Roman Reigns Needs to Be Best Heel Before Being Best Face

Why history proves that Roman Reigns needs to become the company’s top heel before he can become the top babyface.

Through a chorus of mostly boos from over 100,000 WWE fans, Roman Reigns celebrated his Wrestlemania 32 victory over Triple H. In capturing his third WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a 6-month span, Reigns cemented himself as the top draw in the company. Well according to the WWE, at least.

The majority of WWE fandom has rejected Reigns as the next big thing, based mostly on the fact that the company has sent him directly down the same babyface path as the ever polarizing John Cena. The unbeatable, invincible, always victorious character that Cena has been portraying since 2004 has split the WWE universe into two divisions. The under age 14 fans that love Cena, and basically everyone else. This has resulted in a pretty close split between boos and cheers, with the boos usually winning out. However, when it comes to Reigns the boos severely outweigh the cheers. Reigns has neither established himself with either of the demographics that Cena battles with.

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Now Reigns has taken on a new persona: The Neutral Guy. Instead of digging his heels in one way or the other, he’s decided that he will be neither heel or face, which is a colossal mistake by the WWE. If Reigns’ popularity can ever be salvaged, the time is now to turn him heel. History has proven time and time again that the top babyfaces and some of the most popular superstars of all time were the best heels in the company before going on to stardom.

To get some examples of this we can look right in Reigns’ own family.

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His cousin, The Rock, broke onto the WWE scene as bright, young, happy go lucky babyface, only to be rejected almost immediately by the fans (remember the “Die Rocky, Die” signs?). Shortly after that he turned heel and joined The Nation Of Domination. In his new, arrogant character, Rocky now renamed The Rock, thrived. It became clear quickly that we were too good for the mid card and quickly left the N.O.D. for greener pastures. He immediately teased a babyface turn when he interjected himself into the feud between Steve Austin, Kane, The Undertaker, and Vince McMahon, and the fans seemed to be behind him. But just when the face turned seemed imminent he flipped the script and won the WWF title at the 1998 Survivor Series, screwing over Mankind and aligning himself with McMahon.

For the following six months, the now “Corporate Champion” was not only the top heel in the company but far and away the very best. His mic skills alone made him must watch TV week in and week out. His eventual face turn after being stabbed in the back by Shane McMahon was adored by the fans and their allegiance to him has continued to this very day.

Speaking of Stone Cold Steve Austin, he is yet another shining example of the heel/face turn working perfectly. In 1995, Austin came to the WWF as The Ringmaster, a heel gimmick that flamed out almost as quickly as it was lit. He was re-branded the StoneCold gimmick and became the most ruthless, hard-hitting heel the company had seen in a very long time, if ever. He harassed perennial babyface Bret Hart for months through scathing promos and cheated his way to numerous victories, including his illegal 1997 Royal Rumble win.

By the time Wrestlemania 13 came around, the fans were salivating over an Austin face turn and very quickly rallied around him during his classic with The Hitman. The response was so massive that Stone Cold would go on to be one of the most popular superstars in the company whether being heel or face.

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Finally, there’s Shawn Michaels. From the time that Michaels superkicked Marty Jannetty in the face and then flung him through a plate glass window during an episode of Brutus Beefcake’s Barber Shop, HBK would be the most enthralling heel on the roster. His brash, flamboyant style, and nefarious tricks enraged the fans on a nightly basis over the course of the next four years. In the spring of 1995, Michaels took a two-month break and when he returned to WWF programming he was immediately greeted with cheers. As much as many of the fans despised Michaels, they had clearly missed how good he was in every aspect of his game.

Michaels spent the next 15 years as one WWE’s top talents, including a three-year stint carrying the company on his back after many of the company’s other stars left for the WCW. To this day, Michaels is still one of the most respected wrestler’s by fans.

It would be in the WWE’s best interest to follow this blueprint with Reigns. However, he doesn’t possess many of the skills the above three mentioned men did. He can’t perform as well as Michaels, he can’t trash-talk like Austin, and he certainly can’t entertain like The Rock. That will make this transition all the more difficult. However, does the WWE have any other choice right now? They either get the absolute most out of Reigns now or they possibly never will.

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