Roman Reigns Is No Longer An Experiment

Roman Reigns
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No name is guaranteed to generate as fervent a response as that of Roman Reigns. For the last three years or so, “The Big Dog” has been presented as WWE’s biggest overachiever, the one who will take John Cena’s crown as the face of the company and lead the brand into the future. It goes without saying that he’s been a polarising figure, as the divided response he has received from fans will tell you. But there is a phrase that is often bandied around when describing the ungodly push that the man has received, and that is “The Roman Reigns Experiment”.

This is said in reference to Roman not being a natural top guy of the company, lacking the organic fan support that followed the likes of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and yes, even John Cena. The phrase made enough sense in 2015, when Roman’s Royal Rumble win marked one of the most disastrous pay-per-view endings in company history. But is this phrase not completely redundant when we look at where Roman now stands in the company?

The reality of Roman Reigns is that he is a Grand Slam Champion, a Royal Rumble winner, a three-time WWE Champion, and he’s headlined the last three WrestleMania events. When taking in this laundry list of accomplishments that he’s achieved in just five years on the main roster, when does an experiment stop and a permanent position on the card begin? It is still common for wrestling news outlets to label Roman’s push as an experiment, which carries an implication of the push ending at some point. There’s a fine line between false hope and being delusional, WWE has shown their hand with Roman.

Roman Reigns

There is an argument to be made that the term “Experiment” is still valid due to the meticulously constructed nature of Roman’s push. The usual pattern that a top babyface’s career follows is a tried and tested method: they begin in the middle of the card, racking up wins against established veterans as they slowly move up to the main event. Roman’s career path hasn’t been able to take this route because of how the company went about debuting him. He was never introduced to us as a singles act, but as the muscle of one of the hottest factions in recent memory.

The Shield was obviously always going to make stars of all three of its members, but Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose were on the receiving end of greater support from the hardcore fanbase due to their reputations in the independent scene. Roman was the company guy, as if he was created in a lab to be the face of the company.

In that analogy, Roman literally is an experiment, and Vince McMahon has done everything in his power to build things around him. A recent example of this is how protected Brock Lesnar’s F-5 has been. Since Brock returned to WWE, his finisher has been kicked out of a whole host of times, but he’s been putting away everyone he’s faced this year with just one. Many agree that finishers are kicked out of too much in modern day wrestling, and that having a move that legitimately finishes a match is a step in the right direction. However, the F-5 ending everyone in one shot isn’t representative of a shift in how finishers are presented, it’s clearly just to make Roman look all the more impressive when he probably kicks out of three of them at WrestleMania 34.

Roman Reigns
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One could argue that this deliberate placement of Roman as a vehicle for unprecedented success does indeed make him less of a wrestler and more of an experiment, but don’t experiments eventually conclude if they’re proven to not work?

Lex Luger was an experiment, and the most prominent honour he ever got was being the co-winner of the Royal Rumble in 1994. Meanwhile, Roman is one more consecutive WrestleMania main event away from matching Hulk Hogan. How many more accolades will the man have to gather before being his own superstar and not an experiment? It’s not a case of liking Roman Reigns or not, as there is plenty to be critical of in his push. He’s just so settled in now as WWE’s top dog that the term “Roman Reigns Experiment” doesn’t make much sense anymore. It certainly did once upon a time, but who are we kidding apart from ourselves when we say it with the utmost sincerity after three years of a never ending mega push?

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