Promo Highlight: Roman Reigns/John Cena
A Card Subject to Change Article
This week we had a double dose of Card Subject to Change. We started Sunday off talking to a man Nick and I think is about to blow up, The Gentleman Barbarian Bruss Hamilton. Later that afternoon we sat down with APW Openweight Champion The Big Picture. He’s got a big fight coming up on Saturday defending his championship against former guest of the podcast Alvin Falcone. We discuss both these gentlemen’s journeys and give a preview of the Wrestling Brawl Classic from APW as we wrap up with The Big Picture. On The Kick Out, Nick and I discuss controversial storylines and how far is too far. Be sure to check out our archives on our YourTube page.
For this week’s article I wanted to discuss something we’ve touched on in the past on Card Subject to Change, and that is promos. I recently went back and watched one promo in particular. It was August of 2017. To set the stage, Roman Reigns had not become The Tribal Chief, he was still the Big Dog and felt like he was forced down our throats, an unwanted situation by most of the wrestling masses. John Cena has been a recent former US Champion, having opened the show at SummerSlam just before this edition of Monday Night Raw. They were building towards a match between the two of them.
First things first, let's talk about Roman Reigns. As a wrestling fan, no one wants to be force fed in the wrestling world. Cena had this treatment for a time, but was able to work past this. Roman was in this stage of his career. WWE wanted us to believe in the Big Dog so much, it just wasn’t there. On a recent episode of CSTC, JT Energy his the nail on the head. You want to see someone make the journey through the ranks. That journey usually consists of a possible time as a tag team champion, then moving into the mid card title scene either holding the United States Championship or the Intercontinental Championship before finally earning the right to be a World Champion. Now, that being said, this is not always necessary. People have gone into the world title picture without going through the middle rankings, but anyone who jumped the line, so to speak, was well liked by the fans, and would later claim the middle titles to add to their repertoire. This was not the case with Roman. He jumped from holding tag team gold with The Shield to holding the top title with no middle ground. Many people, myself included, felt he didn’t deserve it, and while WWE pushed him as a babyface, the fans weren’t buying it. Roman has since earned the respect and admiration of the fans, but at this time we’re not there yet.
Many felt John Cena was winding down his career, as he said in the promo, it had been 5 years since he had headlined the biggest stage in the game. We all know today, that Cena is celebrating his last year this year in 2025, Cena would spend a lot of time in Hollywood after this, but at this time, Cena wanted to step in the ring with the best of the best. The promo starts off with Cena saying that Roman is protected. He is a blue chip prospect who the WWE don’t want losing matches. They are signing a contract for the No Mercy PPV and Cena states that Roman doesn’t want to fight him. As soon as Roman starts talking, the crowd rains down boos upon him, making what I said earlier very evident. Roman comes out after Cena signs the contract and says that he doesn’t need to fight John. He retired the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. He counters Cena by saying he doesn’t need to fight John.
Cena talks about how backstage Roman is exalted, but to the crowd, they don’t see it yet. The reason this promo stands out to me, and many people, though, is what happens during the war of words between Cena and Reigns. Promos during this time (and possibly today) were very scripted. Roman forgot his line. Roman was still relatively early in his career, but what does Cena do in this instance, he goes off script. “It’s called a promo kid, if you want to be the Big Dog you’re going to have to learn how to do it, so go ahead. See ya fourth wall!” Cena completely saved this promo. In my opinion this turned in to an incredible war of words between the two of them.
I don’t know what brought this promo to the forefront of my mind, or why I decided I needed to rewatch it 8 years later. What I love about this is that it could’ve been a disaster, but two pros were able to bring it back and be incredibly entertaining. Now, Cena being the consummate professional that he is, makes this epic. He owned Roman with one line: “I’m still here because you can’t do your job.” At the end of the day, I’m a sucker for an enjoyable promo and there are tons of them out there to gush over. If you’ve made it this far, share some of your favorite promos, give me some things to watch in my spare time! Thanks for reading.