STEP UP: Daniel Bryan & Roman Reigns
On paper, I think WWE is beyond stupid for booking this as the Fast Lane main event. You would think they have to know Roman is going to get destroyed by the fans, but then you would have thought they knew that at the Royal Rumble.
Take that out of the equation, and both Reigns and Bryan get the step up this week. I liked Roman’s promos last week on the Stamford episode, and didn’t hate him on Raw this week either. Booking aside, both these guys are trying to do the best with what they’re being handed.
Daniel gets a step up because he carried himself well int he opening segment, had a phenomenal match with Seth Rollins, and inserted himself back into the WrestleMania title picture. Will he be there in a month? No, of course not. But I’m interested to see what these two come up with heading into Fast Lane.
It’s possible WWE wants to put Reigns in a match that will make him look like a 4-star wrestler. Most of the haters think he’s not ready, but loved him 6 months ago when he wasn’t “the chosen one” (even though he totally was). He’s been getting great reactions at live events, and hasn’t been too buried on Raw and Smackdown since the Rumble. It’s possible that if he and Bryan go out there at Fast Lane and bring the house down, the fans won’t mind him going on to face Brock.
In reality, that will probably backfire, unless they attempt putting more heat on the Authority. Even that isn’t likely to work. But for now, despite an awful episode of Raw and seemingly worse booking going into Fast Lane, these two stood out and impressed me.
