From fan favorite to fan hatred, the WWE can learn to solve the Roman Reigns problem.
In the current landscape of the WWE, there is one man that runs the yard, Roman Reigns. Reigns made his main roster debut with The Shield in 2012, helping C.M. Punk retain the WWE Championship. From that point on The Shield ran roughshod on the WWE roster. In the early days of The Shield, it appeared that Dean Ambrose was going to be the breakout star. As time went on, Reigns started to get more and more of the shine.
At first, the fans were behind Reigns taking more and more of the spotlight from his brothers. In 2014, Reigns would make a major splash in the Royal Rumble, setting a new elimination record. It was at this point the fans were behind the natural rise of Reigns through the ranks. That fan support wouldn’t last long. Just months after his stellar Royal Rumble performance, Reigns would be hot shotted to the main event seen. Fans were much louder with their boo’s than those with their cheers. As time would continue to go by the company would still push Reigns as the good guy face of the company.
As the company kept pushing Reigns down the throats of fans as “their guy,” the fans became more and more vocal about their discontent. This leads to the million dollar question. What should the company do when the fans vociferously reject their plan? I have a two part answer to that question but the WWE may not like it. First of all, they need to listen to the fans. Yes, it will sidetrack their plans to have Reigns take the mantle from Cena, but it will pay-off greatly in the end. Look no further than in 1999 when The Rock turned on the fans after similar reactions to him being a babyface. Rocky would become one of the most hated heels in the business only to then become of the biggest babyfaces the business has ever seen. Secondly, they need to look to their competition, New Japan Pro Wrestling.
NJPW had a similar issue with Tetsuya Naito. Naito was pegged to be the next big star to carry the company. He was booked in a similar fashion to Reigns, the always prevailing good guy. Much like with Reigns though, the crowds began to turn on Naito. It seemed that whatever Naito would do, it just wasn’t enough to earn the love of the fans. This is when NJPW stepped in and decided to call and audible. Soon Naito would begin to turn his back on the fans, no longer vying for their affection. Naito would be booked in a way that didn’t necessarily make him dastardly but more so the edgy heel. It could actually be said that in the way WWE needs to look at their own past with The Rock, NJPW used that blueprint for Naito.
With Naito now and edgier heel that didn’t care if the fans loved or hated him, ironically, the fans began to love him. As the leader of the N.W.O. style faction Los Ingobernables de Japon, Naito would see a natural progression to the top. Playing the Hollywood Hogan of LIJ, Naito would openly express his distaste for the company, its fans and their traditions. Often taking whatever championship he had and mistreating it. His most recent run as Intercontinental Champion would see Naito destroy the belt to a level of unrecognition. Much like The Rock in the late 90’s, Naito is now a beloved heel, as he isn’t seen as evil, but more cool and edgy.
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The WWE seems very stubborn in their booking of Roman Reigns. They don’t want to waver from their roadmap to take a detour. Some of the biggest stars in the history of the business had to go to the dark side before attaining their throne on the light. The WWE isn’t giving up if they alter their plan. He can without a doubt still be that top guy. It seems more like leaving money on the table and cutting off their nose to spite their face. Every heel turn leads to a door for an eventual face turn that can lead to astronomical stratospheres.