6 Shocking  Ways WWE Tricked Fans Into Rooting For Roman Reigns At Summerslam

It finally happened!

It may have taken three years, several losses and bunch of superman punches and a timely spear by Reigns, but The Big dog has finally got his hands on the big red belt! Not only that, he did so with a majority of The WWE Universe in the Brooklyn Center screaming his name and cheering him on in the process.

With that being said and The Biggest party of the summer finally in the books, how exactly did WWE pull of the heist of the century and actually get The WWE Universe firmly behind Reigns. Furthermore, how did they manage to do it in a matter of minutes after Reigns came out to a chorus of boos to start the match?

In the end, there are no perfect answers to that question, but here is what we observed during the final match of Summerslam and how it may have helped turned the tide in Reigns favor when it comes from the fans. Again, not a perfect science and there might be things left out here and there, but here are the major things that might have helped Reigns Sunday night

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#6 UFC style match

Don't deny it! Roman Reigns versus Brock Lesnar was a UFC style match and it worked perfectly!

From the insane flurry of superman punches and Spears that Roman Reigns hit Brock Lesnar with in the opening moments of the match, to chokes being used multiple times to show case Lesnar's viciousness, the Universal title match at Summerslam looked more like a UFC match then anything else.

Fortunately for WWE that really played into their hand to make it look like a straight up fight between the two and really managed to make Reigns look like a babyface in the process. In fact, between Reigns repeatedly fighting out of the chokes and surviving bare knuckle punches, it was hard not to get behind the big dog.

#5 The commentary

Believe it or not, the commentary team did a great job of making Roman Reigns a big deal.

While the commentary table was only audible to fans watching Summerslam on The WWE Network, the announce team no doubt played a role in getting fans behind Reigns at home. Not only was that evident by words like polarizing and and underdog, which were used to describe Reigns, but also by how poorly they talked up Reigns.

Between the hyperbole used to described Reigns hunt for his first Universal title run to the announce team reminding fans of Lesnar's upcoming UFC run, the announcers did a great job of distinguishing the two fighters. Furthermore, they also played upon the unpredictability of Bruan Strowman's impending cash in, which was also interesting to watch.

#4 Quick match

Having Brock Lesnar versus Roman Reigns be a quick match was a genius idea on WWE's part.

Believe it or not this was actually the shortest match in Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar's entire rivalry, which really helped things quite a bit. Not only did the short match time allow for WWE to tell a quick paced story that had fans breathless from the opening onslaught, it also made it so the match wouldn't drag on too long and give fans something to complain about.

In the end, having Reigns win in a quick and decisive fashion really does a lot for his stock in The WWE and could be the beginning of something great for him. It gives him an air of superiority over the rest of the roster. A sense that he did something that no one else could and that's going to stick with fans for awhile.

#3 Introducing Bruan Strowman into the mix

Its

no secret that Bruan Strowman made things much more interesting at Summerslam.

Bringing Bruan Strowman into the mix at the begging of the match was a smart way to get the crowd back into it and gave an air of predictability to things. It also helped quicken the pace of the much due to the fact that both Reigns and Lesnar knew they would have to deal with Strowman next, which made each superstar go for the quick victory multiple times.

In the end, Strowman brought energy back into The Barclays Center, left fans on the edge of their seat as he waited for the winner of the match and helped speed things up in a way that nothing else would have. If nothing else, having Strowman come out before the match took place was a great curve ball by WWE and it worked wonders for the entire contest.

#2 Having Brock Lesnar attack Bruan Strowman

Can you believe what Brock Lesnar did to Bruan Strowman to prevent him from cashing in?

Another reason Strowman's presence worked so well for WWE is that it allowed for Lesnar to attack him and thus draw the ire of The WWE Universe. It also was a good storytelling device to show how cocky Lesnar was being, which only made the suprise spear and pinfall by Reigns that much more enjoyable at the end of the night

In the end,The WWE Universe were cheated out of a guaranteed Bruan Strowman cash in by Lesnar's dastardly actions during the match. With that being said, fans were so upset about it that they were ready to see Lesnar get what was coming to him, which was a killer spear and his first loss in over a year!

#1 The title change

Roman Reigns is finally The Universal Champion of WWE!

While Roman Reigns might not be who The WWE Universe wanted to see walk out of Summerslam as Universal Champion, the result was at least better then watching Brock Lesnar retain again. In fact, fans in The Barclay Center seems so elated that someone had finally bested Lesnar for the title that they didn't care who it was.

Of course a lot of that has to do with the 500 plus days that Lesnar spent at Universal champion and how infrequently he defended the title in that span of time, but it was at least enough to spark a positive reaction to Roman Reigns. Maybe it lasts and maybe it doesn't but at least The WWE finally managed to get fans behind Reigns for one night!