Simple question and concept: WWE will never change Roman to suit fans. Do you dislike Roman Reigns or do you dislike the way he is handled? Is there a way to make it beneficial for the WWE and fans, if Roman changes his look/character?
Asking because booing or leaving early doesn’t hurt WWE’s pocket…
I don’t dislike Roman or the way he is handled. I dislike the notion that WWE is spitting in fans face saying that no matter what we do they are pushing a guy almost as a dare to us to stop buying the product. So far as a collective, the fans have balked at this and the feeling this must give Vince is what I don’t like.
The idea of a supposed next big thing failing and getting derailed and boo’d is actually a good story if used correctly. Roman needs to address the audience more and stop acting like backstage politics are at all at play. That’s adding insult to injury as a fan
Personally I don’t dislike reigns, I feel like he at the right level and I get why He’s in the position He’s in. I’ve wrote about this on another post so I won’t get too much into the business aspect of reigns push but the fact is, love him or hate him, the guy is making wee a boat load of money right now so they won’t do anything to change a successful formula no matter what fans that hate him want because they get the exact opposite message when they look at the number.
Right now, I don’t think they see him as the next big thing anymore, in there mind, and I might be mistaken here, he’s already where they want him to be and they are focusing on somebody else to be the next big thing.
I feel like wrestling media isn’t really helping matters as well. I talk about this on another board, every website’s reported the fact that a lot of fans left during the backlash main event just because reigns was part of it. Yet a few days before that, when the fans in Montreal we’re leaving during the six women’s tag match, nobody sent a single report about how a lot of fans where leaving during the main event of smackdown. So in my opinionthey didn’t leave because of reigns, they left because the show was boring and they wanted to get back home.
Sorry about the long post but That’s a subject that I love to talk about. So here my last point, I know it’s this would be a wild idea, but I kinda think that wwe actually want this reaction from the fans towards reigns. It might be crazy to think that but I watch the reigns vs Joe match on the network and it truly looked like they we’re a lot of fans cheering for reigns in the front rows and you could heard them cheers at all because somehow the crowd mics seem to be turn on only on the fans that we’re booeing him and the turn down those that we’re cheering for him. It might just be me reading too much into this but lately That’s what I’ve picked up on every reigns matches on raw and Ppv.
Anyway, the only way I can see that WWE wild stop using reigns the way they are doing is if He’s not a cash cow for the company anymore, we can bitch and moan all we want but if the books says he’s over then he’s over.
The “problem” with Roman Reigns is that fans now are more interested in the behind the scenes and, as such, start to rebel immediately when things aren’t going their way. Roman Reigns is already getting the heat that Hulk Hogan started to get in the mid-90s without coming anywhere close to that level of popularity first. One of the reasons for that is that we’re so sensitive and on edge about who’s getting pushed, and we all have our own list of “the right reasons” to push a guy that needs to be followed. Because of this, we don’t allow ourselves to just “like” or “not like” a guy because of how he performs on screen.
I’m not saying we need to live in Jim Cornette’s dream world (“where all of the heels get booed and every build is 18 months long!”), but there has to be a better approach than the current one. Not every win is “forcing a guy on the audience” and not every loss is a “burial”.
There’s also the big difference between the Internet fans and the fans in the arena on a given night. Fans on the Internet all want nuanced, long-term booking and complex storytelling in matches and promos. But put those same fans in the building, and they’re not going to be satisfied unless CM Punk and Shawn Michaels not only make unannounced appearances but get hot-shotted to title wins (both in 5-star matches, of course). It’s impossible to appease all sides, especially when the same fan wants different things depending on if they’re at the arena or at a keyboard.
All of that being said, I’m not saying that this means WWE is doing well with Roman Reigns (my personal opinion is that they aren’t). But I also think they’re dealt a tough hand creatively and rarely get enough leeway to try things and let things play out without getting immediately shouted down.
TL;DR: I’m bored and writing this killed 15 minutes.
If only the template for rehabbing a damaged project existed in some ready-made, Naito-shaped package.
I don’t hate Roman, I just lost interest a long time ago. I accepted that he was going to win the Universal title a long time ago and wish they would just give it to him so we can move on. Ever since Goldberg got the title it has become the part-timers belt.
The problem with his character is they are trying to book him as a babyface with an edge but he comes across as someone with a personality disorder. What kind of babyface crashes a wedding celebration and pushes the bride into the cake? And did we ever get any explanation on why he and Strowman are teaming together despite their various attempts of murdering each other?
Maybe they should acknowledge his character’s mental illness and they can build some sympathy for him.
Like most people I’m pretty indifferent to Reigns.
He’s a solid worker but has been booked to be a corny loser for so long. He’s also had the same look, same music and essentially the same character traits for four years.
He should cut his hair, change his music, add a move… do something because he’s beyond stale.
I like Roman, he is a good worker and listening to him do shoot interviews he comes off as real, nice and a pure face. I wish WWE would let him shoot from the hip a bit more if he could show his real personality it could do him some good.
I am not a fan of how the WWE is trying to push him on the fans. I do believe he is the least talented member of SHIELD - Ambrose and Rollins are more well rounded talents. I wasn’t even watching wrestling regularly when the SHIELD debuted and I knew from jump street who Vince was going to push.
I think he can be a fan favourite, but I pushing him like he is the next John Cena is not a good idea. When Cena went from the Doctor of Thuganomics to the Marine to what we see now, he had quite the following. Reigns on the other hand is being pushed too fast. He isn’t a colourful guy like Cena or Hogan so he won’t immediately pull in kids.
3 threads just today about one guy…not over 
Heel turn! Now! Problem is fixed
I liked that you brought up the “wrestling media” that helps push this narrative. WWE loves it too. Then Roman gets labeled as “polarizing”.
Lol. You aren’t wrong. So many different fans make it hard to make the 100% correct decision sometimes. I think WWE tells/has told the wrong story with Roman. It’s not unique enough. Every huge star in that company has had a set of feuds or moments that are unique only to them. Roman has had maybe 2 and they were both due to Seth Rollins (the Shield breakup and MITB cash in). Outside of that he is a talented guy not being used to his potential creatively. That’s killing him.
I hate the term “over” lol. Roman is still THE man even with the people that hate him.
Brock is…IMO, stale as year-old bread. Heyman too. Roman has 3 adversaries: Brock, Joe and Braun. I would love for someone new to challenge him.
You want early NXT type Roman? I’d say Roman was the most interesting when he formed The Bloodline with The Usos.
I agree that Brock is a bigger drag on the Raw brand than Roman and it’s not even close. I live in the Dallas area but decided not to buy tickets to Great Balls of Fire once I heard Brock was going to main event.
Ever since Goldburg won the title over a year ago the Universal title story has been so predictable. Goldburg would lose it to Brock and Brock would lose it to Roman. Since that title has been locked down for so long with an obvious storyline, to me Raw has become a 3 hour show with one fewer title than the 2 hour Smackdown.
I stand by my earlier statement… just give it to Roman so we can move on.
I use these bastardized “insider terms” ironically tbh.
Most people online don’t use them correctly.
Roman was pushed too quickly coming out of The Shield so even though the fans loved him as the power man in that team, they started to turn on him. He kept the look and the theme music of the group, while Rollins and Ambrose changed it up somewhat, so he became a constant reminder that he was far more impactful as the exclamation point in The Shield than as a solo star. As time went on, more and more fans turned on him, not because he is bad at what he does (he has some great matches to his name and can even pull off good mic work when he’s motivated by the right material) but because WWE continued to push him regardless of how exposed and stale he’d become.
A short heel run and image change, including new entrance music and the dude’s golden again. If they’d just moved a little slower with him after The Shield broke up or even had him be the traitor in the group, he’d most likely be getting positive reactions right now as the top face on RAW.
Going to copy and paste my post from last week because I can’t be asked to write it all again:
People will push whatever narrative and scenario they want but in the end of the day, the fact of the matter is that the company is in a much better position than what they were in 20-25 years ago.
They tried to push certain people to the top and it was failing. Problem is that they barely had any money left, they were in rough shape and they were competing with WCW. There were alternatives and they had to rely on who the fans preferred. Which is why they picked Bret Hart over Lex Luger even though they wanted Lex Luger. Which is why they gave up on Diesel after a year. If they had it their way, they’d keep them as they are despite any backlash.
The problem is that today, there is NO alternatives that can legitimately compete with WWE. There is no risk factor. They can push and promote whoever they want and not have to worry about anything other than the absolute worst case scenarios. (Gets arrested, Suddenly leaves, Injury, Benoit)
That’s why Cena never lost his position despite the backlash. They are in a much better financial position and are masterful at promoting who they want. Randy Orton said it himself on Twitter. When someone asked him about his RKO T-Shirt (I forgot the context), Orton said that they have much more of Cena’s shirts on display more than anyone else’s and that’s why they sell so well. So you add the combination of young impressionable kids and multiple Cena shirts in display and available and there you go. Overall top seller. I remember when I went to a WWE event in the UK in 2010. It was a smackdown event but despite that, 50% of the shirts were Cena shirts and everything else was the SD Roster.
And now you have the exact same thing with Roman Reigns. There was no change or shift with Cena because even though people complained, most people kept watching and the shift to PG only ended up helping them because of the immense amount of money they made from kids. They KNOW they can get away with it now. So they see someone they like the look of and decide that person is the chosen one. But unlike the 90s, they have the ability and money to do it. Despite any backlash or negativity, they’re still getting publicity and money because of that so it means absolutely nothing. They’ll make Roman Reigns the face of everything and push any narrative and there’s nothing you can do to stop it other than no longer watching.
I think Reigns is a significant step down from Cena because Cena at least had charisma and was able to roll with the cheers and boos but Reigns gets 90% boos at this point. But it doesn’t matter because look at all the money they made recently excluding Saudi Arabia. Why change anything if people are going to watch anyway and they’re still going to make a stupidly high amount? Reigns’ merch doesn’t sell well because Reigns is great. His stuff sells because of the high volume of his merch compared to others and it’s heavily advertised. Of course he’s a top seller.
TLDR - WWE like Roman Reigns, fans don’t, fans keep watching anyway, WWE shrugs and continues status quo.
Yes, most of that is because they answer to shareholders, investors and paid partnerships that want “the WWE experience”. Not an experiment. Roman, like Cena before him, is the real face of the company. He’s not supposed to be given these twist and turns in storylines. He’s not that type of character. They still can be more creative with him though.