For those not familiar, Roman Reigns is a 6 foot 3, 265 pounds Samoan deity. To say he is a sight to behold is an understatement. Half Greek god, half super hero. The man has THE look and more importantly the faith of those within WWE. He has the bloodlines, part of the Anoa’i family, and the legitimacy of being a former pro football player. I’m sure the first time WWE brass laid eyes on him they saw dollar signs. He steamrolled through FCW and NXT on his path to the main roster. WWE knew he was going to be their guy and to make sure they surrounded this relatively unknown commodity with two known, young veteran talents; Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins to be known as The Shield. These three would quickly become one of the most dominant factions in company history. The trio destroyed everyone on the roster and even picked up some gold on the way, tag titles for Reigns and Rollins, US Title for Ambrose. They were the hottest act out there and the fans recognized that, slowly the boos turned to cheers in a very organic way. Rollins as the architect and high flier, Ambrose as the lunatic that could rival The Joker and Reigns as the unstoppable juggernaut. It was a perfect formula with the perfect guys. Reigns was ready to breakout after the 2014 Royal Rumble that saw him set a record for most eliminations. You could feel that this guy was going to be a big star and the crowd let it be known that they agreed. Seth Rollins eventually turned on his Shield brothers and voila, three stars were made. Reigns was almost immediately thrown into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture, because this is what the fans wanted remember. Bad luck would strike Reigns during the fall when he was forced to miss time due to a hernia and this was the beginning of the end. During the annual Slammy Awards, Roman was voted SuperStar of the year and the hate train was now at full steam. Who knows if the voting was real or not, it didn't matter, the fans had made up their minds. It had to be rigged, there was no way Roman was better than Daniel Bryan or Dolph Ziggler was screamed from parents basements everywhere. Saddled with a few bad promos and a “make Roman look strong” quote from CM Punk on his way to the Royal Rumble only made things worse.
Now not only could he not wrestle but he couldn't talk either was the preach. A large portion of live audiences had started booing Reigns, we’ll get to the potential reasons in a bit, but nonetheless he won the Royal Rumble and was on his way to the main event at WrestleMania. Fans booed him out of the building, even sharing the ring with The Rock didn't help, his moment was hijacked by a hostile Philly crowd. The company had hitched their wagon to Reigns, there was no turning back. Sure, they tried to appease those fans and had a nonsensical match at FastLane against Daniel Bryan. At FastLane, Roman hung with one of the best wrestlers on the planet, he should've been a made man. “Roman was carried by Bryan” was heard throughout social media. The build up to WrestleMania was less than stellar, but it didn't matter, he was main eventing the biggest show of the year against Brock Lesnar and nobody could take that away from him. Leading up to Mania, Roman was everywhere, he was the face of WWE. He was all over tv, looking and carrying himself like a Hollywood star. On Sunday, March 29th Roman Reigns gave Brock Lesnar the fight of his life in front of 70,000 plus booing fans. Within seconds of the bell ringing Brock was bleeding, this was more than a match, it was a fight for respect. 5 years into his wrestling career, he was in the main event of WrestleMania….wow. Eventhough he didn't walk out of Mania as champ, his former Shield brother Seth Rollins did, he could hold his head high. He showed to everyone that he is in Lesnar’s league, a claim very few can make. He took Brock’s best and asked for more, you’d think that would be enough to change peoples minds. That wasn't the case, the night after Mania the boos were louder and more fierce than ever.
How did this happen? How did the guy WE chose to cheer and accept as the next big thing, become a face that was jeered more than Cena? Many will tell you “he isn’t ready.” A broad, general statement that says something and nothing simultaneously. Forget the fact that all his peers rush to his defense and assure us that he is indeed the present and future of the business. Also, forget the fact that he has been main eventing tv and ppv, in some capacity, since his call up to the main roster. WE know better, remember. “He isn’t ready” is a completely subjective term that only those within WWE know the true meaning of. Many fans will also tell you “its too much too soon.” Yet again, WE the all knowing Internet Wrestling Community have all the answers. How can we determine what is too much for this guy to handle? This isn’t the territory days where young guys had to pay their dues. Don’t remember hearing a lot of people complaining when Brock Lesnar was given the keys to the kingdom within months of his debut. No, he isn't an “Indy darling” either and that is one of the underlying reasons for the hate. So what if he wasn't worked a bingo hall with 8 people in the crowd. While guys like Cesaro were wrestling around the world, Roman was a college and then professional athlete. This guy wasn't a model, actor or some guy off the street, he was a legitimate athlete. Does he have family connections in the business, of course but hes the one that has put in the work to get himself into this position. For many fans, this is looked at as him getting handed a spot and push because of who he knows.It would be naive of me to ignore who his family is. I’m sure that got his foot in the door but he still put in the work to get himself where he is today. If fans are going to hold the family connection over his head, they have to do the same for The Rock, Dustin Rhodes, Randy Orton, Randy Savage and The Funks.
“He can’t wrestle and has a limited move set.” Is Roman a technical wizard in the ring like Ricky Steamboat? Of course not, but he’s no Giant Gonzalez either. The man has been wrestling for 5 years, I’ll say that one more time, five years. He’s 29 years old and only been at this for 5 years, he’s only going to improve. It’s scary to think how good he’ll be in another 5 years but fans can’t even see 5 minutes from now. Pro wrestling, especially WWE, isnt about how many moves you can do, it’s knowing what to do and when. I consider Jerry Lawler to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, he put on plenty of great matches using only punches, headlocks, a piledriver and facial expressions. Look back at the WrestleMania main event, look at how he responds to the beating that Brock is dishing out. The man is getting it handed to him and what does he do, he smiles and asks for more. That is brilliant storytelling that means more than any moonsault or hurricanrana could. Who they want today is not necessarily who they’ll want tomorrow. How can WWE long term book when their audience has ADD? The days of booking 6 months in advance are gone, they can’t even book 6 weeks from now. WWE is unlike any other form of entertainment, as you already know. What truly makes pro wrestling great is the ability to change stories on the fly depending on crowd reaction. How many television shows can do that? That flexibility is both a blessing and a curse though. They can’t always push the star the fans want, it isn't feasible story or money wise. Sure they listen to us, but only to a point. At the end of the day it is a business and the goal of any business is to make money.
“He isn’t Daniel Bryan”. Now this one is at least a smarter look at why fans would boo him. Daniel Bryan is the most “over babyface” since The Attitude Era. His meteoric rise was the definition of an organic push, the fans were so loud and vocal WWE couldn't ignore them. Unfortunately, years of abusing his body in the ring caught up to him. After missing 6 months of action, Bryan was ready to come back at the Royal Rumble. Now then, in a perfect world Bryan would’ve won the Rumble and reclaimed his spot as top babyface. This isn’t a perfect world. They put all this time, effort and long term plans in place for Bryan but all for naught. Injuries come with the territory and obviously Bryan never intended on all of them catching up to him. WWE has to weigh the risk/reward factor when it comes to Bryan. Yes, he is incredibly popular and should be at the top of the card but at the same time you can’t risk getting snakebit again. If Bryan had not missed any time or came back a bit sooner, we may not be having this conversation. “He needs to get rid of the contacts.” This is an actual quote from someone on twitter, no kidding. Roman wears colored contacts, this is a very calculated decision. For fans to go to these lengths to justify their hatred is ridiculous. Envy and jealousy have to play a part in this, i would be a fool if I didn't recognize that. I guarantee you I can go on twitter right now and within 8 seconds find either a picture or a comment regarding how attractive Roman is. It’s not opinion, it's fact. He is one handsome man, get over it! If that is your reason for hating and booing the man, you need more help than I can provide.
We live in a very jaded world, thats just the way society is. The days of anything being universally loved are long gone, especially in pro wrestling, and that’s fine. I’m glad everybody doesn’t agree on everything but just be open minded and form your own opinion. I may come off as a Roman Reigns fans but I’m not. Truth be told, I haven’t had a favorite WWE SuperStar in years. I’m simply a fan of pro wrestling. Where did it all go wrong? What changed in the fans minds? I’ve laid out a few ideas and its probably a combination of all of them for some fans. Can he be fixed? Yes and no. A majority of fans will say to turn him heel, which is the absolute wrong answer. It sends the message thats the fans own the product and that cannot happen. Stay the course, just like John Cena before him. Accept that he is essentially the new Cena, in terms of a mixed reaction. For the Reigns fans out there, don’t take the boos and comments personally. Anger only breeds anger, thats what the block button is for. Whether you like it or you don’t, Roman Reigns is the future of WWE. Believe that.
What do you think? Is Reigns the future? Let us know at either @y2stump or @LevellerLOW on twitter or leave a comment below.
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