Roman Reigns’ entrance is one of the best ones in the WWE despite the 1990s era graphics. He comes out, roars, and crouches, half-heartily punching the stage. It’s near perfect and shows him preparing his finisher, the Superman Punch. Recently, fans have asked him what he’s punching and Reigns explained his use of a pad, and took a shot at Bill Goldberg. Now that’s a busy tweet.
When we think of wrestlers, we usually think of them an invincible superheroes and villains as they seemingly withstand things most of us could never tolerate. Of course, the moves are co-operative and no one really gets hurt. Usually. So it stands to reason that they take precautions in other ways.
Sharp-eyed fans can destroy a fantasy
While it’s easy to tell when a wrestler strikes another or not among other moves, a simple thing like an entrance rarely seems like something that’s as complicated as a properly done headlock or tag to a tag team partner. Sure, many are highly choreographed and timed to match the lights, music, and fireworks perfectly. It makes sense, and these are probably the most rehearsed part of any match.
The reason is simple: sell the character.
Let’s face it, if we don’t believe in the wrestler and their character heading to the ring, we’re not going to care what happens inside the ring. It’s simple psychology. It’s why a book cover needs to be attention getting. It’s why we only see the highlights of a film in a trailer. We’re being enticed, drawn into their world to share in their experiences, and it’s a pretty awesome ride at times.
Then there come the sharp-eyed fan that disrupts that fantasy. (Special thanks to sportskeeda.com for the twitter links).
Anyone else noticed Roman's cute little crash mat so he doesn't hurt his hand? pic.twitter.com/OVj5Lq1CfI
— Sam Driver (@thesamdriver) January 18, 2020
An obvious question, and an obvious answer
We all know punches aren’t legitimate punches in the matches. While they still make contact, they do so in safe areas with the palm or meaty part of the first and they’re held back so they’re not actual blows. It makes sense, otherwise people would be knocked senseless and injured from repeated strikes (this is wrestling, not boxing or bare knuckle fighting).
So this would bring up the question as to why is something like that needed? Reigns wears a padded glove and throws a thousand punches that are held back, so this shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Well, yes and now. It may not be a problem for a while, but repeatedly hitting a steel or other surface like that hundreds of times could injure Reigns’ hand. As he put it:
Nothing to explain Nick. It’s a little piece of pad. So I don’t break my hand on steel grate. I gota perform like 48 weeks a year man. So that would be stupid. It would be like,🤔 head butting a door before my match level of stupid. Anyway, have a good day Nick. 🤙🏽 https://t.co/OgHEoUuDIt
— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) January 18, 2020
Makes sense. So, problem solved, right?
Not so fast.
While fans haven’t really picked up on this for whatever reason, Reigns’ last part of his tweet is a shot at Bill Goldberg.
I’m sure we all remember the debacle at Super Showdown between Goldberg and the Undertaker?
Well, Goldberg has this habit of headbutting lockers to psyche himself up before a match. It’s from his football days and it does work for many. The thing is, at Super Showdown, he reportedly busted himself open. While it was quickly patched up, he popped the cut open after hitting the ring post.
All of that was before he and ‘Taker dropped each other on their heads, not that doing that helped much.
While this doesn’t seem like much and may just be friendly banter, anyone wanna bet Reigns and Goldberg will be facing off at the next Saudi event or the next? Just throwing that out there.
Bet it comes up on this Friday’s Smackdown (2/7/2020) when Goldberg makes an appearance.
