WWE: Roman Reigns Desperately Needs A Strong Finish To 2018

Roman Reigns has had one of the most unique careers in WWE history up to this point while becoming the most polarizing figure in pro wrestling.

The Big Dog has had a lot of success in the WWE over the past few years whether it’s been with The Shield or as a singles competitor, but the detractors are always present and they make it a point to try and criticize Reigns.

His main roster career got off to a stellar start during his time with The Shield from late-2012 through mid-2014 until the trio broke up.  But in the months that would follow that breakup, Reigns emerged as the perceived heir apparent to John Cena’s throne atop the WWE.

After winning the 2015 Royal Rumble that not even The Rock could save the negative reaction he got, his push was off and running.  Reigns would have solid success throughout 2015 including a world title reign that ended at the 2016 Royal Rumble when Triple H took the title from him through the Royal Rumble match.

The main event of WrestleMania 32 saw The Big Dog recapture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from The Game in a main event that went over like a led balloon.  He lost the title to Seth Rollins at Money In The Bank 2016 and since then has yet to recapture a world title.  Despite this, Reigns has remained a top guy for better or for worse according to the WWE universe.

After a stellar 2017 that saw him defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 and have a successful, yet brief reunion with The Shield, Reigns has not had a successful 2018 so far.  There are still a few months left of the year, but the time has come for The Big Dog to get back on track and it’s urgent he does so as soon as possible.

His rocky 2018 really got going when he won the Elimination Chamber match in February to earn the right to challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34.  Fans assumed he would become the new champion at WrestleMania 34 and it was assumed for months even.  However, after one of the worst WrestleMania main events in history, Reigns lost clean to Lesnar.

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It was a shocker, but Reigns got another shot at dethroning The Beast Incarnate at the Greatest Royal Rumble event in late-April inside of a steel cage.

But despite a now controversial ending to the match, Reigns failed to capture the Universal Championship for the second time in a matter of a few weeks.  And since then, The Big Dog just hasn’t felt the same on Monday nights.

He had a lackluster at best main event match with Samoa Joe at Backlash that he won and would soon enter a feud with Jinder Mahal.  And as expected, that didn’t turn out the greatest either.  The two put forth a decent at best match at Money In The Bank with Reigns getting the win.  However, neither the Joe or Mahal match clicked and did nothing to help benefit Reigns despite him going over both times.

And since defeating Mahal at Money In The Bank, Reigns’ focus has gone back to Lesnar and the Universal Championship.  However, his ambition has been butting heads with Bobby Lashley over the past few weeks and the two will have a match at the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view that could end up operating as a de facto number one contender match.

The problem, however, is that the buildup towards the Reigns vs. Lashley match has been all over the place.  It’s hard to argue with the basic premise of the match as it’s basically just two heavy hitters looking to get a shot at the Universal Championship.  But the way the program has been booked up to this point has been very inconsistent.

Despite technically being a babyface, Reigns is coming off quite heelish at times.  He has said on multiple occasions that he is the uncrowned Universal Champion given how the finish went at the Greatest Royal Rumble.  The problem with that is a real babyface would come out and make no excuses and just focus on challenging for the title again.  But Reigns is acting like a nagging heel by saying he’s already the champion and that nobody else deserves a shot at Lesnar besides him.

The past few months have definitely derailed Reigns’ path he was on at the beginning of the year.  He has yet to have a truly successful feud so far in 2018 and while that does have a lot to do with how he is being booked, it doesn’t help his cause out any.  Fans are seemingly being justified for hating Reigns by how he has been going as of late.

If the WWE is still set on making him the top babyface in the company, everyone involved with the process has a lot to work on.  Reigns desperately needs a strong finish to the year, starting with his upcoming match with Lashley, because so far, he has been forgettable on Monday nights.  His booking needs to improve because that’s as big of a reason as to why his 2018 has been less than stellar so far as anything else.

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Maybe the WWE will finally give in and turn him heel, but if he remains the nagging babyface that he is right now, The Big Dog will have a tough time climbing back up the ladder of success he was expected to be on.