Five ways the WWE missed the boat with Roman Reigns

Losing the Rumble to Batista

Rewind the clock to January 2014. As usual, this was the start of WrestleMania season and things were set to ramp up with the Royal Rumble. The major event featured a number of storylines, but nothing was especially original. Randy Orton and John Cena were once again fighting for the title. Brock Lesnar was squashing the Big Show. Daniel Bryan lost to Bray Wyatt in what should have been an interesting angle. And the New Age Outlaws found the fountain of youth as they defeated Goldust and Cody Rhodes for the tag team titles. Nothing leapt off of the page heading into the Rumble. Yet, Roman Reigns had a moment that could have sent him over the top as a new star for the organization.

Reigns would enter the Rumble at number 15 and he would go on a tear. He’d eliminate 12 men over the span of 33 minutes to break the record that was held by Kane with 11 eliminations in the 2001 Royal Rumble. A special moment occurred when he would eliminate both of his Shield teammates, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. He would end up as the newest face in the final four that featured CM Punk, Sheamus and Batista. Fans popped huge for the idea that a new name could win the Rumble and move on to become a main event draw for WrestleMania. Unfortunately, WWE Creative didn’t pull the trigger on Reigns at that time, giving the win to Batista that was met with fan backlash.

That hesitation to put Reigns over stifled what could have been a major turning point in his career. Not only that, it hurt Batista’s place in the organization as he would eventually leave and never return – even as fans opined for his return after his rise to prominence in Hollywood. 2014 was one of the last moments that WWE fans were ready to welcome Roman Reigns with open arms and WWE Creative failed to push him to the forefront.