Opinion: Roman Reigns Needs to Defeat Seth Rollins at “Money In The Bank”

At “Extreme Rules” on Sunday, the world was treated to one of the most anticipated moments in a long time. After being out of action for over 6 months, Seth Rollins made his triumphant return to the company, and hit Roman Reigns with a pedigree to end the show.

The crowd was elated, and Rollins received one of the biggest pops in recent memory when he came out to cut a promo in the opening segment of “Monday Night Raw” last night. However, he quickly returned to his heel persona and turned on the crowd, saying that he doesn’t need their help to regain the title that he never lost.

Naturally, this brought out his former brother in The Shield, and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Roman Reigns. After a brief exchange between the two, Shane McMahon would come out and announce that at “Money In The Bank,” the two will go at it for the title.

There is no doubt that this will be an outstanding contest. Reigns has improved his game so much since being completely dumped on by the WWE Universe. He has embraced the bad-ass attitude that we’ve been wanting from him ever since we figured out that WWE was trying to make him the face of the company. His in-ring work is quite good, as he has been putting on high quality matches with Triple H and AJ Styles over the last few months.

And what else can we say about Seth Rollins? Ever since he cashed in his “Money In The Bank” contact at WrestleMania 31, “The Architect” has been the most talked about superstar in the company. He was the focal point for almost all of 2015, and you could make an argument that if it wasn’t for his injury, he would still be the champion today.

This match basically writes itself. And of course, since everyone loves Seth Rollins and hates Roman Reigns, creative should do the obvious thing and put the title back on Rollins, right?

Not so fast, my friend. The best thing that WWE can do for all parties involved, is to have Reigns be victorious at “Money In The Bank,” and continue his reign (no pun intended) as world champion.

The emotion that Reigns stirs up within the WWE Universe is unlike anything that I’ve seen in a long time. Many fans that I have interacted with on Twitter, or talked to at live shows that I’ve attended, think that I’m absolutely crazy for liking Reigns and thinking that he is good at what he does.

I was at WrestleMania 32 where Reigns defeated Triple H to become the champion. Every time that his picture was posted either at the show, or at the WWE Axxess event, everyone stopped what they were doing and booed with such intensity and hatred. And when he came out for his match, the chorus of boos and insults that were thrown his way was the loudest that I had ever heard in my life.

Until he won the title. Cowboy Stadium became absolutely unglued. I have never seen so many emotionally upset wrestling fans in my life.

I have also never seen so many emotionally invested fans at the same time either.

No other superstar comes remotely close to eliciting the same intense, fervent and personal reaction from the WWE Universe as Roman Reigns does. And that includes John Cena. And for that, he needs to have the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for a long time.

Also, despite the fact the company is trying to push Rollins as a full-fledged heel again, he will still get a hugely positive reaction from the hardcore fans, simply because of how good of a character he is. If WWE is really trying to establish Reigns as this bad-ass character that doesn’t care about anybody, yet is still a ‘face’, why wouldn’t they put him over Rollins? That will make the level of distain toward Reigns increase by about tenfold.

I completely disagree with how Rollins is being booked, mind you, but that is for a different article.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a huge Seth Rollins mark. He is on one of the only two current wrestling t-shirts that I own, with the other being Brock Lesnar. I think that he is incredible in the ring, on the mic, and has a unique look that will put him at the top of the company for many, many years.

But Reigns has earned his place at the top of WWE. He is a good wrestler, has a great look, and is getting better on the mic each week. Most importantly of all, however, is that more people are invested in his character than anyone else in the company by far.

And that means that “The Roman Empire” will be on top for a long, long time.

Follow @Dericho06