Roman Reigns: Fans’ Trendy Hatred of the WWE Champion

A look at the strong disliking of the Roman Reigns character.

“There is sobbing of the strong, and a pall upon the land. But the people in their weeping, bare the iron hand. Beware the people weeping, when they bare the iron hand.” – Herman Melville (The Martyr)

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by Confederate supporter John Wilkes Booth in April 1865, just as the Civil War was drawing to a close. The war officially ended one month later, but Lincoln’s death triggered both sadness and anger amongst war-weary Americans on both sides. There were reports of riots and violence towards those who dared voice support for Booth or were suspected of having Confederate ties, no matter how loose. Herman Melville’s poem, The Martyr, describes how people turn frustration into vengeance and lash out in an attempt to assuage their grief.

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The frustration and misdirected hatred of Roman Reigns is superficial and childish. If you’re a Reigns hater, ask yourself why. Why do you boo him? What did he do to deserve your condemnation? If your position is that he’s a “forced champion and I don’t want WWE telling me who to cheer for” those are valid points but that’s not his fault. By that logic, your real beef is with the WWE writers and brass; not with Reigns. But since people can’t boo the writers, they boo the subject. It’s like despising Jay Gatsby because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a terrible and boring book.

If you want to boo Eva Marie have at it because at least there is logic behind that decision. The woman has been a trainwreck since her introduction in WWE and has spent more time recovering from exploded breast implants than she has in the ring. Yet for some reason, she was featured in a match at WrestleMania 32 (Spoiler Alert: it wasn’t her “wrestling ability”). Reigns is currently suffering through what could be described as his John Cena Period; that time when fans boo him mostly because it’s what everyone else is doing.

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Think back to the time when Cena hatred was at its apex. His intense popularity had waned due to equal parts saturation and the general herd mentality/hipster attitude of the collective WWE Universe and IWC. They roll their eyes at mainstream talent and reserve their best cheers for those wrestlers on the fringe or considered outside the corporate grasp. Since Cena was now the face of the company, smark logic dictated that he must be reviled.

Over time, even the animosity itself for Cena became uncool and now most fans are more or less apathetic to him as opposed to the jeers we saw a year ago. The “great taste/less filling” style chants of ‘Let’s go Cena/Cena sucks” have now become tongue-in-cheek rallying cries to his cause. The crowd breaks out into this chorus because it’s loud and unifying, not because they genuinely dislike him. This highlights a harsh but sad truth about WWE crowds.

Taken as individuals, fans are smart and functioning members of society, most of whom have jobs, families and other social responsibilities. But in a large enough group, they are mindless sheeple willing to sell out their favorite wrestler for fear of being ostracized. “Oh, I’m only cheering for Cena because my son is with me. Uh, yeah, you know…kids love him…wow, is it hot in here? (tugs at hidden orange shirt).”

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Cena has been dealing with these chants for the better part of a decade while Reigns – despite his newfound embrace of the boos – is still relatively new to the hate game. Reigns is trying to take the Cena attitude of brushing off his shoulder because he’s witnessed how it can eventually turn in his favor, but he will suffer more hostile crowds before that happens. There is still no logical reason to boo him. He works hard, he has shown improvement on the mic with plenty of room to grow, and he is essentially the same man fans cheered for when he was with The Shield. Now as a singles wrestler and because he was forced upon the fans as their new champion  – through no fault of his own – he finds himself on the opposite side of the spectrum.

The WWE Universe is a fickle bunch and it’s unfortunate that the vast majority of them choose to direct their displeasure on a man who is literally just doing what he is told. He doesn’t write the scripts. He doesn’t direct the course of the storylines. Like Cena before him, Reigns is doing his best with what he is being given and only time will tell on whether WWE stays the course as it did with Cena or if they gives Reigns a massive character overhaul.

Related Story: Roman Reigns Should Be Neutral as 'The Guy'

You may not like the direction WWE has chosen for Reigns, but keep some perspective on who charts this course. He deserves better from all of us.