WWE WrestleMania 32: Roman Reigns Heel Turn or Bust

If Roman Reigns isn’t turning heel at WrestleMania 32 or on Raw, WWE may be taking their grandest risk of all.

Roman Reigns is just hours away from walking into WrestleMania 32 to face Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. He earned this right at WWE Fastlane by defeating Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose, a result that many saw coming given the Big Dog’s path with the WWE COO.

Of course, given the predictability, fans continued to reject Reigns. This has been going on for almost two years now and is becoming more painful to watch every time he steps into the ring.

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We have come to a point where turning Reigns heel may be the only option. His booking as a top babyface just hasn’t done him any favors and it may be time to see what happens when he’s a bad guy. With this possible stipulation being added to this match with the Game, a character change may happen.

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But what if that’s not the plan?

If the former Shield man walks out of WrestleMania 32 with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as a babyface, the majority of 100,000 fans will boo him out of AT&T Stadium. It’s probably why this match might not go on last because WWE is scared, nervous and concerned. This would mark a second consecutive WrestleMnaia main event that WWE has changed to get the crowd’s focus off of Reigns. So if this problem keeps coming up, why constantly place a band-aid on the womb when it will only continue to bleed?

WrestleMania 32 is not the end all be all, though, with Raw the next night. There is still an opportunity for Reigns to turn heel.

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But what if he doesn’t?

If Reigns doesn’t turn heel on the Raw after WrestleMania 32, then we’re going to start treating his “possible heel turns” like John Cena’s. Everyone will look for a sign that it’s going to happen, even down to the most minuscule detail, only to be left disappointed. It’s a stubbornness that WWE has shown over the years that hasn’t been able to be budged.

Cena was able to survive, though. While he still gets booed in about half the arenas he walks into, the man was able to stay alive with his polarizing persona and entertain with his voice. He’s not a bad wrestler either. Maybe not the best, but knows how to put on a great match with just about everyone.

The boos for Reigns are also worse than Cena’s. Watch content from Mr. HLR’s push in 2005-2006 and compare then to what the 2-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion has received—it’s not close.

Then you have to consider what’s the bigger risk here. Is it keeping Reigns as a face or turning him heel?

Right now, the risk is having him walk out of WrestleMania weekend as a good guy. I hate to say this, but it would be WWE giving the fans the middle finger. They would be showing everyone that this is what they want to do and are going to do, and there’s nothing the crowd could chant that would change their minds. There would be a risk of losing even more fans who feel that they’re being tuned out. Why would they want to watch a product that they don’t like?

We haven’t even touched on the match, which is the sad thing here because it’s not even the focus of Reigns’ story. Fans know he’s walking out with the title, which puts more pressure on him to turn heel so we get some type of alternative ending. Roman and Hunter will probably put on a great match, but no one will care because of what they want and need to see happen.

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It really comes down to this: it’s a Roman Reigns heel turn or bust. Keeping him in this same character would mean fans should expect to see the same old thing. Unfortunately, I think this is going to be the case coming out of WrestleMania 32 and the Apr. 4 Raw. We’ll be in for the reign of Roman Reigns, and it’s not going to be pretty.