Yes, it happened again.
No, really, it did. WWE have announced that the main event of Summerslam 2022 will be Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar. We previously wrote about the dearth of main event faces in WWE and analysed who could possible face Roman Reigns at Summerslam.
At no point did we come to the conclusion that it should be ANOTHER Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar match. After Roman Reigns defeated Riddle on Smackdown to retain his WWE Unified Championship, he was attacked by a returning Lesnar and was soon announced as facing the Best at Summerslam.
This is a direct rematch from this past Wrestlemania. Both men faced off in the main event, with Brock Lesnar losing his WWE Championship to Roman Reigns, who also held the Universal Championship (and has for almost two years).
That wasn’t the only time they faced off. In fact, the amount of matches they have had together is exhausting. They have wrestled each other in every possible permutation and every stipulation, and each time the crowd has been largely apathetic toward the duo.
Some wrestlers just don’t have good chemistry. They just don’t. Even some of the world best wrestlers can just have stinkers and there be no reason other than bad chemistry. The example that first comes to mind is Rob Van Dam and Cesaro, who had a few matches in 2014 in some bad matches, in a time when Cesaro could not put on a bad match if he tried.
While their matches aren’t terrible, the two wrestlers simply do not click as well as they do with others. While both men have had great matches with wrestlers like Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan, they cannot put on the same great action with each other.
Then there’s the issue of both men completely hogging the main event scene. Now Summerslam and both World Titles are being held up by Reigns and Lesnar and nobody else will be able to get a sniff. This has largely been the case since about 2015, when the whole show was made about an unlovable face Roman Reigns, and Brock Lesnar had unbeatable title reigns as the WWE, then Universal, then Universal, then WWE Champion.
I am tired of Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar. The fans are tired of Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar. Seth Rollins is tired of the match too, judging by his Tweet directly after the match was announced.
After a fantastic match on Friday, Roman Reigns pinned Riddle with a mid-air spear to retain his WWE Unified Universal Champion. This would have been the perfect time to get the titles off Reigns if they were intent on having another clash with the Beast.
The match is between two of the top stars WWE have right now. Rightly or wrongly, there is nobody as big a star as these two. It makes sense that this is the biggest match they can make.
However, this match does not need the titles. But more importantly, they have wrestled 8 times in main event matches over the years, with each one gaining more and more apathy from a bored and tired crowd who are begging for something.
However, it is clear why WWE have booked Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar. Injuries have riddles WWE, with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton (who were rumoured to be facing Reigns at Summerslam) missing likely the entire year due to injury.
Let’s just try to get through Summerslam and see Drew McIntyre’s coronation at Clash at the Castle in Cardiff.