MAGIC, MEMORIES, AND MANIA: Top Five Reasons Roman Reigns Gets Booed (and can anything done to fix it)

Survivor Series has come and gone, and the beginning of the Road to WrestleMania has begun. One of my other jobs when I am not reporting on wrestling is reviewing movies. Currently we are working on a Tom Cruise career retrospective, and one of his best films is “Edge of Tomorrow” where his character becomes a solider who lives the same day over and over and adjusts his plans as he repeats the battle.

This reminds me of the way WWE repeatedly tries to make Roman Reigns its top star every WrestleMania season. Unfortunately, unlike Cruise’s character in that film, the company doesn’t seem to learn anything from their previous mistakes in building him to be the centerpiece of the company. Reigns is one of the most talented performers in wrestling and he has that big star presence that is sorely lacking in the modern scene, but his presentation has been heavily flawed.

I wanted to write this article in response to so many podcasts where hosts contend that Reigns is being jeered simply because the crowd thinks it is cool to boo him or because he “took Daniel Bryan’s or C.M. Punk’s spot” years ago. There may be a small percentage of fans who are doing so, but there are legitimate reasons why he has not been embraced as a top babyface by wrestling fans. In this article, I want to focus on five reasons why Reigns still gets booed and what WWE can do to revamp his presentation.

(1) His natural persona is arrogant and unlikeable

People try to compare the situation of Reigns to John Cena being booed for all those years, but although there are parallels, there are some stark differences between the manner the two come across. Cena is very likeable and a natural face, but he mainly got booed because he was extremely dorky and had an embarrassingly goofy sense of humor. If you are over the age of ten, there is nothing cool about the way he presents himself.

In contrast, Reigns is probably too cool for his own good and has a natural smarminess and arrogance that make him a natural heel. If you were to know nothing about wrestling and turned on Raw, then you would assume he is a bad guy. From the smirk on his face to the condescending stare to the aura he conveys that he is better than everyone around him, it is all the makings of a legendary wrestling villain. Why not use those natural traits and use them to benefit the character in his natural role?

(2) The audience does not relate to him

Most of the great heroes in wrestling history gave a sense that they were on a journey with the fans. Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Rock, Cena, etc. all made the audience feel that they were an instrumental part in their success and the pursuit of their goals included them. Shawn Michaels was similar to Reigns in the way he came across, but he was able to showcase his vulnerability and athleticism through his incomparable in-ring work so that allowed him to overcome his conceited persona.

There is nothing about the way Reigns comes across that makes him seem like he cares about the fans being along for the ride. In contrast, it seems that he is always on the edge of ripping into the fans for not appreciating his excellence. That is transparent in his media interviews. I think they should play off the thoughts that are likely in his head when he is getting booed and give the promo of his life tearing into the crowd. His cousin, The Rock, was getting heavily booed, and that character came to life when he turned heel, showcased his cocky persona, and expressed his true feelings to the fans. Eventually, when he finally did win the fans over, it was much more of an organic process. Obviously, Reigns is a much different type of personality than “The People’s Champ,” but I think he has to be heel for a long stretch and let the audience naturally turn him if that is his ultimate direction and hopefully then he will have the aura that he wants the fans to follow him on his journey.

(3) He looks too good.

One of the major reasons WWE wants Reigns to be the next face of their company is because he has the perfect look they can put on posters and build into a mainstream media personality. In that sense, he is the opposite of Daniel Bryan and C.M. Punk, who achieved much more of a natural fan following despite not having the matinee idol appearance. The fact is, that a certain percentage of the male audience will be jealous and not want to get behind a character that is being pushed largely because he is handsome. The Rock and HBK both faced a similar backlash from the male audience, but they were both able to overcome the “pretty boy” reputation by delivering tremendous promos and matches. Additionally, as I have said numerous times, they were turned heel during the backlash and were able to use the fans resentment and jealousy to their advantage.

(4) His promos are very weak

Reigns has been around about five years and I still have not seen him deliver a powerful, memorable promo. He comes across as extremely awkward trying to be a good guy, and the only time he is convincing is when he has just a few words to say. That was his role in the Shield, being the guy who gave the cool one-liner like “Dirty Harry.” Like I said earlier, I think that there is a scathing heel promo that is just aching to come out, but as a face, he is clunky and unconvincing. His shoot-style exchanges with Cena a couple months back exposed his weaknesses more than expanded his strengths. Again, I think a large reason his promos are so awful is because he does not feel comfortable in the role he has been cast. I would also love to see him paired with Paul Heyman so he could do most of the talking for him and Reigns can play to his strengths as a man of few words.

(5) He has been shoved down the audience’s throats

WWE in the WrestleMania years has always been focused on one or two major wrestlers and an ensemble cast surrounding them. Nearly all of the great faces of the company first started as excellent heels until the fans natural reactions to them made them top draws. Hogan, Savage, Hart, Michaels, Austin, Rock, and Cena all had strong heel runs and the fans saw them as “The Guy” before the promotion built around them. Reigns was getting cheered with The Shield, but nearly none of WWE fans thought that he was the obvious next big star. In fact, he was the weakest element of that faction. So when he began receiving his premature push, it came across as forced and contrived. Instead of adjusting his presentation based on crowd reaction, they have stubbornly utilized the same booking strategy year after year. As I referenced “Edge of Tomorrow” earlier, it would be like the character in the film learning nothing and repeatedly dying early in the battle with each repetition.

From 2015 to now, they have gone into WrestleMania season with Roman as a babyface ascending to the company centerpiece position against an established legend. From Brock Lesnar to Triple H to Undertaker, each year he showcased the star quality and talent of a major superstar, but his positioning in the main event has seemed unnatural. He already has as many final matches at Mania as Austin had in his whole career, but nobody would put them in the same category. It looks like they are doing the same thing again leading into Mania, and they sorely need to change the formula because otherwise it will get the same backlash. It does not help having dorky commentators like Michael Cole calling him “the Big Dog.” That sentiment that he is a corporate creation has heavily hurt his ascension to be the face of the company.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I feel that Reigns deserves to be a main event star in the current wrestling landscape. There are very few wrestlers who come across as larger than life, and he has that aura. It was perfectly illustrated the night after WrestleMania when he defeated the Undertaker when he stood in the ring for ten minutes not saying anything while getting booed. His very presence generates a strong reaction, and I hope that WWE will book a well-orchestrated story that will turn him into the ultimate heel.  Let me make this clear. They should not do so just so he will be cool and fans will cheer him. They should do because he has all the elements of an arrogant villain. Just look at the UFC and boxing formulas. Conor McGregor, Lesnar, Floyd Mayweather, and Mike Tyson all had heel characters, but they were some of the largest money-drawing attractions in history.

I think the company as well as critics will discover that fans won’t simply start cheering him, but they will enjoy being able to unleash their hate. More importantly, I predict Roman will rise to the occasion by being one of the great money-drawing heels in wrestling history.

Please follow me and send questions, comments and feedback on Twitter @shawnvalentino and subscribe to our show on Youtube.com/TheProWrestlingTop5