What Now For Roman Reigns?

[DMJ]

I'm not sure if this deserve its own thread, but I am curious what other followers of the current WWE product feel about Roman Reigns after this week's shows. I found it to be a very interesting two nights.

 

At Battleground, Reigns got pinned by Ambrose clean, but even before that, one of the big stories of the match seemed to be that Ambrose and Rollins were almost actively serving as avatars for the "smart fans," at certain points teaming up (despite their years-long, bitter rivalry) to "bury him" via a powerbomb into an announce table.

 

RAW opened up with Stephanie calling him a loser. I might've missed it (I was half-watching, admittedly), but was there any sort of retaliatory statement out of Reigns? Did Foley stand up for him? Did the commentators?

 

Reigns got one big win early in the night...but it was, without question, in the "colder" of the two fourways. Call them "indie darlings," call them "the fresher talent," call them the whatever you want but Rusev, Cesaro, Owens, and Balor represent a "next generation" and their match felt like a bigger deal than its counterpart weighed down by two guys - Jericho and Sheamus - who, rightfully so or not, seem out of place on a show built around "RAW's rebirth." I don't think its just in my head, either. I think you can compare the placement of the matches and the commentary and tell which match was presented as more important.

 

Then, the main event. Reigns did some roaring at the tail end, but for the majority of the match, he was stoic, no longer tossing out those sly grins or smiles that he'd been punctuating his offense with since last year's Mania. This was Reigns working an emotionless style on purpose, leaving plenty of room for Balor to play the clear underdog babyface. Even when Reigns has a clear size advantage (against AJ Styles some months ago or Daniel Bryan in 2015 or even against Rollins), he's always shown an ability to use facial expressions to get across anguish and rally support from at least a portion of the audience. Last night, there was none of it. All the while, the commentators seemed more hesitant to heap praise on the guy than at any time I've heard since his debut.

 

This doesn't feel like the start of a "redemption" story either.

 

So, what does everyone else think? Am I reading to much into this or did the ending of RAW seem like it could be summed up as "The Birth of a New Star...The Fall of Another"?

[sek69]

It almost seems like they finally realized their best bet with him is a heel turn. From a business standpoint it makes the most sense since he's been the defacto top heel for over a year and a half anyway.

[NintendoLogic]

If they do turn Reigns heel, they pretty much have to do a double turn with Rollins, right? The fans actually want to cheer him, and I rather doubt that they're about to make Finn Balor the top babyface on Raw.

[El Dragon]

I think the best thing they can do for Reigns is just keep him mixed with Cesaro, Zayn, and Owens, and let him establish himself as a really good worker for them in the midcard for a while. Paitence is the answer here, and has been the answer from the get go. WWE just isn't a place of patience for the most part.

[Microstatistics]

It almost seems like they finally realized their best bet with him is a heel turn. From a business standpoint it makes the most sense since he's been the defacto top heel for over a year and a half anyway.

 

Wouldn't crowds start cheering Reigns the moment he turns heel?

[goc]

I think the best thing they can do for Reigns is just keep him mixed with Cesaro, Zayn, and Owens, and let him establish himself as a really good worker for them in the midcard for a while. Paitence is the answer here, and has been the answer from the get go. WWE just isn't a place of patience for the most part.

If people are still not convinced of the fact that he's a good worker by now then they are clearly just being willfully ignorant. No amount of good matches is ever going to convince them since they'll just hand wave it all away as him being carried by those indy "super workers" like they did with the AJ matches.

[sek69]

 

It almost seems like they finally realized their best bet with him is a heel turn. From a business standpoint it makes the most sense since he's been the defacto top heel for over a year and a half anyway.

 

Wouldn't crowds start cheering Reigns the moment he turns heel?

 

 

Well that's what Vince has wanted from the start, so at this point I'm sure he'd be willing to take what he can get.

[El Dragon]

Then you wait him out in the midcard anyway. If the fans eventually forgive him and you can push him near the top of the card, hey great! If not, you have him putting over guys who can headline PPV's in the near future like Sami, Owens, Cesaro, or other call ups.

[goc]

The only good thing about possibly having Roman Reigns hang around the midcard with Zayn, Owens & Cesaro is me getting to read people crying about how he "buried" them when he beats them. Otherwise he should be in the main event considering he's one of the top 2-3 wrestlers in the company.

[El Dragon]

So, what would you want from Reigns on Raw then? Just a constant feud with Rollins? Cause he's gonna have to wrestle the Zayns, Owens, and Cesaros of the world with the Brand Split anyway.

[goc]

Definitely not a constant feud with Rollins just one where he wins and gets the title back. Then beats all the former indy guys while everyone cries.

[jcmmnx]

What he should've been doing at Mania last year feud with Rusev for the US title.

[goc]

I'd like to agree with that but then we wouldn't have the all time classic Brock/Reigns match marred only by a fucking awful non-finish.

 

I'm down for a Rusev/Reigns feud but I've never liked a guy going from being World Champion to wrestling for a secondary title, especially in such a short amount of time as it would be for Reigns to go from WWE Champ to battling for the U.S. Title.

[Strummer]

My guess for him for Summerslam is he will go over a Jericho or Owens type and then will go back to the title feud sometime in the fall. They basically have to turn him heel. A double turn with Rollins seems likely

[SirEdger]

Rollins should've turned babyface the minute he came back on TV. His return screamed babyface. Instead, they stuck with Roman as the babyface, trying once again to keep his push alive and now, with the failed drug test and everything, they're coming to the realization that it just doesn't work. I don't think they're gonna turn him heel. At best, they're gonna make him a tweener.

 

As for his next feud, I wouldn't be shocked to see him fight Rusev for the US Championship. But even there, I don't know if that's even the smartest move. I mean, Rusev has finally found his monster feel back again and dropping the US title to Roman would definitely piss people off even more than they are. Basically, Roman is in a lose-lose situation no matter what at the moment. Like it was suggested, maybe that a few months in the midcard is the best option for him.

[NotJayTabb]

I think dropping Roman back to the midcard when he already gets some of the loudest reactions on each show would be a mistake. For better or worse, he's currently getting heel heat most of the roster would kill for. The trick is to use that reaction to get the most out of it. There's definite signs that they're positioning him towards a heel run - feuding with then-face indy darling AJ Styles, positioning him opposite debuting face indy darling Finn Balor, even his new thicker beard seems to scream that he's turning to the darkside. Roman's already one of the best wrestlers on the roster, so a run of matches against Balor, Zayn, Cesaro etc. If people still think he's being carried and boo him, fine. If they realise how dumb it is, chanting "You Can't Wrestle" at the guy who had the WWE MOTY in 2015 and (in my opinion) has had the MOTY for 2016 thus far (vs AJ at Payback), then he can be a face again organically.

 

I will say turning Rollins face seems like a bad idea though. He's a good face worker, as the Shield run showed, but the only way he'll stay face is if he's given an injury angle where someone permanently injures his voicebox, because his nasty, nasal voice is promo-death.

[WashingtonFB]

It is funny but not surprising seeing all the positive buzz for Balor's positioning in the main event of Summerslam after going over four of the biggest stars on the RAW roster in his debut. I thought one of the biggest criticisms for Reigns' push was that it was too much too soon? Granted, Balor spent two years in NXT but Reigns was on the main roster for two years and was always branded as the next break out star. I know this post is a whole lot of nothing, people are gonna cheer who they like and boo who they dislike but the overt Reigns hate and the rationalizations for it never really made any sense to me, especially after Bryan retired.

[goc]

It is funny but not surprising seeing all the positive buzz for Balor's positioning in the main event of Summerslam after going over four of the biggest stars on the RAW roster in his debut. I thought one of the biggest criticisms for Reigns' push was that it was too much too soon? Granted, Balor spent two years in NXT but Reigns was on the main roster for two years and was always branded as the next break out star. I know this post is a whole lot of nothing, people are gonna cheer who they like and boo who they dislike but the overt Reigns hate and the rationalizations for it never really made any sense to me, especially after Bryan retired.

I said this exact same thing on twitter but then the people who've been hating on Reigns aren't really basing that on any type of rational thought so it's not like they really care or that the "it was just too fast!" thing was ever actually the real reason they hated him. The real reasons for the Reigns hate seems to be a combination of him not being Daniel Bryan, too Samoan, being a product of only the WWE system who didn't have to "pay his dues" on the indies, that Vince likes him, not doing enough flippy doos and that he is liked by casual female fans because of his good looks (although unlike Balor I haven't seen any women in the crowd holding up signs asking him to face fuck them) and not for the pure and sanctified reason of his workrate prowess.

 

If the Reigns hate was really based on "he was pushed too fast and isn't very good on the mic" then I see absolutely no reason why those same people would be celebrating Balor getting a SummerSlam title match after only one night on Raw considering that that is a WAY faster push than Reigns received and Balor is equal to or lesser than Reigns as a promo.

[DMJ]

From reading everyone's comments, I feel like one of my questions has been answered - Is Roman Reigns still being "groomed" as the next John Cena? No.

 

Once the rocket was strapped to Cena's back (I'll say 2005), there really never seemed to be serious conversations about the likelihood of him "spending some time in the midcard." Now, obviously, 10 years later, Cena did end up competing for the US Championship and blah blah blah recent history....but we're talking about Cena essentially voluntarily stepping down to open up the main event and maybe extend his own lifespan in the process.

 

For Reigns to fall into the midcard in 2016, after only really a year and a half as a "top guy," puts him in a category of workers that will never be remembered as being "The Man." Its still esteemed company to be in - Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Booker T, and Kane all followed similar trajectories of peaking in the main event but spending a majority of their WWE careers slightly below it - but its not necessarily the position that I believe the company was hoping for when it came to Roman Reigns. All evidence pointed to the WWE wanting Reigns to be the next John Cena, not the next Edge.

 

To me, that's the big story coming out of this week. Not since SummerSlam 93' can I really recall a moment where, in the span of 24 hours, it became so crystal clear that Vince had decided to pull the plug on what was seemingly his top investment.

[fakeplastictrees]

WWE can have its cake and eat it to. People are tired of Big Show and Jericho's acts. Why not have Reigns run through them? Reign retiring Big Show and sending Jericho out on a stretcher would make for good T.V., keep Roman away from the title, and allow WWE some time to figure out what to do with him while he potentially is put in a place where people won't turn on him.

[El Dragon]

They tried Reigns Big Show last year. Was a good match. Did nothing at all to turn opinion.

[PeteF3]

Yeah, but they also insisted on having Reigns do at least one job to Show, which was rather stupid and counterproductive no matter what the "payoff" was supposed to be.

[Blehschmidt]

At this point I think a complete overhaul is needed. Turn him heel, ditch the outfit, maybe do the same thing with the Uso's since they are getting boo'ed now too. Stable them up and see what happens.

[WashingtonFB]

I think Dave's idea of turning Reigns at Summerslam by costing Balor the match might be the way to go. You can do a revamped Shield/Two Man power trip team of Rollins/Reigns and get some really great tag matches against any combination of Balor, Zayn, Neville, Cesaro, New Day or any other babyface they want to elevate in that position. The problem is it does make Reigns second fiddle to Rollins.

[The Thread Killer]

I'd agree with all the "turn Roman heel" sentiments, except unless WWE are really trying to blindside us with the heel turn, it doesn't look like it's going to happen. The feeling I got from the way Rollins acted while Roman was suspended, and from Stephanie berating and humiliating him during the opening segment of Raw, is that we're supposed to feel sorry for him. He's just a hard working guy who made a mistake and owned up to it, but his dastardly former friend won't let him live it down, and his evil boss is picking on him for not bouncing right back.

 

I am truly amazed at Vince's bullheaded determination to ram Reigns down the fans throats as a babyface, whether we like it or not, all evidence to the contrary. I'd love to see the heel turn, but it seems like Vince is determined not to do it, no matter what.