THE BIG DOG! THE TRIBAL CHIEF! THE SHIRTLESS HEAD OF THE TABLE!

Roman Reigns v Jey Uso (Clash of Champions, 9/27/20)

Heel Roman ditching the vest and going full thirst trap feels like it should've been a thing for at least a few years now. This is actually my first time seeing any WWE since Wrestlemania, let alone Roman working heel. He's a natural at it and I think we all knew that because, you know, it's not difficult to notice and never really has been. The whole thing they've got going on with the fans on big computer screens around ringside certainly makes for a better atmosphere, and this kind of deserved to be worked in front of some form of a crowd rather than an empty arena to dead silence (best part about the empty arenas was the shit-talking and crowd noise sure didn't seem to hinder them in that respect). Your big dumb melodramatic WWE main events will never really be my thing but I thought this was a strong enough take on that particular thing. Roman pretty much ruled, as even when he's doing stuff I'd typically roll my eyes at he's a decent enough actor - graded on the pro-wrestler curve - for it to be okay. I really loved him big dogging (pun PROBABLY intended) Charles Robinson and threatening to have him put in the bin if he interrupts this very personal family beatdown on his cousin one more time. "Tell me I'm the tribal chief. Tell me I'm the head of the table." All of his little touches were on point as usual, like how he'd sell surprise at being caught with a stinger of a hook, how he'd rejig his jaw throughout the match, how he'd sell his lower back after hitting that standing legdrop thing just to delay a second before making the pin, and all of his facial expressions convey the emotions he's trying to (I assume) without being hammy about it. The sinister laugh after the low blow kickout was a wee bit hokey I suppose, but the spot itself was really cool. Also loved how insecure he became as the match went on. It was structured with him obviously working the majority of it from above, and if there were any moments where it looked like Jey might cause an upset it was through short bursts of big offence. So he dominated and looked every bit the chief he wanted us to know he was. But after all this time, after being given the keys to the kingdom, even after beating cancer and coming back like he'd never been away, there had to have been a very real sense of fuck you to everybody who booed him every night for the last six years. The curtain's been drawn back now and everybody knows the script, so WWE's woeful booking is the sort of thing Daniel Bryan or Sami Zayn fans would fling their shit at. With Roman, when he was booked worse than just about any babyface ever, *he* took all that shit and nowhere near as many people made the same excuses for him. Now he gets to fling it all back and to hell with everybody else, but deep down that rejection maybe still eats at him. Is he really The Man? He sure needed to hear it from somebody and it was Jey Uso's shitty luck that it needed to be him on the night. The Big Dog, the Tribal Chief, the Head of the Table. That dude is the business.