I was just discussing this with some of my friends. All i’ve been hearing and reading is how Reigns isn’t over and what WWE is doing with him isn’t working and yet, when WWE is releasing they merchandise numbers Reigns is always in the top 3 and the only guys in front of him are Cena and lesnar which is understandable because of who they are.
So the question is, how can Reigns not be over and Still rack up so much merchandise money. I know he got a lot of merchandise being sold but that’s the thing for a lot of other guys that are more popular then Reigns.
So i’m guessing while Reigns isn’t working for a section of the fans, he still is working for a section of the crowd and that’s the section that’s buying a lot of merchandise. Also it show how much of a difference their is between a t.v. crowd and a live event crowd. Reigns might not be over on T.V. but he popular on the live events so he’s more of a live event character then a T.V. character in my opinion. That’s my theory about Why Reigns his so hated and yet still be over and stay on the top 3 merchandise seller in WWE years after years.
people being pushed have more different types of merch then others. Some may have one shirt style in a few booths where Reigns may have 3 or more shirts in each booth, plus assorted other stuff.
There is so much Roman Reigns merch, it’s crazy. He’s making so much because of the volume of the variety that is available compared to other wrestlers.
Yeah but if he was so hated, it would make a difference if he had 1 shirt or multiple shirts in each booth plus all the other item because nobody would buy them. So he must be over somehow if their fans that are willing to buy his merchandise. You’re not going to tell me that fans are dumb enough to buy merchandise to support somebody they don’t like.
Maybe John can comment more on WWE’s target audience for merchandise, but I guarantee that kids ages 8-18 (and/or their parents) make up the bulk of WWE’s purchases. It probably isn’t even at shows. It’s at walmart, target, and online. Parents buy what WWE tells them to buy, which is the shirt of their main eventer whose face is everywhere. That by WWE positioning Roman as their biggest star, to a kid or non-fan or casual watcher he IS their biggest star.
When I was a kid I was a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. That means my parents bought me TMNT toys for my birthday or Christmas. They didn’t know which characters were the good guys or bad guys or which action figures I already had unless I told them. They just bought something with the TMNT logo on it.
These are not the people that are calling into shows or listening to podcasts or trashing Roman on reddit. They are the silent majority. And WWE knows how to market to them.
People who actually like the product are not as vocal as the whiners and complainers.
Not really that hard to figure out.
And the oddest thing should be if Reigns isn’t over. …why is he always brought up by people who keep exclaiming he has “go away heat”…if I talked about a chick like that…people would think I’m obsessed tbh.
I think this may be it - kids and their parents are probably easier to market to than adults. There’s also other factors with merch sales - not just the amount of items they sell but how often they bring out new ones. Cena seemingly got a new shirt every month or so to keep up sales.
Another thing with looking at merch is that its only a measure of fans that they already have - the argument against Roman is that he hasn’t brought in new fans whilst he’s been the most pushed act so you may as well try someone else who could bring in new/lapsed fans
Roman is obviously very popular with the demographic that are willing to wear wrestling shirts. I don’t own any WWE wrestling shirts because most of them would look ridiculous on an adult. So just because I might be a fan of a certain performer, that will likely never translate to merch sales for said performer.
I’m talking about things his likeness is on, it’s on everything, even things that are generic WWE that kids buy, toy packs matched with other wrestlers, posters with other wrestlers, etc. Kids like Roman Reigns and are buying his stuff, but it helps that he’s on other things too with other wrestlers and generic WWE products.
I think an important factor for Roman selling the most merch is simply that he has way more merchandise than all of the other guys (except Cena, maybe). Thus there’s more to buy and more to sell.
And especially at live events where only a limited choice of shirts etc. are sold, it’s always full of Reigns stuff, and always available in all sizes. The shirts of other wrestlers are, with a high chance, either not available to begin with or sold out, especially in the size you need.
So you don’t need to be a brain surgeon to figure out why he sells more merch. If WWE wants him to, then he will…
Its said if the WWE shines up a turd they could sell it… and well…
To prove Reigns isn’t a turd, some one else would need to get an equal main event push. And then you compare the numbers. I think t-shirts to a house-show audience isn’t anything to go off of. The fans in attendance would buy anyone as the top guy. They are proving that they would pay money to see non-consequential matches with no storyline advancements. They would buy the Cesaro shirt too if he was the big dog 3rd member of the SHIELD
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.
What’s infuriating is wwe won’t listen to the fans er… their wwe universe. They believe their own bs and are arrogant. They push roman as a face and rusev as a heel when the fans are openly and loudly telling the company what they want.
Every one knows the example of the Rock and what they should do with Roman. What about Braun?
BRAUN was added to the Wyatt family, a heEl group. He got over even though green and the group hid his lack of mic skills. Eventually braun splits. Does a great heel run and the fans turned him face. Now everything he does is over. Get these hands is a terrible catch phrase but it’s over.
If Roman turned heel the fans would turn him back within six months. Also, he’d get to work finn, seth, braun, lashley. As a face he works owens, baron and jinder. I just don’t get this company.
Let’s just keep jobbing hometown guys for no reason too
It’s a combination of being both corporate and carnie at the same time. They’ll do shit that doesn’t make sense but will be able to do it because the person running it all doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. They’ll push that narrative no matter what and will even beat it into the performers heads.
I mean for goodness sake, The amount of times i’ve heard an interview from a wrestler (other than Cena who subtly said he still sucks in the E&C podcast) saying that they don’t see the problem with Roman Reigns and that people only boo because it’s the cool thing to do and some of them still thinking that people hate him because of the way he wrestles and that he’s so nice and funny outside of the ring.
It’s incredibly tone deaf. His wrestling is fine. I don’t care about that. I don’t think anyone does anymore. The problem is the way he’s booked. If people are booing because other people are booing, then why are they initially booing to begin with? And people can speak about how cool and funny someone is but in the end of the day, what the fuck does that mean? Why does that even matter? That’s great, but no one is seeing any of that when he talks or emotes.
Again, no matter how many times people will make their opinion known and their displeasure clear, they won’t do anything to change it unless they vote with their wallet. If people desperately want change, then stop buying the network or tweeting about it, keep up to date with things through highlights or podcasts and invest in other products like NJPW which is still on the rise. A reminder that they didn’t give a plate of cow urine about the Battle Royale being called the Fabulous Moolah Battle Royale UNTIL Mars told them they didn’t like and their tone instantly changed. That’s a clear as day sign on how to get change.
you are exactly right about this, if fans want WWE do stop pushing Reigns the way they do, they need to hit them were it hurts and that’s is by stopping to buy his merchandise and stop investing in the wwe product. There really nothing wrong with Reigns himself, he’s doing his job the way he’S suppose to be doing it and in a different era, he would be as huge of a star as Hogan or Warrior were but the fact his, WWE seem to be stuck in the mentality of the 80’S and that you need to book your guys to make money off the live events and that’s what reigns is, he’s a live event attraction since the hardcore wrestling fans barely go to those shows anymore so they will make more money off a character that’S there to be a hero for the children’s then actually be somebody that the hardcore fans will like.
WWE has always been about the money and it won’T change anytime soon, if you want somebody to get push you need to make them know about it through you’re wallet more then just cheering or booing somebody. Bryan wrote it in his book and he’s exactly right. The reason they didn’t push him at first when the yes mouvement started was mostly a money related thing. Fans we’re cheering for him but nobody was buying his merchandise so WWE thought that he was marketable and drop his push. Then when they we’re desperate they restarted it and this time, his merch was selling well so they keep with it.
I’m sure WWE could do a better job of positioning multiple guys to at least have a fighting chance of surpassing Cena and Reigns in the merch/popularity/profit column. But if I could buy a lottery ticket for $10 and be guaranteed to make at least $100 every time, is it really worth it to buy the $20 ticket that MIGHT pay out $200?
I agree. If Roman was battling Seth right now and they were in the Shawn, Bret role from the late 90’s they would be on their way to stardom. Instead they are top stars, then intercontinental, then a tag team, then top stars again, I can’t keep up and no one cares. I’m really hoping backlash was the end of all this current garbage and the WWE now start some structure and build stars naturally.
This may sound lame but I kinda thought the Smackdown Top 10 could have been positive (if used correctly). I thought they were going to show progression and stars rise up the league as they win matches. But no, of course not, it meant nothing and has been dropped. There needs to be some structure so people like Roman can become stars. No one can win one match lose the next, get a shot at the title, lose, get another shot - win, who cares.
I’m sure a star we all love Finn will win the title this year but then what, lose it to Braun then fight for the tag team titles on Raw the week later…you can’t make stars like this…Will WWE ever learn?