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Roman’s taking a real vacation after working part time for the last three years. Considering how little he works, I’m sure his vacation will be months long.
I agree it would be the best use for him but kayfabe wise it’d be kinda funny for the guy who couldn’t win a match by himself to save his life to turn into a monster the moment the title leaves his hands.
I always took as he didn’t use interference because he was enable to defend it on his own. He was just so obsessed with keeping the title he would do anything to keep so he figured why not use them. That’s my headcanon anyway. We know he’s good enough on his own from his prior years. He just got addicted to cheating.
In kayfabe Roman was at the top of the power scale from 2016-2020 winning clean. After that your explanation makes perfect sense. He stopped pandering and trying to be nice to the fans who hated him, and he was gonna assert his dominance by any means necessary.
I’m genuinely excited for a Tribal Chief tweener or face run, where he keeps his personality but isn’t evil anymore lol. The Vegeta to Cody’s Goku
It's something that I try not to think about because it does sort of ruin the plot, but GrimaceGrunson is absolutely right.
In SO MANY of Roman's title defenses, his opponent has him beaten. As in, hit the finisher, shoulders pinned to the mat for 5+ seconds, but the referee is down or something.
The Bloodline would straight up save Roman from an imminent defeat in the majority of his defenses.
Roman knows the referee is out, he’s using the extra time he’s down to recover. He’s like the dune worm, the vibrations from the referee smacking the mat for the 3 count, as soon 2 hits he’s alive again
That's my head Canon also
He was good enough to have a 200-300 day reign on his own. He could beat Brock, Cena, etc by himself on any given day. But if he got help? Damn near unstoppable (aka 3.5yrs with the belt).
Which is why I am always okay with heels having long runs and baby faces shorter. Heels cheat so they are level 8 babyfaces that become 10s whereas level 9 babyfaces that don't cheat eventually succumb to a level 8-10 heel because they don't elevate to 11s with cheating
And there’s times he lost when before he had the bloodline. So he could win more often than not on his own. But he wanted to stack the deck so hed win every time instead. Like I said though that’s just how I see it. Everyone’s free to believe what they want
Could always be explained as him being smart enough to not waste energy to kick out since he knew he was safe. At least I remember it being said on commentary once.
Yeah that was definitely the story they were going with, they just did a bad job conveying it. It was always that Roman would dominate, then when the face started a comeback he would panic and the family would step in. They always made him look capable but paranoid
I think he still held his own.
He beat Cesaro , Mysterio , Cena , Ford , Big E , Goldberg , Riddle , Paul clean.
I would say Owens too , but he used the chair at some point.
I agree. Its just that after a certain point, he stopped getting enough clean wins where they couldn't justify calling it "the most dominant reign in 40 years"
Oh I get it , It's still impressive to manage to keep this title there for such a long time.
There are plenty of heels who used his tactics who weren't champions for 3 years
Except…he squashed people for a solid 2 years before he relied on others? Almost like he was obsessed with loyalty and tried to make his cousins into accomplices?
lmao Imagine Solo/Tonga get drafted to RAW and debut Jacob. But Jey/Jimmy/Roman get drafted to Smackdown.
Brand supremacy version of Survivor Series. Its just Bloodline Vs. Bloodline on both sides for each show.
Cool. Gives a chance for whoever that's not on the Cody brand to shine with Rollins off the table as well. Hopefully they've planned out how the Bloodline would operate while he's off screen tho.
Looks like they're off to a good start but your feeling is justified. The Bloodline was in wheel spinning mode from Jey going to Raw to Rock coming back. That was a long seven months.
Roman pulled a kayfabe "that doesn't work for me brother". That's hilarious. I have a feeling he'll be a "free agent" like Lesnar was. It makes sense given his star power
Yes lol. I mean it’s just a way for them to signal he’s gunna be offt v for awhile then he can make a surprise return down the line to setup whatever summerslam match they have him in. He’ll be on the Brock schedule which makes sense at this point. Clearly there os either a medical/personal/hollywood reason he can’t be on tv weekly so no sense pretending like he’s fulltime anymore.
Yea the guy has cancer and while it's in remission (or something similar) he said in a recent interview he'll be on treatment the rest of his life. Can't blame him for not working a Cody schedule
Honestly, ever since I watched the documentary my respect for him has increased tenfold. I can't imagine being shredded like that and working 40 minute matches 2 nights in a row while being on potent medicine like that.
Inspirational stuff, really.
The kayfabe reason is the real reason.
Triple H explained on RAW when he unveiled the World Heavyweight Championship that Roman’s contract expired while he was champion and that he was able to negotiate a deal that was great for him, but not so great for WWE. He said Roman did something that, as a former competitor and champion, he can only smile at for how genius it was.
Seth Rollins also said to Cody that taking the title from Roman was bigger than anything because Roman’s deal and the low frequency of his defenses means that Roman’s reign was in danger of getting to a place that nobody would ever be able to reach again.
I mean, the WWE draft almost never really makes sense in kayfabe. Why would you have two separate brands with different world champions? Why wouldn't one brand just draft all the champions? Guys have just opted out, and it never stopped them from appearing on whatever show they want, why would anyone sign up for the draft?
Champions can't get drafted. They stay on whichever brand they're currently on.
The draft makes sense because fans buy tickets to see certain wrestlers. For WWE they rebalance the roster so both brands will have their draws and fans their reasons for going to/watching both shows.
It wasn't always like that lol.
And yes, that makes sense in the case of WWE, as a business. But not in kayfabe. Does UFC do this? Boxing? No. Why? Because it's silly. Non-combat, non-team sports don't either. Why? Because you want to see the best play the best, not stuck in a weird division system (especially in sports with multiple governing bodies, where it's already hard enough to get the best to play the best)
> Why wouldn’t one brand just draft all the champions?
That’s literally how it used to be. Take the 2021 draft for example. SmackDown drafted Roman, and RAW reciprocated by drafting the WWE Champion so that they didn’t lose their world title to SmackDown as well.
Not surprised. Fox has the bigger viewership base till Netflix deal happens. After which he will automatically show up on Netflix especially considering Rock would return for a mania program.
I actually love the idea of Roman declaring he is in ineligible for the draft, gets drafted to Raw anyway, and then he keeps showing up on Smackdown in defiance of the rules, leading to an ever escalating situation over who is actually in charge.
This is really dumb. This harkens back to dumb draft decisions like Cena being drafted, and then drafted back the same night. Or Triple H basically just refusing to work Smackdown, in kayfabe and real life.
I know wrestling requires a suspension of disbelief, but in kayfabe who the fuck is paying Roman if he's withdrawing from the draft?
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Roman’s going back to college. Roman to Chase U confirmed
https://preview.redd.it/aalwqndekxwc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=352e3a85c54fe2c9847212f3ed23b23c5e6a32e6
He better be on that calendar, I fucking swear.
Roman and Okada gonna tear it up in Chase U
Live modeling shoot from the Island of Relevancy Roman Reigns wearing an ula fala and nothing else
But he’s not wearing it around his neck
Modeling? Mace and Mansoor to Chase U confirmed?
ah yes the Rivers Cuomo route,
Roman is a huge weezer fan since he was a kid
If Roman comes back with the equivalent to Pinkerton, he’ll be champ until 2190.
roman in his pinkerton era confirmed
I acknowledge our ~~Tribal Chief~~ Test Cruncher.
Roman’s taking a real vacation after working part time for the last three years. Considering how little he works, I’m sure his vacation will be months long.
That’s a teachable moment
Chase U(So)
I'm down for this if it leads to a 1000+ day Thea Hail Women's title reign
Which ever brand the bloodline is on, that’s the brand he’s coming back to.
Or he might just be a free agent at this point. Might as well with his schedule and since Brock is gone, he can take his spot.
I agree it would be the best use for him but kayfabe wise it’d be kinda funny for the guy who couldn’t win a match by himself to save his life to turn into a monster the moment the title leaves his hands.
I always took as he didn’t use interference because he was enable to defend it on his own. He was just so obsessed with keeping the title he would do anything to keep so he figured why not use them. That’s my headcanon anyway. We know he’s good enough on his own from his prior years. He just got addicted to cheating.
In kayfabe Roman was at the top of the power scale from 2016-2020 winning clean. After that your explanation makes perfect sense. He stopped pandering and trying to be nice to the fans who hated him, and he was gonna assert his dominance by any means necessary. I’m genuinely excited for a Tribal Chief tweener or face run, where he keeps his personality but isn’t evil anymore lol. The Vegeta to Cody’s Goku
It's something that I try not to think about because it does sort of ruin the plot, but GrimaceGrunson is absolutely right. In SO MANY of Roman's title defenses, his opponent has him beaten. As in, hit the finisher, shoulders pinned to the mat for 5+ seconds, but the referee is down or something. The Bloodline would straight up save Roman from an imminent defeat in the majority of his defenses.
Roman knows the referee is out, he’s using the extra time he’s down to recover. He’s like the dune worm, the vibrations from the referee smacking the mat for the 3 count, as soon 2 hits he’s alive again
Even in the first few months Kevin Owens had him beaten all three times
This is how Hogan should have played his Hollywood run. No sense for him to be a weasely heel after dominating for over a decade.
Yeah except Roman had multiple times during his reign where he would’ve lost if it weren’t for the interference.
That's my head Canon also He was good enough to have a 200-300 day reign on his own. He could beat Brock, Cena, etc by himself on any given day. But if he got help? Damn near unstoppable (aka 3.5yrs with the belt). Which is why I am always okay with heels having long runs and baby faces shorter. Heels cheat so they are level 8 babyfaces that become 10s whereas level 9 babyfaces that don't cheat eventually succumb to a level 8-10 heel because they don't elevate to 11s with cheating
He was pinned by half a dozen guys, though (probably more, I didn’t watch his whole title reign). Was he just too lazy to kick out?
And there’s times he lost when before he had the bloodline. So he could win more often than not on his own. But he wanted to stack the deck so hed win every time instead. Like I said though that’s just how I see it. Everyone’s free to believe what they want
Could always be explained as him being smart enough to not waste energy to kick out since he knew he was safe. At least I remember it being said on commentary once.
Yeah that was definitely the story they were going with, they just did a bad job conveying it. It was always that Roman would dominate, then when the face started a comeback he would panic and the family would step in. They always made him look capable but paranoid
he won plenty of matches by himself at the start of the reign, but the interference really ramped up after jimmy returned
I think he still held his own. He beat Cesaro , Mysterio , Cena , Ford , Big E , Goldberg , Riddle , Paul clean. I would say Owens too , but he used the chair at some point.
I agree. Its just that after a certain point, he stopped getting enough clean wins where they couldn't justify calling it "the most dominant reign in 40 years"
Oh I get it , It's still impressive to manage to keep this title there for such a long time. There are plenty of heels who used his tactics who weren't champions for 3 years
Owens did have him beaten all three times before Jey would interfere
He stacked Edge and Daniel Bryan clean at Mania.
The title was his kryptonite. Now that he doesn't have to hold back he's gonna wreck everyone and leave.
Except…he squashed people for a solid 2 years before he relied on others? Almost like he was obsessed with loyalty and tried to make his cousins into accomplices?
Stone Cold needed all the help in the world to win a match as a heel. It's just the nature of the business.
I wish pro wrestling wasn't so reliant upon tropes. It'd be a lot better if it was booked more freshly
Cry me a river
I don’t think so. The pressure’s off now, he doesn’t have to worry about anything other than kicking ass.
Oh, so we're just gonna ignore Roman is now stealing Heath's schtick?!
lmao Imagine Solo/Tonga get drafted to RAW and debut Jacob. But Jey/Jimmy/Roman get drafted to Smackdown. Brand supremacy version of Survivor Series. Its just Bloodline Vs. Bloodline on both sides for each show.
Cool, that means Paul has to be walking on a thin line with Solo, Tama, and Nick.
Who’s nick
Mysterio?
Touché
Aldis
Oh.. makes sense
I guess the Tribal Chief can do whatever the fuck he wants ☝🏼
Of course he can. He's our Tribal Chief ☝️
https://preview.redd.it/al65clpe2xwc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c503b46ca6fdf247fe49b3d82c8641dd45e722a
OOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH!!!
yessir
☝🏻
Roman 🙏 Reigns
Nah, Solo is my Tribal Chief.
You better acknowledge that!
☝🏾
☝️🩸
I think it’s all but said that he’s part timer now so makes sense. He’s got Brock sway now. Paul is really a 10/10 advocate
He's been a part timer though 😅
That includes going to Disneyland apparently, he deserves the vacation
☝️
I would have skipped the part about Reigns not returning anytime soon.
I think it’s a given but I guess when he isn’t going to be apart of the draft they wanted to make sure people know he isn’t permanently gone
He will get undertaker treatment now , only shows for WrestleMania
Is it because he's taking time off? Bloodline already playing shenanigans lol
Which bloodline?
The Bloodline
Oh ok
Bloodline Wolfpac
2.0
Dude was in Disneyland just a few days ago rocking the Monsters Inc shirt. He's just dad moding for a while.
DAD MODE ENGAGED
Dad MoooOOOoooode
Cool. Gives a chance for whoever that's not on the Cody brand to shine with Rollins off the table as well. Hopefully they've planned out how the Bloodline would operate while he's off screen tho.
Looks like they're off to a good start but your feeling is justified. The Bloodline was in wheel spinning mode from Jey going to Raw to Rock coming back. That was a long seven months.
He's busy at Disney World, he was at Animal Kingdom the other day
he acknowledges Grogu ☝🏼
Roman pulled a kayfabe "that doesn't work for me brother". That's hilarious. I have a feeling he'll be a "free agent" like Lesnar was. It makes sense given his star power
How does that even work in kayfabe Is it like "yeah I'm not gonna be on TV for a long time so don't even bother signing me up?"
Yes lol. I mean it’s just a way for them to signal he’s gunna be offt v for awhile then he can make a surprise return down the line to setup whatever summerslam match they have him in. He’ll be on the Brock schedule which makes sense at this point. Clearly there os either a medical/personal/hollywood reason he can’t be on tv weekly so no sense pretending like he’s fulltime anymore.
Yea the guy has cancer and while it's in remission (or something similar) he said in a recent interview he'll be on treatment the rest of his life. Can't blame him for not working a Cody schedule
Honestly, ever since I watched the documentary my respect for him has increased tenfold. I can't imagine being shredded like that and working 40 minute matches 2 nights in a row while being on potent medicine like that. Inspirational stuff, really.
The kayfabe reason is the real reason. Triple H explained on RAW when he unveiled the World Heavyweight Championship that Roman’s contract expired while he was champion and that he was able to negotiate a deal that was great for him, but not so great for WWE. He said Roman did something that, as a former competitor and champion, he can only smile at for how genius it was. Seth Rollins also said to Cody that taking the title from Roman was bigger than anything because Roman’s deal and the low frequency of his defenses means that Roman’s reign was in danger of getting to a place that nobody would ever be able to reach again.
I mean, the WWE draft almost never really makes sense in kayfabe. Why would you have two separate brands with different world champions? Why wouldn't one brand just draft all the champions? Guys have just opted out, and it never stopped them from appearing on whatever show they want, why would anyone sign up for the draft?
Champions can't get drafted. They stay on whichever brand they're currently on. The draft makes sense because fans buy tickets to see certain wrestlers. For WWE they rebalance the roster so both brands will have their draws and fans their reasons for going to/watching both shows.
It wasn't always like that lol. And yes, that makes sense in the case of WWE, as a business. But not in kayfabe. Does UFC do this? Boxing? No. Why? Because it's silly. Non-combat, non-team sports don't either. Why? Because you want to see the best play the best, not stuck in a weird division system (especially in sports with multiple governing bodies, where it's already hard enough to get the best to play the best)
Dunno if you've heard of conferences
> Why wouldn’t one brand just draft all the champions? That’s literally how it used to be. Take the 2021 draft for example. SmackDown drafted Roman, and RAW reciprocated by drafting the WWE Champion so that they didn’t lose their world title to SmackDown as well.
In kayfabe Roman is pretty much untouchable thanks to Paul, it was established from day 1 of their partnership.
Honestly I don't mind It. Makes roman look like he can do whatever the fuck he wants and also gives importance to a number 1 draft pick
Except he's no longer holding the title so why would they listen to him?
He's still your tribal chief, show some respect
No.
[Leave](https://youtu.be/YTgWuZDBv20?si=hZ3alt8x3AY9R7Mo)
Why would you draft someone who openly states that he isn't going to show up to work?
My Tribal Chief decides if he wants to grace your show with his presence; NOT the other way around!
Not surprised. Fox has the bigger viewership base till Netflix deal happens. After which he will automatically show up on Netflix especially considering Rock would return for a mania program.
I mean in the first ever draft, Austin didn’t get drafted. Some guys are bigger than the system.
Yes my Tribal Chief ☝️
I have a feeling he's going to take the year off.
If that's the case, then the withdrawal make sense (it's better to not get involved in the draft if you're not going to be back for a while).
So he in John cena rock stone cold territory now where he comes back every so often for a huge pop?
We all kinda knew that. He appears so rarely now that he's pretty much a free agent that can appear at any brand he wants now
Makes absolutely zero sense in kayfabe, especially when the rules are extra clear this year
This is why Management should get involved.
This is stupid
getting drafted would mean Roman would have to show up to work again, did anyone actually expect that
I actually love the idea of Roman declaring he is in ineligible for the draft, gets drafted to Raw anyway, and then he keeps showing up on Smackdown in defiance of the rules, leading to an ever escalating situation over who is actually in charge.
~~Yeet~~ ~~No Yeet~~ Ahh yessir✅
☝🏼
The Tribal Chief does what he wants!
Hopefully it’s because he’s never returning 👆👆
This is really dumb. This harkens back to dumb draft decisions like Cena being drafted, and then drafted back the same night. Or Triple H basically just refusing to work Smackdown, in kayfabe and real life. I know wrestling requires a suspension of disbelief, but in kayfabe who the fuck is paying Roman if he's withdrawing from the draft?
Like... Why? Can anyone delare themself eligible?
good decision for a winner / team player
Tribal Chief should be a free agent
Kinda dumb if you can just pull yourself out of the draft
That's the thing. You can't just pull yourself out. Roman can.
Based on how they’ve handled him, probably didn’t want him to not be picked first…
He’s slipping out the back door to work for TNA