WWE: Roman Reigns Doesn’t Need A Feud With The McMahons

WWE seems intent on running back the old wrestler versus authority style of storyline with Roman Reigns. Unfortunately, that’s just never going to work.

A downtrodden or underappreciated wrestler finally becomes sick of the powers-that-be in WWE, and eventually revolts against Vince McMahon and his entire family.

Its a reliable formula for the company to push a babyface that’s been proven successful time and time again. Ever since Stone Cold Steve Austin first hit a stunner on the Chairman and CEO of WWE, the company hasn’t been afraid to throw almost any face they want in this storyline.

From Daniel Bryan to Big Show, it never seems like WWE runs out of ways to throw a superstar into this storyline. For the most part, with a few exceptions like Big Show, it tends to reap some fairly impressive rewards too.

Kofi Kingston’s run to WrestleMania 35 surely benefited from a villainous Vince McMahon. Same with CM Punk and his infamous ‘Pipebomb’ promos. Nonetheless, its just not a formula that can work for everyone.

That brings us to Roman Reigns.

It seems like WWE struggles to figure out what they want Reigns to be. They’ve tried cocky anti-hero, comedic face and everything in-between. Now, at the moment, WWE seems intent on shoving Reigns into the latest iteration of the wrestler versus authority storyline.

I think I understand what the reasoning might be behind that decision too. Reigns, with his ‘One Versus All’ catchphrase and thoroughly nonplussed attitude about much of his opposition, initially seems like he could be a sound fit for the role.

That’s without mentioning the fact that Reigns is currently on a brand with one of the hottest face champions in recent memory, Kofi Kingston. Although Reigns is an almost perpetual main-eventer, presenting him as a face against Kingston likely wouldn’t end well for ‘The Big Dog’.

As a result, Reigns can be in this anti-authority storyline for awhile, dueling with people like Shane McMahon until an opportunity emerges to chase down championship gold once again presents itself.

The problem is, that storyline just doesn’t work.

At this point in Reigns’ WWE career, he’s moved past any potential conceptions of being held back by evil authority figures. Like it or not, in today’s so-called ‘reality era’, storylines like that need to be somewhat believable for fans to support.

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Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston’s time fighting The McMahons worked because of the clear, real-life parallels they could draw in their careers to their current status in the story. They really hadn’t had a chance to be one of the de facto faces of the company. They hadn’t received a litany of opportunities at the WWE Championship.

Whether WWE likes it or not, Roman Reigns just can’t relate to them.

Reigns has consistently been presented as a perennial world champion contender and main-event talent. He’s never even had the slightest appearance of being held back by the company to reference, at least not in any sustained believable way.

Unfortunately, its probably far too late to go back and change this storyline. Shane McMahon’s already gotten heavily involved, likely meaning we could see a match between him and Reigns down the road.

It’s just that Reigns doesn’t need that match. He doesn’t have to be shoehorned into a feud with The McMahons like others have been.

There’s plenty of avenues WWE could explore with presenting Reigns. He doesn’t just have to be a silent Goldberg-type superstar. He’s proven by now that he can draw fan support in ways besides that, regardless of any of the failed attempts to change his persona in the past.

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One of those ways likely never will be as an anti-authority hero though. Let’s just hope for Reigns’ sake then that he can come out of this storyline without invoking too much of the ire of his vocal opposition in the WWE fan base, before continuing on to a better and more suiting angle in the near future.