahon for pushing him too early up the hill.
