Roman Reigns Outed As Massive Hypocrite On Last Night's WWE Raw

Roman Reigns is broken - and not in the good way that Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt are.

I'm not going to bore you with a history of Roman Reigns since The Shield initially broke up in the summer of 2014. We've all lived through it - most of us looking through our digits while doing so. We all know why some of our pals haven't taken to Reigns over the past four years, and how WWE haven't helped themselves in their efforts to make him the undeniable face of this current era. Whether it be through Super-Cena-esque wins against the odds, performances that just don't add up compared to some of his main event peers, or bad booking that makes little sense when you look at the story they're trying to tell vs. the story they're actually telling, you can't deny that WWE have messed things up when they shouldn't have - last night included.

It's the final part of that trifecta of doom that we take a closer look at today, with WWE finally going off the deep end with happenings, or lack thereof, on last night's Raw. Of course, I need to preface what I'm about to say with a massive old asterisk. At the time of writing, we don't know why Roman Reigns wasn't on last night's show. Something horrible could have happened to the bloke. I mean, I really hope not, but we can't rule anything out at this stage. Surely though, if something behind the scenes happened to prevent Roman from appearing on the show, WWE would have provided a cover-up story to stop a yawning chasm of a plot hole from appearing? I don't see why they wouldn't after months and months of Roman saying the same damn thing!

The fact they just glossed over Roman no-showing last night's Raw, seemingly hoping nobody noticed just makes his absence all the more glaring. It's just the latest example of something that just doesn't make any sense when it comes to Roman. You know what I'm getting at here, the storytelling that just riles us up the wrong way. Those moments where it looks like WWE are almost booking this man out of spite. I still find it rather bewildering that they try to paint a 6 ft 3, 265 lbs of muscle, long-haired, bronzed, tattooed God of a man with everything in the world as a sympathetic babyface. How should I, a man writing a column called 'Tweddell's Twaddle' FFS (!), feel sorry for Roman Reigns? He should feel sorry for me!

I'm getting lost... let's get back on track.

Roman has been painting himself to be some kind of victim in more recent times. Just last week (I think it was last week. Raws just seem to blend into one for me at the moment) he claimed that Stephanie McMahon has been trying to screw him out of the WWE Championship despite the fact he's had more shots since the turn of the year than any other man on the roster.

Now my distaste for Mrs Ladyballs has been well publicised over the past few years here at Cultaholic. I just don't like the way she can castrate anyone she's on screen with for very little reason without - more than often - being on the receiving end of some form of comeuppance. However, I've got to be in her corner here. Since WrestleMania, Steph has been away from television. She (largely) has been leaving all of the decisions on Raw to Kurt Angle - and Angle, as I've just explained with all the title shots, has been very good to Roman as well.

Not only that, but with the signing of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn as part of the Superstar Shakeup, and by giving The Prizefighter another opportunity at Money in the Bank qualification a few weeks back, we've also seen Ladyballs go over Kurt's head when she's wanted to - crucially, she hasn't chosen to when the Olympic gold medalist has been hading out championship matches to Roman Reigns.

In a weird sort of way, Steph has actually been in Roman's corner in recent months when you really think about it. By doing nothing, she's shown her approval of The Big Dog's Championship quest yet he STILL MOANS ABOUT HER SCREWING HIM OUT OF THE TITLE! WHY?!

For a long old while, in one of their latest attempts to have Roman cheered by

that

section of the crowd who will

never

cheer him, WWE have bottled up the gripes of a large portion of the WWE Universe by having Reigns bemoan Brock Lesnar's lack of appearances. Roman is the man who turns up to work every single week, busting his ass again and again while Brock sits on his counting his money.

This is a narrative that has been pushed by Reigns for months now - maybe even stretching into the back end of last year. It's spot on as well - well, it was spot on before last night...

Without explanation, Roman Reigns wasn't on last night's show. Was it because he was injured? Was it because he wasn't booked? Was it because he got off his leash, ran away, and wouldn't reply to his owner's doggy whistle? We have absolutely no idea. Whatever happened to him, and after everything he's said this year, we should have received an explanation.

WWE not offering anything just takes months of legitimate promos on Roman's part and flushes them down the toilet. From now on, every single time he mentions Brock not being at work every single week,

that 

portion of the audience can say 'well, you did the same on May 28, you hypocrite!'

Why didn't they give us an explanation to stop this from happening?

I don't hate Roman Reigns. He's a great wrestler. He's proven on more than one occasion that he can cut a good promo when he's given the right material, written in the right tone. I don't mind the way WWE haven't given up on Roman being their

guy

- even if I believe the ball is more in Braun Strowman's court than it is Reigns' now. What I do mind is the little things they continue to do to rile up

that

portion of the audience - his music playing to end WrestleMania 34, kicking out of five F-5s when the likes of Strowman and Samoa Joe can't even kick out of one, and massive plot holes like last night's Raw to name a few.

I wish they would just think before they act. I get the symbolism behind the hate for Reigns after John Cena's run, but they aren't helping themselves out whatsoever. How didn't anyone see this plot hole forming during the course of last night's show? One line is all it would have taken from Michael Cole. One line explaining where Roman was and at least half a year's worth of promos wouldn't have gone to waste. Now, Brock and Roman are in the same boat and it's irreversible at this stage. WWE have given

that

portion of the audience yet another stick to beat The Big Dog with. What a shame.

Roman Reigns is a massive hypocrite. Pass it on.