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Damien Barling: "See ya, Fourth Wall"

See ya, Fourth Wall!

Those are the 4 words John Cena uttered in attempt to get over what appeared to be a worked shoot promo with Roman Reigns. For those unaware, The Fourth Wall refers to the imaginary "boundary" that separates actors from the people watching on television. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was famous for breaking it. As was Saved by the Bell. And CM Punk.

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air - There's Something Different About You by CptChaos47 on YouTube
Saved By The Bell - Zack - Best Time Out Ever - Season 3 Episode 18 - Video Yearbook by stupidition on YouTube
CM Punk - Breaking The Fourth Wall - WWE by Main's Main on YouTube

So before we dig into this, lets be clear - I hate words like "heel turn","shoot", "worked shoot", "promo" being worked into a… well… promo. Its one thing for us, the fans to use them, its another thing for the characters on television to use them. I know its different now but I can't imagine Hulk Hogan telling the Macho Man to get his act together cause he'd have to learn how to cut a promo to be a star.

Let's be clear about one more thing, this was a work. This was fully scripted with the input of everyone involved. I'm comfortable in saying the "Did you forget your line" part was a shoot because its very obvious Roman forgot his line. I'm actually not convinced he ever remembered it.

(By the way this isn't the first time a superstar has forgotten their line *cough* Randy Orton *cough*)

Randy Orton forgets his lines by Angry Wrestling Fan on YouTube

I speculated last we week that John Cena's quest to recreate the magic he had with The Rock with Roman Reigns would be held off for a more meaningful show while his time would be occupied with Samoa Joe and perhaps even Braun Strowman. Nope. They're going with it now. In what might be the most loaded "B-show" in recent memory, John Cena will face Roman Reigns on the same night Brock Lesnar takes on Braun Strowman for the Universal Championship.

With No Mercy being held in Los Angeles, I can't even guess how the crowd may react to these two. Might Cena be the overwhelming babyface while Roman Reigns is the massive heel? Does the crowd just boo them both? One thing is for sure, Roman Reigns isn't getting cheered. We have a few weeks to talk about this but Mondays promo seemed to get everyone buzzing.

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