10 WWE storylines in 2017 that made wrestling better

6. Roman Reigns vs. John Cena

Go ahead and get the boos out of your system now or start your rants in the comments section at the end of this thing but there’s no denying that John Cena and Roman Reigns still made WWE better in 2017.

Some of the best storylines in wrestling come from real life animosity. Cena has been involved in plenty of them, including his unforgettable promos with The Rock leading up to their matches at consecutive WrestleManias, and his program with Roman Reigns was exceptional. In a world of big guys with big egos vying for the top spot in the company, there aren’t many bigger names in WWE than John Cena and Roman Reigns. These two had been on a collision course for quite some time and when plans were moved up to make No Mercy a must-see pay-per-view, Reigns and Cena finally got it on.

However, before we ever got to the match, the two men engaged in arguably the best set of promos in 2017. We know that Cena has been great with a microphone for a long time now. However, one of the biggest knocks on Roman Reigns since his rise to superstardom has been his inability to deliver those great promos. That all changed when he got in there with the 16-time world champion.

Worked shoot promos have been around for a long time. You may think that someone is going off the script, and that’s exactly what you’re supposed to think, but they’ve carefully chosen what’s going to be said and it’s very difficult to pull off if you don’t know what you’re doing. However, Cena and Reigns worked it to perfection with some of their real-life issues and everything felt so real when they were in there with each other. Reigns calling out Cena for being a part-timer, much like Cena had done to The Rock years ago, was brilliant, as was him accusing Cena of burying some of the younger guys on the roster.

While Reigns was good, Cena was just a bit better as he called Reigns a copy of himself and gave him plenty of flack for forgetting what he was going to say at one point. Things got crazy real when Cena brought up Reigns’ failed drug test and suspension but that’s what made all of this so great. However, the promos weren’t the only thing good about this short-lived rivalry as the two went out and put on a great match. They worked for more than 22 minutes, the pace was great, there were great nearfalls and with Cena taking some time off, the right guy won. Roman had taken the clean pin at SummerSlam the month before (he’s not as protected as you think) and this was a way to get him back on track. Kudos to Cena for putting over yet another younger star (he doesn’t bury as many people as you think) and having yet another great match in a big spot (he does that more than you think) on a big stage.