It's safe to say and honestly accepted as fact at this point that Roman has been groomed to be the next guy John Cena 2.0. With a few notable acceptations the WWE has always had an uber babyface that the company is based around. Bruno Sanmartino, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior. Then the attitude era gave rise to the time of the anti-hero's Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, HHH, Shawn Micheals. Followed by the Cena era and now they are trying to make it to Reigns era.
This isn't a good thing, it isn't a bad thing. It is just a thing ... they do. The problem is that the fans today aren't as willing to be spoon fed heroes as in past eras. In fact more and more as time has gone on fans have been rejecting people "chosen" my management.
WWE creative seems to be genuinely flummoxed about why this is. Or they just don't care, either way they are going full speed ahead letting Roman take the Reigns. Well maybe that isn't a very good analogy, rather then being the driver. Roman is more like the child who's father is letting him sit on his lap pretending to drive. We have to remember that Roman is being told how to act, what to say and to a point, how to wrestle. Even so Roman is constantly being booed out of the building.
But what does WWE expect. Ever since the attitude era they have been conditioning the fans to think of the people in charge as being the bad guy. Everyone the authority ever backed, the fans were supposed to boo. After decades of these types of stories it has finally gotten to the point where the fans do it on instinct. It is the one thing that has been constant in the WWE. Corporate suits equals villains.
Rather then choosing a guy and running with them come hell or high water, the WWE should be letting things happen more organically. Yes have your plans, craft strong stories (please start crafting strong stories). With Cena things happened organically, he was over with the crowd at one point. With Danial Bryan the fans just fell in love with him and made the WWE change their plans. If they want a champ the fans love that moves merch (and make no mistake it's all about merch these days). They need to find people who connect with the fans and push them when they are hot. They missed their chance with Roman, there was a short period right after the shield broke up that the fans loved him.
Speaking of the Shield, let's talk about them for a minute. Dean Ambrose went on to become the unhinged Denis the Menace of the WWE. Seth Rollins went on to forge his own path as the Guy. While he was booed. It wasn't anti Rollins heat. It was boo the heel heat, meaning he was doing his job perfectly. Roman however never moved on from the shield. Same shield music, until recently same shield entrance. No character growth ... or much character to speak of in general for that matter. While the others have gone on to do their own things and being able to get over on their own. Roman can't seem to get over with a crowd if he isn't either teaming with Dean or fighting Rollins. Which just goes to show how much being in the shield protected him.
When you are one of three it is easy to get away with being a heat vacuum who doesn't have a ton of personality. This lack of personality isn't an unbeatable obstacle, look at Bret Hart. Now I love Bret Hart, don't get me wrong. But he was never a great talker. But he was great in the ring ... well his punches weren't the best, however that's getting a little nitpicky. Bret however was never given the obnoxious dialog Roman was during a pivotal time in his career. "Sniveling pile of suffering succotash son" I'm looking at you. In that creative really dropped the ball with him. Even without the poor writing, Roman seems to have trouble sounding natural on the mic. It's unlikely his mouth was ever going to get him over with a crowd.
Let's be honest to be a top guy you have to be able to make people love you like Dean Ambrose, hate you like Seth Rollins or fear you like Brock Lesner. Roman hasn't been able to make people love him. He hasn't done much to make people fear him. But he has managed to get people to hate him, be it intentional or not. To the point where people chant "You still suck." They are that determined to boo him that they wont cheer when he does something awesome.
So if he isn't that great on the mic, maybe he's great in the ring. I mean there has to be a reason he's the top guy right? Well he isn't terrible in the ring. But he isn't anything special either. His big matches are all the same. He takes tons of damage, then hits one big spear and it's over. All this manages to do is make all of his opponents weak. Take his last two PPV matches with AJ Styles for instance. They fallowed this formula and all it did was make AJ (who really is phenomenal that isn't just a catch phrase) weak. He beat on Roman, through everything at him, two styles clashes (one on a chair in the last match) and all it took to beat him was on spear. So in other words AJ's offense must not hurt too much. It's basically a Hulk Hogan match with a superman punch and spear rather then a big boot and leg drop.
The trick to wrestling is to make both champion and challenger look strong. Roman hasn't been able to do that with any regularity. Bret Hart told stories in the ring, Dean Ambrose tells stories in the ring, Seth Rollins tells stories. Roman hasn't been able to do that yet, at least not in the roll he's been given.
Is it hopeless for Roman? No, I don't think so. But if you want him to actually draw anyone in he will need a repackaging. If it was up to me here is how I would do it. The fans want to boo him, so give them a reason too. I'd turn him heel. The whole program with AJ would have been the perfect opportunity. I wouldn't let him talk. Maybe he gets a manager to talk for him like Paul E does for Brock. Roman would show up destroy someone and leave. I would make the man a monster heel. Something for the hero to overcome. Make him a mountain to climb. Make him an ass kicker who's destroys the babyfaces. Make him brutal. They showed glimpses of this with his feud with HHH.
If they can do that I think it would get him over. Then if down the line you want to have a redemption story for him, great. But sometimes the fans need to hate you, before they can love you.
My final thoughts on Reigns. He's not a good wrestler, he's not a bad wrestler. He's just another wrestler.
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