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Roman Reigns has been WWE's biggest star for half a decade now, but it was only in 2020 with no crowds that he began to enjoy the best run of his career. He is the face of Friday Night SmackDown - a brand that has become WWE's No. 1 show since the move to FOX.
The course of Reigns' career will be interesting. Given his comments a couple of years ago about only wanting to wrestle for a few more years, there's a chance that the biggest part of his career is over.
Whether that's the case or not, here are five big mistakes WWE should avoid making with The Tribal Chief.
#5. Turning Roman Reigns face earlier than needed
It took over six-and-a-half years of demand for WWE to finally pull the trigger on a Roman Reigns heel turn. Perhaps the lack of crowds gave the company the opportunity to establish the Tribal Chief character, and the decision has paid dividends.
Since his return, Reigns has largely been considered WWE's best star. The reason fans clamored for a Roman Reigns heel turn for years was because it's a tried and tested formula.
Perhaps the most famous example of this is The Rock, who was booed as a white-meat babyface in 1997 and turned heel when he returned from an injury. While he had a brief face turn in 1998, there was a swerve and his first WWE Championship victory resulted in another heel turn.
The importance of The Rock's heel run can't be overstated. It helped him develop an authentic personality that made him one of the two most popular babyfaces in the Attitude Era, and one of the few megastars in WWE history.
It's inevitable that Roman Reigns will get cheered at some point by the crowd as a heel. When someone is so good, it's hard to deny them the acknowledgment. WWE might get tempted to pull a quick face turn later this year, but that would be a mistake.
The promotion should stick to the course and give Reigns a lengthy run as a heel, especially since he continues to improve by the week.
#4. Moving Roman Reigns to RAW
Roman Reigns has been on SmackDown ever since October 2019, and the switch has arguably been one of the greatest in the Blue brand's history. While the move to FOX can largely be credited for the increase in ratings, it's been clear that building the show around Reigns was the right decision.
In terms of quality, SmackDown has been the better show for a while now. Moving Roman Reigns to RAW would be a controversial move, although FOX's big money splash means that he could be on the Blue brand for a few years to come.
WWE has spent years constantly making RAW appear to be the superior brand, but as it turns out, a billion-dollar deal can change that. It's now the company's largest source of revenue from their TV deals, and with more exposure and a larger audience, SmackDown is the brand that will make Roman Reigns the possible megastar that WWE has always wanted him to be.
#3. Make Roman Reigns go through the John Cena route again
If The Rock is an example of how to turn an unpopular babyface into a megastar, then Roman Reigns from 2015 to 2018 was the polar opposite. It's hard to blame Reigns for anything that happened in that period, especially since WWE refused to turn him heel.
Vince McMahon wanted to establish him as a megastar, and in the process, he headlined WrestleMania four consecutive years, facing Brock Lesnar (and Seth Rollins), Triple H, and The Undertaker as well. While he lost two of his five eventual WrestleMania main events, the entire handling of his character from 2015 to 2018 was disastrous.
WWE did everything wrong and tried to force him to become the next John Cena - something that he was never going to be. It could be seen in his lack of confidence with promos, and years later, he has come leaps and bounds.
We doubt that WWE will make the same mistake that they did before, but trying to make him another John Cena isn't going to work.
#2. Not capitalizing on a potential Rock vs. Roman Reigns match
It's a big stretch to ask for Roman Reigns vs. The Rock, but if there's any match left for The Great One to return to WWE, it's this. He was supposedly going to return to WWE in 2016 to headline WrestleMania 32 against Triple H, but that didn't pan out.
The Rock revealed that he quietly retired, and that seems to be the case, since he hasn't wrestled for over eight years, unless you count his six-second match against Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32.
The chance of getting Roman Reigns vs. The Rock at WrestleMania 38 seems slim. While it could take place in front of another massive crowd in the AT&T Stadium, a year later might be a better place and time.
WWE will return to Hollywood in 2023, where SoFi Stadium will host WrestleMania 39. That seems to be the perfect time and place for that match, and if WWE can secure The Rock's contract well in advance, it's a blockbuster match that can help make Roman Reigns a megastar.
#1. Ending the Paul Heyman-Roman Reigns alliance prematurely
The biggest question about Roman Reigns' alliance with Paul Heyman is always about how long it could last. With Brock Lesnar potentially returning to WWE in the summer of 2021, it could put Heyman in an interesting position.
At most, he might just work two nights, handling Brock Lesnar on RAW when he appears and Roman Reigns on SmackDown. What's interesting is that Paul Heyman's dynamic with Reigns is entirely different than his relationship with Lesnar.
While he is Brock Lesnar's advocate, he seems to serve Roman Reigns and is below on the pecking order. While the latter doesn't need Heyman to cut his promos, he has been an interesting addition. His promos haven't been as generic as they were with Brock Lesnar, and when they eventually split, it needs to be a big deal - even bigger than CM Punk's split with Paul Heyman eight years ago.
Prematurely ending the Roman Reigns-Paul Heyman alliance would be a mistake. It's worth playing it out for a long period.
