Reigns vs Rollins is scheduled for Money in the Bank and to be frank the build-up has been lackluster so far. With John Cena’s return and the dream match of Styles vs Cena taking place, WWE has sidelined the build-up for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at the event. It is disheartening to see WWE relax their creative muscles for this feud, which has such a huge potential.
Reigns and Rollins have been the polar opposites of the company for over a year and their rivalry before Rollins got himself injured was something to bank upon. Despite the huge history between the duo, WWE hasn’t tapped into the potential disappointingly. And to think that the title which is the highest prize a wrestler could attain in the company is taking a backseat is rather unsavory.
Given that there is only one week left for the match to take place and Cena vs Styles is more marketable, we can’t expect WWE to put more efforts into this feud in the upcoming week. Hence, here are the five ways in which WWE could turn this fight with lackluster build-up into a talking point of the night.
#5 The Double Count-Out
Neither Reigns going clean over Rollins nor Rollins going clean over Reigns is going to save this fight. Let’s establish that first.
Rollins has been The Authority’s Golden Boy for over a year and making him lose clean to Reigns in the first match since his return will not help WWE. There is also the fact that he is one of top heels in the business tight now. IF Reigns goes clean over Rollins, it might hurt his legitimacy heading into SummerSlam. WWE could not afford even the slightest chance of that.
On the other hand, Roman is just finding his feet as a champion. His matches with Styles has strengthened his in-ring credibility, but even then he is still far off from standing on his own. His tweener look is taking steam right now and it is essentially not a best time to let him drop the title to Rollins. Though many could argue that Rollins has the necessary credentials to not make Roman look week, we have to consider the fact that Roman is not that liked by WWE fans.
So, how can we easily save it. The Double Count-Out.
The building to this match has been lackluster so far. If booked properly, WWE could make this as another huge rivalry like Zayn vs Owens. In order to do that, WWE has to let these two loose at each other. The audience would surely love Reigns and Rollins going at each other’s throat unmindful of the outcome. This might just take the rivalry to a whole new level.
WWE Creative’s option might be this, if they aren’t considering a clean win for anyone of them. This might also help WWE Creative to setup a huge match at SummerSlam with some big stipulation.
#4 The Cash-In
Though this is highly unlikely to occur, we have to consider this.
Why this option is highly unlikely to occur? Simple, WWE would lose loads of creative plans and some interesting scenarios in the upcoming months if the cash-in occurs on the same night. Thus, this scenario is highly unlikely to occur.
So was Zack Ryder winning the IC Championship.
If WWE plans to surprise us with the cash-in, Ambrose or Owens would be the guy to go. Ambrose can inject a whole new level of storytelling to this rivalry and we can soon see a triple threat main event at SummerSlam. But, this also make it highly unlikely as WWE would love to keep a Shield Triple Threat to headline WrestleMania.
Owens is the only other believable character to go through the cash-in. This might just surprise a lot of people and he can create interesting scenarios. Imagine a Reigns vs Owens or Rollins vs Owens rivalry heading into SummerSlam, wouldn’t it be wonderful. But, the flip side to this is that if Owens wins the Money in the Bank, then WWE can have loads of fun moments with Owens holding the briefcase and threatening people. And if he cashes in WWE loses that.
So, this option is highly unlikely, but WWE can plan some other person to grab the briefcase and save the main event. Who knows, WWE must just surprise us all once again.
#3 The Interference
Don’t get your hackles up with the mention of an interference finish. I know, we absolutely don’t want another interference finish at the main event.
By saying interference, I don’t mean just any interference. I mean The Interference. And the person to do it would be Dean Ambrose.
Dean Ambrose has been sitting in the sidelines for months now as his Shield brethren have been hogging the main event scene. It is high time that Dean Ambrose arrived at main event scene and what better night to do it than this Sunday.
In case if Ambrose doesn’t win the briefcase and ends up losing once again, this might be a great option for WWE to do this. But, this interference should be different. He should not sprout some brotherly love to Reigns nor should he turn his back on him. He must do it for his own sake and for no one else’s.
Imagine an unhinged Dean Ambrose interfering the main event and bashing up both Reigns and Rollins with a chair to stake his claim at the main event scene. This heel turn of Ambrose would surely make the crowd go nuts and it might be even a welcome change in his character. God knows that his character has lost steam in the recent days. WWE has built up Ambrose’s credibility in a good way with his rivalry with Chris Jericho. They might as well use it.
This could even setup a Rollins vs Ambrose 2 (Come on, you enjoyed it, didn’t you?) or even Reigns vs a heel Ambrose. This could just be what WWE needs to make it work. This could even setup a Shield Triple Threat for SummerSlam without involving the briefcase. But honestly, I am not sure whether WWE Creative could think along these terms given their recent performance.
#2 The Double Turn
Now comes the most interesting option. If WWE Creative has even an ounce of opportunistic thinking they would surely jump to this. This is the most likely option that they would chose, if they are thinking with their brains.
Reigns’ tweener look is not being a success as much as WWE has hoped. Fans are crying for a heel Reigns and the opposite could be said for Rollins. If you remember the pop Rollins gathered when he made his return to Raw, you might just get an inkling of how huge this could be, The Superstars are perfectly poised for a heel turn much like Bret Hart and Austin were poised. It can’t get any better than this.
If WWE Creative does indeed uses this opportunity, they get three things without much effort. A heel Reigns who is booed because he is heel and not because he is pushed, a legitimate face who has the sympathy of WWE Universe, and last but not least, the championship doesn’t even need to change hands to accomplish this. And honestly, I can’t see a flip side here.
Roman’s change of character may be the only way he can get over with fans and Rollins can surely work the crowd in his favor. It is a win-win situation and WWE better realize this. Roman using heel tactics to hold on to the tile will be the best thing for both parties involved. He could garner much heat and meanwhile Seth could use that to garner sympathy.
#1 The Return
How can WWE top a Double Turn? It is basically the most difficult thing to pull off. But, a very powerful return could just have the same effect as a double turn. And the man to do it would be Triple H.
I know that lot of the fans will not be happy with Triple H being near the main-event scene. But, this might be the time that this could play out to everyone’s advantage. Say whatever you want to say about Triple H, but there is no taking away of his in-ring abilities and the uncanny knack to deliver A+ matches time and time again.
A returning Triple H could attack Roman and cause Rollins the championship. A disappointed Rollins can then attack Triple H and end the match with his own Pedigree to Triple H. And you can imagine the crowd’s reaction that.
Yes, it would be tremendous!
This might be the opportunity that Rollins needs to change face and come out of Triple H’s shadow. He doesn’t even need to change his finisher and Roman’s heel turn could wait a little bit longer, say SummerSlam. The advantage of this finish is that this could effectively setup a match between Triple H and Rollins at SummerSlam, which would definitely garner the fans’ attention.
This also frees Roman to accept some other challenger against whom he could do the heel turn or even put-up a great match at SummerSlam. This essentially leaves WWE Creative a lot of options to explore with in the future too. But, will the WWE Creative do any of this and save the match or just do some lazy booking and hurt the credibility of two top stars? We will find out coming Sunday.
Could there be anything better than this? Let me know in the comments.
