After re-watching all of the Summerslams one thing that specifically stood out was the crowd reaction to Roman Reigns in 2014. He was the breakout member of the Shield and the guy that most people loved in the Shield. Soon after however he suffered a hernia injury that would shelf him through the fall and winter with him not returning to PPV until the Royal Rumble where he would win. The Rock would come out to sprinkle Rock dust and Philadelphia would boo both of them relentlessly. Most people say it’s the Daniel Bryan effect and while that’s semi true I believe it’s also due to Reigns being gone during his ascension and coming back and given the keys to the castle. Had Roman had more PPV’s to continue that ascension and continue to make people care maybe the Royal Rumble is thought of in a different light. Maybe when the Rock comes out to help Roman fight off the authority the fans cheer and not boo. Let’s see what would have happened if Roman does not have that hernia injury and is competing steadily throughout 2014.
Night of Champions would have been up next where he was scheduled to face off against Seth Rollins. Here on this night I believe that the match would end with the authority getting involved and either costing Reigns the match or ending in a no contest. So Reigns would ask for Rollins inside a Hell in a Cell and of course Rollins would refuse. Leading to up Hell in a Cell it would be revealed that if Reigns could defeat Rollins, Noble and Mercury he could pick the stipulation. Reigns would win but via disqualification when Rollins would use a chair on Reigns during the match. This would lead to Reigns and Rollins inside Hell in a Cell.
At Hell in a Cell you would still have Cena and Orton to determine the number one contender and you would also have Ambrose and Wyatt on the card. Reigns and Rollins would end up in the main event. We would get a spot where Reigns spears Rollins through the cell and end up on the outside. You would get a spot with Rollins trying to get away and Reigns and he going through tables off the side of the cell. J and J security would get involved however ultimately Roman would defeat Seth Rollins inside Hell in a Cell. This would infuriate the authority and Rollins who on the next night would challenge Reigns to a survivor series matchup. Where we would have Team Authority vs. Team Reigns with Reigns and Rollins being the leaders.
The teams would be Rollins, Orton, Kane, Rusev and Mark Henry against Reigns, Cena, Ziggler, Big Show and Ryback. We would still get the Big Show turn here and it would ultimately come down to Rollins and Reigns. Big Show would turn at the end of the match when it would be Rollins left along with Reigns and Big Show. HHH and Rollins would do everything for Reigns to be defeated however Sting would appear and help Roman defeat Rollins. Sting would raise Reigns hand at the end of the night and you would end on a high with Reigns defeating the authority. *Note I believe Ziggler winning here was actually too great of a moment and another reason why the fans started turning on Reigns. You felt like the guy was going to get a chance then all of a sudden he’s nowhere to be found**.
At TLC we would get Roman Reigns and Big Show in a stairs match. Reigns of course would conquer the monster. I would expect some real high spots to help show off Reigns power and athleticism. This would lead to the Royal Rumble where the Big Dog would have the odds stacked against him. Roman who would have been a thorn in the side of the authority now since Summerslam. During the Royal Rumble event we would see backstage Kane and Big Show get together and go after Roman Reigns backstage. This would leave the Big Dog down and looking as if he wouldn’t be able to compete in the Rumble. The Rumble would come and Bray Wyatt would be standing in the ring alone and Roman Reigns music would hit. However he would not come out and his number would pass. We would then get Daniel Bryan to come out and the roof would blow off the place. Instead of only being in the ring for ten minutes however he would be in the ring for almost twenty minutes. It would come down to the final ten competitors Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt, Kane, Big Show, Rusev, Ryback, Swagger, Mizdow and Big E. At this time we would see Kane and Big Show start eliminating people together. Swagger, Ryback and Mizdow and everyone else would be lying on the mat. Then you would see Roman Reigns sprinting down the ramp and into the ring. The place would go nuts and he would hit a spear on Big Show and Kane. He and Bryan would eliminate both of those men. This would leave Ziggler, Ambrose, Rusev, Bryan, Wyatt and Reigns as the final six. At some point Daniel Bryan would eliminate Bray Wyatt and when that happens the lights would go out and Bryan would be on the outside getting attacked by the Wyatt Family who would come back together.
Ambrose, Reigns, Ziggler and Rusev would be the final four in the rumble. Rusev would eliminate Ambrose while Reigns would eliminate Ziggler and it would come down to Rusev and Reigns. The crowd would be hot for this in my opinion because Reigns would have earned this moment at this point and Rusev was a red hot heel. Reigns would go on to eliminate Rusev and be the winner of the Royal Rumble. This would take us to Fast Lane where we would see a tag team match being the main event would be Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan and lower on the card you would see Rollins, Kane and Big Show against Reigns, Ziggler and Ryback. Team Reigns would pick up the win and so would Wyatt. Wyatt would go onto Wrestlemania to feud with the Undertaker and Reigns would have his date with Brock Lesnar.
The heat here would have been place on Wyatt and the Wyatt family in this situation. Reigns would continuously been aligned with guys the fans liked as well as put against guys that fans disliked. Now Seth Rollins has said many times the cash in at Money in the Bank was something he had pitched numerous times. With my booking that is now put in doubt as the fans would want to see Reigns crowned, possibly. I think the WWE would open WrestleMania with a very feel good moment of Daniel Bryan winning the intercontinental title just as they did. I also think Roman Reigns would have defeated Brock Lesnar and won the title at WrestleMania under this situation.
Roman Reigns would then have a new challenger at Extreme Rules and it would be Kane. Ultimately I think Seth Rollins would have cashed in at Elimination Chamber after Reigns would have to defend his title against five other superstars. They would then have the rematch at Money in the Bank where Dean Ambrose would go on and win the briefcase. This would lead to Ambrose cashing for Summerslam to setup the Shield triple threat for the WWE title at Summerslam. I think Rollins would go ahead and run with the title for quite some time and would still end up facing Sting in the fall. Reigns would have had a lengthy reign before losing it to Rollins at Elimination Chamber.
[irp posts=”29326″ name=”Re-Writing The Book – Chapter 10: Warrior ‘96″]
That concludes chapter eleven of Re-Writing the Book so tell me would you have liked Reigns more if it happened this way? Do you think Philadelphia would have liked him more under these scenarios? Let me know your thoughts on this chapter and until next time please be awesome.