WWE Raw Superstar Profile and Grades: Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is one of the most talked about members of the current WWE roster. There’s a lot to break down with him, so let’s take a closer look at The Big Dog.

Name: Roman Reigns

Age: 31

Career Accomplishments: WWE World Heavyweight Champion(3x), WWE Tag Team Champion (1x with Seth Rollins), 2015 Royal Rumble winner

Main Roster Debut: November 2012

Roman Reigns debuted on WWE’s main roster at Survivor Series as part of the three-man group known as The Shield. Reigns was the least known member of the trio, yet his ascension to the top was obvious when he was cheered heavily at events like the 2013 Survivor Series and 2014 Royal Rumble. It was obvious that WWE wanted to make him a top guy. After The Shield split in the summer of 2014, Reigns continued to ascend as he’s main evented the last two WrestleManias while also winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship three times. If he didn’t have a Wellness Policy Violation two months ago could he still be WWE Champion right now? Probably.

Workrate (In-ring Performance)

When Reigns is in a match with a great worker like AJ Styles or Seth Rollins, he’ll have an above average match most of the time. However, when he’s out there with a bigger guy that doesn’t move as well as them and doesn’t sell his power moves as well, the match will suffer.

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In terms of his offensive moves, he loves doing clotheslines. He probably throws more clotheslines than any wrestler in the history of the business, except maybe the Ultimate Warrior. His punches look great, especially that uppercut of his. The Drive-By dropkick on the ring apron was one of those things that gets a pretty good reaction every match. He usually uses Powerbomb variations, which is smart considering how big he is. The Superman Punch is great as a setup move that he can sometimes win matches with. Then there’s the Spear, which is not an original finisher by any means, but it works for him since he’s a former football player and is a big guy.

The other part of working is selling moves and facial expressions. He’s just average in that regard. If he’s in a match trying to sell a body part he sometimes forgets about it as the match goes on. Part of it is the way the company wants him to be portrayed. They don’t want him to sell like an underdog face. He’s a power guy and he’s always going to look strong. Grade: B-

Promos

Sorry Roman, but this is not your strength. A big reason why a lot of the haters are out in full force against him is because his promos have been poor a lot of the time. There was a period last year and earlier this year where they had him using nursery rhymes in promos. A lot of people will point to his “suffering succotash” promo as another sign of WWE missing the mark with him in terms of promos.

When WWE lets him stare a guy in the face and tell him he’s going to beat him in a match he does a pretty good job of it. Sometimes he is okay in backstage segments as well, but then there are times when he seems very uncomfortable in those settings as well.

In time, perhaps Reigns will grow to be a decent talker. For now, he’s a guy that should probably talk less than he does and is below average at this point in his career. Grade: C+

Charisma/Look

This is where there are issues because Reigns comes across as a very generic wrestler that doesn’t stand out from the pack. He dresses in all back, wears pants and basic black wrestling boots. If you have the charisma of Steve Austin or The Rock then basic is fine because other stuff makes up for it, but for Roman it really doesn’t help. It could be argued that he has the look of a badass, yet in the wrestling business you can say that for about half of WWE’s roster.

In terms of his theme song and entrance, it’s as basic as it gets. The song is essentially the same song The Shield used, so he comes across as a guy that’s holding on to something that was prominent in the past, but the other two guys have moved on. At least they stopped having him enter through the crowd because that got old pretty fast.

It would be better if WWE worked on his entrance with a better theme song, perhaps some fireworks for the entrance and give him some kind of pose at the top of his ramp. He just comes across as a boring guy. Why should we get excited to see him? There’s no reason to do that given that basic entrance. It would be nice of they changed things up for him. Grade: C+

Character

The best thing about the current version of Roman Reigns is that he stopped saying that stupid “I’m not a bad guy, I’m not a good guy, I’m the guy” catchphrase. It didn’t get over and WWE realized that, so he stopped saying it. At least they tried to give him something as a character because once again the word “basic” and “boring” come to mind when talking about him as a character.

Considering that WWE is sorely lacking in terms of having great heels, it is obvious that they made a mistake not turning him heel either after WrestleMania 31 when he was booed heavily or after WrestleMania 32 when he was also booed heavily. Why not try it? If he was a heel he would probably thrive because he’s got the size and strength to dominate matches while continuing to win. It would upset the fans so much that when some babyface came along to beat him it would be considered a big deal. Instead, he’s languishing as the face that people don’t really like. If he turned heel, his promos would improve a lot and his matches would probably better because fans would have more interest in wanting to see him get beat.

Is it Reigns fault that his character is poor or is it up to creative? I think it’s because of creative…or more of a lack of creativity. They should be doing so much more for him, yet he remains boring with no changes likely coming any time soon. Grade: C

Future Outlook

When WWE picks somebody to be “the guy” usually it’s somebody that the fans gravitate too. In Reigns’ case, he did win the fans over when The Shield was together, but after WWE started shoving him down people’s throats in late 2014, the fans turned on him. It’s because the fans realized that Reigns is not as good as WWE wants us to think he is. The fans can see that he should not be a main event level guy right now, yet he’s already main evented WrestleMania twice and will likely do so many more times in the next decade.

Reigns is disliked by a lot of WWE fans in part because he continues to be pushed as a top babyface even though he’s limited in some areas. It was a unique situation at WrestleMania this year when he beat Triple H for the WWE Title and was booed heavily. Despite all that, he’s a cornerstone for WWE’s future and of their biggest names whether his haters like it or not.

It’s important to remember that Reigns is still relatively new to the wrestling business. He had no experience prior to signing a developmental deal with WWE and he’s only been on the main roster for less than four years at this point. His best days are likely ahead of him, but there’s no denying that it’s been a bumpy road in the last few years.

What’s in his future? Several WWE Universal Title reigns and a few more WrestleMania main events as well.

Overall Grade (Not An Average): B-

Next wrestler profile: Smackdown’s AJ Styles.

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