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Five months ago, Roman Reigns was forced to drop the Universal Championship in October to battle a real-life bout with leukemia.
Thankfully, he won and returned to in-ring competition in February. After an array of tag team matches, Roman Reigns won his first singles match since his return at WrestleMania 35 by defeating Drew McIntyre.
While his brief feud with Drew McIntyre served as a sort of re-introduction to Reigns as a singles star, his feud against Elias and the McMahons serves as his first major storyline since his return.To be frank about it, it doesn't look appealing so far.
As a result of the Superstar Shake-Up, Roman Reigns has been drafted to SmackDown Live. He made his debut on the Blue Brand last week as the unofficial "biggest signing in SmackDown history".
He interrupted Vince McMahon's introduction for what he deemed to be the official hottest signing in SmackDown history, Elias. The Big Dog dropped both men, respectively, with a Superman Punch and a Spear.
Last week, the SmackDown Live Commisioner, Shane McMahon, took offense to what the former four-time World Champion did to his father. As retaliation, he and The Drifter jumped Roman Reigns from behind and left The Big Dog laying on the mat.
We've seen this sort of storyline recycled again and again for Reigns enough times that it's getting tiring.
It provides us with yet another example as to how WWE fail to understand how to book Roman Reigns.
When he came back after battling leukemia, he's received cheers for the most part. With each passing week, that reaction is slowly getting more mixed. Audience reaction worsens the more WWE seem to remind us of what we never liked about Reigns to begin with.
Recall that last week, Reigns got some boos as soon as he said "This is my yard now!" Most audiences hate - and always hated - that line because it reminds us that he broke Undertaker's streak. This new feud reminds us of all the Reigns vs Authority storylines we always hated.
WWe's booking of Roman Reigns has never been their strong suit. Going back to when he was first pushed in 2015, he didn't start getting booed severely until he started getting booked to say things like "Sufferin' Succotash" on the road to WrestleMania.
It didn't help that it was clear that Reigns was on his way to the WrestleMania main event before he was ready. By time we got to the Royal Rumble, fans hated him because they were certain he was getting shoved down our throats.
Recycling old storylines and putting him in the second top angle immediately upon his SmackDown arrival - second only to the WWE Title picture - will only make fans believe he's being shoved down our throats once again.
WWE clearly haven't learned from the past or took notes of why fans used to boo Roman Reigns all of the time. If they keep this is up, he'll be getting booed for the rest of his career. Reigns isn't a bad performer, but his booking does him no justice.
If he had better storylines, even going as far back as that first initial push in 2015, more people would like The Big Dog. But they don't because they keep giving him drivel to work with, then regurgitate it.
Hopefully, we can get passed this Roman Reigns/McMahon storyline and The Big Dog can move on to bigger and better things. Preferably, something fresher than another anti-Authority angle.
