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The Big Dog is struggling.
Well, not in terms of booking but definitely in terms of what he's doing with it.
He may be exchanging victories with Braun Strowman, getting pinned cleanly by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam and on the receiving end of a verbal beatdown by John Cena...but if you even half follow the product, then you know that Roman Reigns is the chosen one.
Whatever may be happening to him on WWE programming today, the end goal is to have him standing over the slain carcass of the Beast Incarnate at WrestleMania 34, Universal Title held aloft - hopefully basking in the adulation of over 70,000 strong.
Whereas the truth is that he's much more likely to be booed out of the arena.
On paper, the WWE doesn't really care if you cheer or boo their top babyface; one look at the polarizing John Cena would tell you that.
But like Cena said in that epic promo segment between him and Reigns, he divides opinion because some people like what he stands for while some dislike it. In Reigns' case, the audience boos him because they still don't know what to think.
In pro wrestling terms, that's just called not getting over.
Thankfully, however, for Roman Reigns, this feud with John Cena may well be the solution to his problem.
Why do we think so?
Read on and find out.
#1 Dearth of options
Roman Reigns' victory over the Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 didn't do as much for him as the WWE would have hoped because people see the Phenom for what he is: a veteran with a bad hip, at the very end of his career.
For Roman Reigns to get put over and get catapulted onto a whole other level then, the only realistic options for him are to beat either Brock Lesnar or John Cena.
And given that the showdown against Lesnar has been reportedly pencilled in for WrestleMania 34, that leaves only the Leader of the Cenation.
There is literally no other Superstar over whom a victory can move Roman Reigns up the hierarchy or get him more over with the fans and the WWE recognize this.
No wonder Cena was conveniently labelled a 'free agent' as he made the switch from SmackDown Live to Raw, just to pick a bone with the Big Dog.
#2 Watch and learn
John Cena has masterfully handled the polarizing response that he receives from the WWE Universe for a number of years now.
He knows how to make an impression and get over with the audience regardless of the kind of feedback that they throw at him.
That is an invaluable lesson for Roman Reigns to learn.
We often see Reigns getting put off when the audience doesn't react the way he expected them to and, in the process, give them more leverage to try and unsettle him.
What he needs to do is ensure that he's the one who's playing the fans and not the other way around.
And there's no better person to learn that art from, other than the master that is John Cena.
#3 A schooling on the microphone
For the longest time, fans weren't hopping into the Roman Reigns bandwagon because there was a notion, justifiably so, that the WWE was conveniently ignoring his flaws.
Namely, his (in)ability to cut an engaging promo, while still pushing him to the moon.
Of late, however, the WWE has gone the other way; exposing Reigns to losses more frequently and having his lack of promo skills shown up by John Cena.
While this doesn't help Reigns' cause on paper, it does give the audience the impression that the WWE is totally willing to put their golden boy out there in a sink or swim scenario.
While it runs the risk of backfiring, it would be looked upon as an ingenious ploy should it pay dividends.
Sometimes, you need tough love to get the job done.
#4 It will be a great match
Whether you get behind him or not, you can fault Roman Reigns' promo skills but not his ring work.
He's consistently delivered bruising, engaging encounters in the ring, against a whole host of opposition ranging from Bray Wyatt to Braun Strowman.
And we all know how convincingly John Cena quelled the notion that he couldn't wrestle by putting on a series of highly entertaining matches in the weeks of the US Open Challenge.
Bottom line: both these men raise their game for a big event. And it really doesn't get bigger than facing one another at No Mercy.
We can likely expect a great match between them at the pay-per-view and that only bodes well for Roman Reigns.
#5 Something's got to give
The fans of the WWE can be a fickle lot.
They're notoriously hard to please at times, taking on a mind of their own and absolutely sandbagging the efforts of the WWE.
Other times, they get drawn in very organically when the storyline and the characters involved are the right ones.
This Roman Reigns - John Cena feud seems to belong to the latter category.
There is a sense of irresistible force versus immovable object at work here, and whenever that is the case, the WWE fans are usually all in.
There is a sense that one of these Superstars - both of whom aren't accustomed to losing big - has a lot to lose in this storyline.
And while logic points to Roman Reigns coming out on top, you can never say never in the WWE, especially when it's John Cena standing opposite you in the ring.
With so much on the line and a keen sense of intrigue surrounding the feud after the hard-hitting promo segment on Raw, this could end up being a program for the ages.
And that's exactly what Roman Reigns needs.
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