WWE Finally Getting Roman Reigns’ Character Right
By Tom Thomas
Has creative finally cracked the code to getting Roman Reigns’ character right?
Roman Reigns’ name and the word polarizing are often used together much often these days. The Big Dog has consistently been able to generate intense reactions from the crowd. There are people who either love him or hate him with all that they have got. Cheers and boos alternatively shake arenas to their very roots all over the world when Reigns make his entrance.
However, this wasn’t always the case though. Back in the days when Reigns was a silent ass kicker in the SHIELD, the crowd loved him too much. Chants of ‘Roman Reigns’ echoed throughout the WWE Universe and to the upper echelons of the management. As a result, once it was time to break up the trio, Reigns eventually became the biggest star of the three. Despite being the one with the least amount of experienced, he had emerged as the future face of the WWE
Creative would then begin to work on setting up a singles character and persona for Reigns. Out of the blue, the silent guy began talking and not many people liked it. Reigns too, wasn’t the smoothest talker on the mic. He was also still green in the ring. The Power House of the SHIELD possessed a variety of explosive moves but he had no other moves to fill in for the majority of any match. That and his super human booking and the push that succeeded it would force majority of the audience to absolutely hate the character of Reigns.
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A heel turn for the Big Dog has been proposed for a long, long time. However, neither creative nor Reigns has ever expressed any interest in that. Until now, that is. It seems as if creative has finally figured out the ideal portrayal of Reigns’ character. We saw and arrogant, confident and cocky version of Reigns. He was a bad ass and an ass-kicker. This version of Reigns is light years ahead of the gutsy underdog character creative came up with.
Bleacher Report noted the shift in Reigns’s character and seems to be welcoming this with open arms.
"It works and fits him so much better than the muscle-bound underdog the company tried to shoehorn him into."
Hopefully, the WWE universe would realize this soon as well. It goes without saying that, this is the most compelling persona we have ever seen from Reigns. A close second would be the time he unleashed his fury on Triple H. However, as time would tell, that was just in the spur of the moment and not a sustainable character shift. However, this might indeed be a new avatar of the Big Dog.
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Reigns is not a good guy or a bad guy. He is quite simply ‘The Guy’ in a morally gray area. He knows he is where the money is at and he has the means to back it up. There are many paths this change could lead to. Hopefully, they would eventually lead him to be the face of the WWE the way the company wanted originally.