This is odd, but it should certainly remove the last shred of doubt anyone might have about whether Roman Reigns’ promo on the Monday, Feb. 26 episode of Raw was a work.
The top story on WWE.com Saturday afternoon is a “Punch-by-punch look at Reigns’ verbal beatdown on Brock”.
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The stated purpose of the post is to determine “how many of Reigns’ insults hold water, and how many of them are just a result of his temper getting the better of him?” To do so, the website “analyzed five of Reigns’ harshest comments toward the Universal Champion with a deep dive to see whether the heated emotion is sufficiently backed up by cold hard facts.”
The most important thing to note is that the company’s website takes it as fact that Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman didn’t show up for a scheduled appearance on Raw without informing WWE... which probably means that while there may be some concern about what Lesnar’s meeting with Dana White on Sunday, Feb. 25 might mean, the notion that he “no show”-ed Monday in Anaheim is almost definitely a work.
Other than that, the only one of the five points they “fact check” which WWE.com doesn’t confirm is Brock being entitled and hiding behind his contract. His entitlement is justified by his status in the combat sports world, and it’s not so much hiding as a negotiating tactic (both things that stand up nicely as real and storyline, btw).
Everything else is pretty much, as Tyson Kidd would say, “Fact”:
- Brock was in Vegas with Dana White and not at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV).
- The Beast Incarnate and his advocate are on record that Lesnar doesn’t respect the locker room, although he might like the fans a little.
- The champ does show up only when it makes business sense for him to do so.
- The Big Dog doesn’t fear that “b****’.
And people say there’s no pro wrestling journalism.