The Roman Reigns Dilemma

Last week on Monday Night Raw, Roman Reigns entered the ring to make his “big announcement”. This announcement, that he would be challenging the Universal Champion at Summerslam regardless of who that may be, completely undercut storyline feud progression. The need for on-air authority figures and the importance of the Fatal 5 Way number one contenders’ match that happened only two weeks prior was undercut too.

The delusional Reigns went on to rhyme off a list of competitors who couldn’t beat him one on one – most of whom, including Finn Balor and Braun Strowman, already have done just that. The entire promo could mean one of two things. Either WWE creative are completely clueless as to character development and their own match history or, after years of people begging, Roman Reigns has actually quietly turned heel. The entire promo was delivered with the entitlement and arrogance always present in Reigns’ facial expressions now mirrored in his actual words. The whole thing felt like a desperate heel demanding what was rightfully his. So, has the “big dog” finally turned to the dark side? The answer is yes. And no.

WWE has had plenty of opportunities to turn Reigns heel over the last few years. He could have turned on Daniel Bryan leading into WrestleMania 31 when the fans clearly chose Bryan as the company were pushing Roman. They could have had him turn on Dean Ambrose at Survivor Series 2015 when the two men were competing in the finals of the WWE Championship tournament, and joined The Authority. He could have turned when wrestling AJ Styles in the aftermath of WrestleMania 32, forming a heel alliance with The Usos (who would of course turn heel themselves not long after). Finally, and perhaps the opportunity which presented the greatest chance of success, would have been a heel victory over The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 this year. All of these opportunities came and went. What cannot be denied, however, is a different edge to Reigns’ character following his fair and square win over The Deadman.

Ever since Mania, Reigns has been keen to remind the WWE Universe this is now his yard. He hasn’t necessarily bragged about defeating Undertaker the same way Chris Jericho did about beating The Rock and Stone Cold in the same night to become the first ever Undisputed Champion. But assuming control of Undertaker’s yard doesn’t fall too far short.

He was booed to a degree that most heels would dream of on the Raw following Wrestlemania, with the rabid post-Mania crowd barely allowing him to speak. It was a spectacular moment that could have been the first steps towards a fully fledged heel turn. So what did WWE do? They returned to a feud with Braun Strowman which presented Strowman as the monster villain and Reigns as the plucky, defiant babyface – and yet another opportunity seemed to have drifted away.

While this feud is now entering another phase with Strowman returning on Raw, Reigns has most definitely adopted a new attitude since their earlier encounters. The only other person who has had a similar attitude in WWE history is someone very few would ever put in the same box as Reigns – Bret “The Hitman” Hart.

In 1997 WWE did something unique, brave and, ultimately, very successful from an intriguing storyline perspective. Bret Hart, formerly a babyface hero who was feeling mistreated by the company, turned heel at WrestleMania 13 against Stone Cold in the greatest heel/babyface double turn in wrestling history. Austin was now a hero and Hart the villain – apart from the fact that Canada apparently didn’t get the memo.

Canadians would have followed Bret through anything and everything in his career and still treated the Hitman with reverence and respect. WWE ran with this idea and Bret, along with the new incarnation of the Hart Foundation, were heels in the United States and heroic icons north of the border. It was something new and presented a world of opportunities. Sadly the entire angle came to a head with the infamous Montreal Screwjob, but there can be no doubt almost everything leading up to that point was a creative success. Fast forward to 2017 and WWE is trying to do something similar with Roman Reigns, only it has nothing to do with territorial borders.

Roman Reigns has moved beyond being cheered by children and booed by adults (well, predominantly adult males) to deliberately being presented as a babyface to children and a heel to adult males. The closest comparison, John Cena, may have divided the fan base for the last fifteen years but he has always stayed true to his character. You didn’t have to like Cena, but he was never anything but the babyface hero living by his credo of “Hustle, Loyalty and Respect”. His character has never compromised and WWE have been quite happy to allow fans to boo or cheer as they saw fit. Cena’s character may appeal more to children but at the same time he’s rarely done anything to deliberately garner heat with adults. Reigns, however, is now quite clearly being marketed differently to different age groups.

For children, Reigns is a hero because WWE says so. He’s fought the odds against The Authority. He’s been forced to defend his WWE Championship in a Royal Rumble match (where he entered as Number 1, no less). He’s been the victim of not one, but two Money in the Bank cash ins. And most recently he’s been the victim of numerous assaults by the monstrous Braun Strowman. In this sense how could Reigns be anything but a face?

Throughout all of this a large portion of the adult fan base has still indeed booed the man. Not necessarily because of anything he’s done, but because it’s been abundantly obvious he is the “chosen one”. Primed to be pushed to the moon despite a perceived lack of experience, promo abilities, limited move set and unfavourable comparisons to other competitors on the roster who many feel deserved the spot more. After defeating The Undertaker at Wrestlemania, however, Reigns has quietly started to behave more like a heel, just not obviously enough to have kids boo him as well.

By proclaiming the ring his yard, Roman Reigns is bragging about beating, and ultimately retiring, The Undertaker as much as this logic will allow. Older fans will have grown up hearing The Deadman make this proclamation himself, so to be reminded that those nostalgic days from our childhoods are gone just doesn’t sit right. It’s a slap in the face that younger fans won’t feel in the same way.

For some reason Reigns’ facial expressions have always seen him come off as petty and entitled. It seems like this has been played up even more as of late, particularly on the Raw after Mania where he stood in the ring and soaked up the venom of the WWE Universe in attendance. To the younger audience he was simply stood waiting to talk; to an older viewer he was revelling in the response he was receiving for defeating the most iconic professional wrestler of all time.

Then we come full circle to last week on Raw where Reigns, with no validation whatsoever, jumped the queue and proclaimed himself next in line for a title shot. Again, younger fans would have no problem with this, as they would be happy to see their favourite get a match for the Universal Championship. Older fans, however, know that this makes no sense and will react accordingly. For the first time since Bret Hart in 1997, WWE is having one character be himself to elicit two completely different responses from separate parts of their fan base.

The next question is simply this: will this work? The general consensus, even coming from people like Stone Cold Steve Austin, is that Reigns needs to turn heel at least once to further find his character and, over time, naturally return to a babyface character while bringing the fans with him willingly. This would overcome the current situation where many feel as if Roman is being shoved down their throats.

This approached worked for Austin himself, The Rock and, more recently, Randy Orton. The logic is sound and the precedent has been set by those three mega stars. As we have seen over the last few years, however, WWE just doesn’t seem willing to do this. Whether it’s merchandise sales with Reigns as a face, the lack of another who could take his role in the company’s eyes, or even sheer blind determination and stubbornness, Vince and co are clearly refusing to turn Reigns fully heel.

This half and half approach, then, seems to be a middle ground. WWE is essentially attempting to please all parties with one approach. The kids don’t have to see their hero become a villain and adults are actually being given an on-air, character-specific reason to despise Reigns. In theory this could lead to stronger reactions across the board, or it could lead to a muddled mess somewhere in between.

Only time will tell whether this approach finds success, particularly with Reigns re-inserted into the never ending feud with Braun Strowman where he has, up to this point, played the more generic face role. Should Reigns ultimately challenge for the Universal Championship at Summerslam, he would jump ahead of so many potential fresh matches in favour of a re-run we’ve already seen. If Samoa Joe walks into the pay-per-view as champion then it will be the third time the two men have faced this year, with both prior meetings coming on Raw and thus not feeling like a big time attraction. A rematch from WrestleMania 31 against Brock Lesnar does feel like a huge main event match – but is it better than Lesnar vs. Balor or Lesnar vs. Strowman, which we’ve never seen before? Then again, perhaps this itself is another tactic to get the jaded, adult male fan to boo Reigns even more. What could be more heelish than screwing us out of a Lesnar vs. Balor dream match?

In the weeks and months to come it will be interesting to see the progression of this character – one that is simultaneously a babyface and a heel. Reigns will certainly be presented strongly, featured heavily and pushed into major matches, feuds and segments on television so the opportunity to do something very interesting is certainly available. Bret Hart and the Hart Foundation provided some of the most compelling viewing of 1997. With some foresight, planning and creativity there’s no reason Reigns can’t end up doing something similar twenty years later. So long as this doesn’t wind up as a Samoan Screwjob in November, the future for everyone involved could be very bright indeed.