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WWE has been telling us with how the two have been booked on pay-per-view so far in 2018:
Royal Rumble
In a triple threat match for the Universal championship, Brock Lesnar pins Kane while an enraged Braun Strowman screams “you didn’t beat me” at him. There was a point in said match where Kane made a save on a Strowman pinfall.
Reigns was the last man eliminated by the winner of the Royal Rumble match, Shinsuke Nakamura
Elimination Chamber
In a 7-man Elimination Chamber match that included both men, Strowman eliminated literally everyone in the match before Reigns pinned him following three Superman punches and two spears. Immediately after, Strowman left Reigns in a heap after two powerslams and spearing him through one of the Chamber pods.
WrestleMania 34
Strowman won the Raw tag team titles after picking a 10-year-old kid from the crowd to be his teammate, defeating Cesaro & Sheamus by himself.
Reigns kicked out of five F-5’s from Brock Lesnar but was pinned after taking a sixth.
Greatest Royal Rumble
Strowman broke the record for most eliminations in a Royal Rumble match with 13, winning the first ever 50-man Greatest Royal Rumble.
Reigns lost to Lesnar again, after Brock kicked out of three Superman punches and four spears, but WWE is calling it controversial because Roman speared Brock outside the cage and they’re disputing who touched both feet on the floor first.
Yes, there’s a lot more to it than what we see on television but maybe there shouldn’t be. After all, Strowman is widely cheered by every section of the audience. He has genuinely gotten over as a monster babyface. He’s incredibly fun to watch. Reigns, meanwhile, for all his talent and all the great matches he’s put on with damn near every wrestler on the roster, just isn’t catching on with a very vocal segment of the audience.
At some point, pushing back his big crowning victory by repeatedly having him lose, whether it’s pushed as controversial or not — just makes him exactly what Samoa Joe called him earlier this month: a failure.
You know who isn’t, based on WWE’s booking of him?
You got it.