Roman Reigns has been the face of WWE for the better part of the past four years, and a big part of that has been the headlining of WrestleMania each of those years as well as John Cena moving to a part-time role. Yet the lack of support from the WWE Universe for Reigns over that stretch has begged the question, could WWE have gone another route?
Before fans of Roman Reigns get riled up, I will admit that I do like The Big Dog. Reigns is a quality main event performer, who will be with the WWE for likely the next decade.
Yet, it is obvious that Reigns being the top babyface or the “champion of the people” at this moment is not working. In the time that Reigns has been shoved down the WWE Universe’s throats, he could have had a couple year long heel run and turned back into a credible babyface.
The term “polarizing” gets used to cover up the fact that a top babyface is not getting over with the crowd, while at the same time justifying the reason why that superstar is being pushed. There are other babyfaces that are lower on the card from Reigns who are receiving more consistently positive reactions. So forget polarizing, the key of a babyface is to get cheered.
The absence of a top babyface that the fans can get behind has been WWE‘s biggest issue in three of the past four WrestleMania main events. Let’s take a look at some clear alternatives that the WWE Universe would have supported in those years.
Photo Source: WWE.com
Dolph Ziggler
Most wrestling fans remember WWE Royal Rumble 2015 as the event that the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA basically checked out when Daniel Bryan was eliminated. That was not necessarily the case, as Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose both received loud positive support from the crowd.
Yes, Bryan was the biggest babyface in the arena on that night, but that Cinderella story was already told the year prior leading into WWE WrestleMania 30. The Philly fans on that night were willing to get behind Ziggler by evidence of the “we want Ziggler” and “let’s go Ziggler” chants after Bryan’s elimination.
Unfortunately, the Big Show and Kane essentially eliminated every superstar the fans could have gotten behind. The booking of Ziggler from the end of 2014 into the beginning of 2015 was more curious than ever.
It was Ziggler, not Cena that was the lone survivor of Team Cena at WWE Survivor Series 2014, and was a big part in putting The Authority temporarily out of power. Ziggler was strongly booked in the match as he faced a three on one situation, and actually had Seth Rollins beat on two separate occasions before Triple H interfered.
Putting the Intercontinental Championship back on Ziggler after his big performance at Survivor Series that year proved that either WWE Creative did not have anything for him or Vince McMahon did not believe in him as a main eventer.
Either way, Ziggler had momentum heading into the start of WrestleMania season in 2015 and it was derailed.
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Dean Ambrose
Dean Ambrose is a prime example of being at the right place at the wrong time. As we know the main event of WrestleMania is usually determined many months to a year in advance.
The issue with that type of booking is the difficulty to predict how a crowd will react to superstars over time, and which superstars will get hot. Unfortunately for Ambrose, he got hot right around the Royal Rumble in 2016.
Ambrose was in a great match with Kevin Owens early on the card at the Royal Rumble, but his night was not over yet. Ambrose would pull double duty, and actually be one of the final two participants left standing in the Royal Rumble match.
This year was different as the winner would become the new WWE Champion. With just Triple H and Ambrose left, the fans got behind Ambrose after recently cheering the elimination of his former brother from The Shield, Reigns.
Yet on that night Triple H would eliminate Ambrose, and win the main event and WWE Championship. Following the Rumble loss, Ambrose would come up short again at WWE Fastlane 2016, and take the pin following a spear by Reigns.
Still even after two straight pey-per-view main event losses, Ambrose was the most popular full-time performer on the roster. A match with Triple H and Ambrose was scheduled for Roadblock, which was a WWE Network Special where The Lunatic Fringe would have an opportunity at the WWE Championship and the main event at WrestleMania.
Instead, while still looking strong, Ambrose would lose cleanly to Triple H at Roadblock. Even after the fans rejected Reigns all throughout the build to WrestleMania and gave a clear alternative, WWE once again decided to stick with their original plan.
WWE.com
Seth Rollins
An argument can be made for Braun Strowman in this spot, but Seth Rollins is a safer pick. The Architect has been in big feuds, big matches, and has received consistent cheers leading into this past year’s WrestleMania.
The year prior at WrestleMania 33, Rollins did what Reigns could not, and that was get fan support in a feud with Triple H. Rollins has also played the villain as a singles competitor on WWE television whereas Reigns has not, making Rollins a more credible and fresher babyface than Reigns.
There are usually moments to start every great babyface run that fans can point to as being the start to a superstar’s momentum. In the case of Stone Cold Steve Austin, it was him passing out to Bret Hart’s Sharpshooter at WrestleMania 13.
In the case of Seth Rollins, it was the incredible performance he had on WWE Raw in a Gauntlet match just six days before WWE Elimination Chamber 2018. Rollins would last over an hour and even outlast the mighty John Cena.
While Rollins did not end up victorious on that night or at Elimination Chamber, The Architect leap frogged every other superstar on Raw. In the past few months it has been obvious that the WWE Universe has anointed Rollins as their top babyface, but it was a little too late to save the main event of WrestleMania 34.
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The lack of interest in this past year’s WrestleMania was unfortunate, but if Rollins keeps it up, it will be difficult to keep him out of the main event next year.