Capping off this three day weekend of major wrestling shows, it’s another WWE PPV Sunday tonight! I know! It feels like we’ve just been here! If you’re counting WWE Starrcade, and really you shouldn’t but in some ways you can, WWE have run a PPV-level show on three of the last four Sundays! That is somewhat overkill! But it comes to a close tonight, as it’s our last big event before the Royal Rumble kicks off WrestleMania season! And before that we have an interesting night of action awaiting us in the form of WWE TLC!
Looking at this card, I can’t help but think this is one of those shows that’ll either be completely spectacular or a total disaster. Just sorta have that feeling. And yannow what, that’s pretty exciting! So let’s get to the previews.
Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match: Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin
Right, so, this angle’s been kinda stupid, yeah? It’s basically what you’d expect to see when Roman Reigns takes on King Corbin, every stereotype of WWE in the past few years hitting you in the face at once. Corbin throws a lot of expendable henchman and goofy gimmicks at Roman, Roman responds by looking very strong and toppling everything. But yannow, as easy and very justifiable as it is to mock Corbin’s yipping dog logo and his actual bags for Roman’s poop and his goofy Big Dog mascot and the buckets and buckets of dog food that painted Roman Reigns’ body, I cannot in all good conscience say this has been a failure.
Somehow in spite of every dumb thing Baron’s done, I’ve felt that Roman has come off as a true badass quite a few times in this angle and the crowd has consistently gotten way behind him every single time. I’ve often felt that since returning from his Leukemia scare that people have largely warmed up to Roman, he really hasn’t gotten booed much this year aside from very special circumstances like when he was against NXT guys at Survivor Series. Other than that, people have been quite receptive of him during his stay away from the main event scene and frankly, in some ways, he feels more like The Guy than he ever did when he was actually being pushed that way.
A little thing about this feud that I actually appreciate and have yet to say on here…
King Corbin is, in many ways, playing the role of mid-2000s main event babyface.
That might sound stupid, but think about it. Couldn’t you see John Cena having a rival’s logo play on the screen yipping like a chihuahua? Or throwing around props for the sake of one-note poop jokes? Isn’t Roman being buried in dog food atleast a little bit reminiscent of DX dropping feces from the ceiling onto people?
Corbin’s doing a lot of dumb stuff that people rolled their eyes at top babyfaces of the past for, but is doing so as a heel. Heels traditionally don’t really get up to these cartooney antics a lot in WWE, they tend to be the more straight-laced folks. And I appreciate that because even though they’re still pretty bad segments to watch, they’re definitely a lot more effective with those alignments flipped. You gotta take whatever positives you can get with WWE and I like that we’re at the point now where it’s the heel who goes out and makes sufferin’ succotash promos.
All that said, for the love of God WWE, do not have Roman Reigns and King Corbin headline this show in a match with nothing on the line. You will be tempting fate in a big way. Just because fences have been mended a lot this year doesn’t mean they’re unbreakable.
…Oh yeah, and Roman Reigns over. This feud’s run it’s course, Corbin has no more henchmen left to slaughter, he’s done.
