The WWE went back to an infamous well to get Roman Reigns over -- and it was a great idea.
The Leader of the Roman Empire is currently entrenched in a feud with Vince McMahon, who returned to television for the first time in years on RAW this week and subsequently took a spear from Reigns. The babyface then went on to capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Sheamus.
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With this Reigns vs. McMahon feud, the WWE is harkening back to the Attitude Era and playing off of what was the biggest rivalry of that time period, McMahon vs. Austin. With the WWE suffering from limited depth and a lack of compelling storylines from a creative standpoint, going back to the well isn't a bad idea.
Austin was middling around in the midcard as the Ring Master in 1996 when he cut the infamous "Austin 3:16" promo at King of the Ring. He continued his meteoric rise and eventually became the face of the company, constantly getting one over on his boss to win the fans over and become arguably the most popular WWE Superstar of all time.
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Reigns had it a bit easier than Austin as McMahon has been enthralled with his look ever since he came into the WWE as a member of The Shield in 2012, but he wasn't getting over with the fans despite the favorable booking he was given.
His struggles in the ring and on the microphone, as well as the WWE Universe not getting behind him, led to the WWE balking on making him "the man" at WrestleMania 31 and again at Survivor Series. Though the Austin/McMahon feud can never be topped, it's worth emulating.
With the League of Nations and other top heels at his disposal, McMahon, his daughter Stephanie an his son-in-law Triple H can throw constant road blocks in the way of Reigns' championship run.
A feud with McMahon that will somewhat mirror the rivalry that the boss had with the "Texas Rattlesnake" could be a way to make things interesting again. It appears McMahon's return and subsequent feud with Reigns is already working, as the 3.884 million viewers for RAW this week was up 830,000 viewers from last week, according to Wrestlingheadlines.com.
And the Philadelphia crowd -- a known hostile group of fans -- ate it up. If the audience at the Wells Fargo Center can go from booing Reigns mercilessly when he won the Royal Rumble in January to giving him a huge babyface pop for winning the richest prize in the game in December, the WWE is onto something with his rivalry with McMahon.
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