WWE: It’s Time for Diehard Fans to Leave Roman Reigns Alone

When Roman Reigns’s feet hit the ground at the end of the 2018 Royal Rumble, he culminated a year-and-a-half of being world title-less and putting over other talent.  After seeing the beloved Nakamura toss him over the top rope, it’s time for fans to realize that Reigns is the face of WWE, but is a giving face of the WWE.

Roman Reigns has taken over John Cena’s role as the face of the WWE.

(Pause for boos.)

That ring is his yard now.

(Pause for resounding, ear-swelling boos.)

Now that we have that out of the way…

Being the predecessor to Cena, Reigns has incurred the accusations of burying aspiring talent, being shoved down the fans’ throats, and being the chosen one by WWE executives.  The fact of the matter is that he is the chosen one, but he has been a giving chosen one.  WWE provided the prime example of his giving at the Royal Rumble when Shinsuke Nakamura eliminated him to win the event, ensuring a WWE Championship match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania.

There is no denying that Vince and his band of merry yes-men are infatuated with Roman Reigns, as they should be.  Despite this infatuation, Reigns has been a giving face of the company by being used to further the stock of the other developing talent around him, in addition to allowing himself to be a verbal pin cushion to John Cena, knowing full-well he was bringing a knife to a gunfight against the 16-time world champion when both are holding microphones.

He, Roman Reigns, the face of the WWE, has not held a world championship in nearly a year-and-a-half, and has consistently put over other talent while he himself is in the prime of his career.  The time has come for all WWE fans to see this and take their entitled fangs out of him.

On April 3, 2016 at WrestleMania 32, Roman Reigns pinned Triple H for the WWE Championship.  He did not spear another fan favorite, full-time performer.  He did not defeat someone who had yet to enjoy his time in professional wrestling’s polarizing spotlight.  He pinned Triple H, a 14-time World Champion who has also been accused of holding down other deserving talents.  He would lose the WWE Championship on June 19 of the same year at Money in the Bank to Seth Rollins, who would lose it moments later to Dean Ambrose cashing in the MITB briefcase he won earlier in the evening.

This match has thus far signaled the last time Reigns has held a world title, and someone else would win it for the first time.  The face of the company, the man Vince McMahon is seemingly shoving down our throats, put over a brand new world champion, and he himself has not been a world champion since.

In the time since this loss, Roman has put over the likes of Kevin Owens, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, and Brock Lesnar on pay-per-view, and his only wins came against Rusev, Strowman (Reigns has gone 1-2 against Strowman on PPV in addition to losing a steel cage match to him on Raw), a twilighting John Cena, and against The New Day as a member of The Shield.

All of this before being the beloved Shinsuke Nakamura’s final elimination before winning the 2018 Royal Rumble. He has held both the United States and Intercontinental Championships, but used those reigns to only add to the prestige of both belts. Assuming wins and losses count in professional wresting, and considering the profile of matches he has gotten used to being in, Reigns has spent the better part of a year-and-a-half as a relative failure…just like the fans wanted.

The WWE fans have received exactly that they wanted when it comes to Roman Reigns.  Despite his consistently good matches (he is putting on a barn-burner against The Miz on Raw as I type this….a burn-burner he lost) and his allowance of the growth of other talent, he is still vilified by WWE fans.

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Eventually, fans need to forgive him for winning a Royal Rumble that rightfully belonged to Daniel Bryan.  He has given WWE fans so much since, and he continues to grow as an all-around performer.  And yet, fans seem determined to hate him.  It’s time to leave Roman alone, just like he has left WWE’s world titles alone, and appreciate him for the talent that he is.  He is not going anywhere, and fans may eventually regret what they miss in the midst of their continued hate.