5 incidents that made some fans start disliking Roman Reigns

It’s fair to say that Roman Reigns isn’t the most popular superstar amongst the WWE fans right now. But why is that?

He was part of one of the most beloved wrestling factions in recent memory in The Shield, and even Reigns’ harshest critics have to admit that he’s been in some great matches over the last few years, particularly against the likes of AJ Styles.

Roman is far from the finished article, but he is a more than capable worker, as his track record shows, so why does he get such a hard time from the WWE Universe?

Perhaps the booking of his character is to blame; there have certainly been many questionable decisions in that respect during Reigns’ career thus far, honourable mention goes to his infamous “suffering succotash” promo, which was just painful to watch.

But that incident alone does not explain the prolonged and intense disapproval that he has received since breaking out as a singles superstar, there are much more ill-advised choices that have added to this.

With that in mind, here are 5 incidents that made the fans dislike Roman Reigns.

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#1 Royal Rumble 2015

As I eluded to, the problem with Reigns isn’t solely down to his own doing; it’s more that the situations he has been put in have worked against him. The first of which came at Royal Rumble 2015 which ended with him being universally booed by the crowd in attendance.

To understand the reasons for this, we have to go back to the previous year’s Rumble which was also negatively received by the fans. The consensus at the time of the 2014 Rumble was that it was Daniel Bryan’s year, he was the most over babyface the company had seen in years, and it seemed right that he should win the match and be given the resultant main event spot at that year’s WrestleMania, which he eventually did get but through an alternative route.

Therefore, the fans voiced their displeasure when Bryan not only didn’t win but wasn’t in the match whatsoever.

Fast forward 12 months and Bryan had just recently been cleared to return to the ring after injury and announced his entry into the 2015 Royal Rumble, so this would surely be Bryan’s year, or so the fans thought.

By the time the event came around, fans were hoping and expecting Bryan to have his moment, but he was eliminated early in the match, much to the ire of the crowd. As the match progressed, the fans had a growing sense that Roman was going to be the man to win and headline WrestleMania; therefore it was ‘The Big Dog’ who became the scapegoat for the fans’ anger and boy, did they let him hear it!

Roman was met with a chorus of boos every time he tried to do anything; the fans even got behind anti-American heel Rusev as the match got down to the final two participants. Unsurprisingly, Reigns’ victory was not well received by the crowd, not even an appearance by his cousin The Rock could stifle the intense displeasure that the fans were voicing.

It was a bad Royal Rumble for Roman, but hey, there’s always next year, right? Oh, wait…

#2 Royal Rumble 2016

One of the things that have irked fans the most about Reigns is his never ending push. Despite fan reaction and drops in the ratings, Roman continues to be featured in main event matches, and some viewers feel he is being forced down their throats. One such case of this came in 2016, in what was basically the ‘Roman Reigns Royal Rumble’.

Reigns not only went into the pay-per-view as the reigning WWE Champion, which he would defend in the Royal Rumble match itself, but he was also the number one entrant and lasted until the final three. In WWE’s eyes, this was a way to showcase Roman as a brave, valiant hero who fought long and hard, against the odds as best as he could until ultimately falling short at the last hurdle. Not a bad idea on WWE’s behalf, but that’s not the way that the fans saw it.

This was mainly because Reigns was attacked, but not eliminated, by the League of Nations fairly early on in the match which led to him going backstage for medical treatment. The problem with this was that Roman exited the match by his own accord and spent around half an hour backstage while the match progressed, not exactly the brave hero that WWE was trying to present through this angle.

After Reigns had spent almost half the match in the back, he made what was designed to be a miraculous recovery and courageous return to the match. But instead, this was viewed by the crowd as cowardly and unfair to the talent who had continued to battle during Reigns’ absence.

The defending WWE Champion was ultimately eliminated by supposed heel, Triple H, in the final stages of the match, much to the enjoyment of the fans in attendance.

The celebration of Reigns’ elimination was not only because the audience were largely against him by this point but also because fans were relieved that it meant Roman would not be at that year’s WrestleMania main event.

What’s that? Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!…

#3 WrestleMania 32

So despite the reaction that Reigns received at the 2016 Royal Rumble, WWE’s unyielding faith in him continued, and they were adamant that he would end that year’s WrestleMania as the all-conquering hero.

Obviously, this didn’t go down well and resulted in one of the most underwhelming Mania main events in recent memory. The fans didn’t want to see either of the competitors walk out as WWE Champion and were never actually invested in the match. The half-hour bout dragged on for viewers, and the fans in attendance were heard chanting about NXT or other significant moments from the WrestleMania weekend rather than anything relevant to the match that was taking place.

The most optimistic fans were hoping that WWE had something up their sleeve to send the crowd home happy. WrestleMania 30 had Daniel Bryan added to the main event, 31 saw Seth Rollins cash in his ‘Money In The Bank’ contract in the most dramatic way possible, but 32 ended with Reigns pinning Triple H cleanly in front of an unenthusiastic worldwide audience.

Surely this was a wake-up call for Vince McMahon and the other decision makers in WWE, the 2-year ‘Roman Reigns project’ apparently hadn’t worked and it was time to go back to the drawing board. The Samoan clearly has the talent and the potential to be the face of the company that Vince desires, but the original plan for moulding him into that had been rejected by the fans.

It was time to go back to square one and maybe it’d be best not to have Reigns ruin yet another Royal Rumble match.

Oh, not again!…

Also read: An open letter to “The Big Dog” Roman Reigns

#4 Royal Rumble 2017

By the time 2017 had come around, the intense dislike for Roman had begun to dissipate; he’d had a couple of great matches with AJ Styles in mid-2016, then dropping out of the main event picture, albeit briefly, had somewhat eased the continuous criticism of him.

Reigns was back in the Title picture at Royal Rumble 2017 and had another good performance, to add to his growing collection, against defending champion Kevin Owens in a ‘No Disqualification’ match. It was a hard-hitting match which ultimately saw Roman screwed out of winning the championship thanks to interference from Braun Strowman. This wasn’t enough to get fans onside with Reigns, but they were more content with his positioning on the card than they had been over the previous couple of years.

Later on that night came one of the most star-studded and highly anticipated Royal Rumble matches in the event’s history. With the likes of Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker and Goldberg participating, it was certainly unpredictable, add to that the potential surprise entrants that the match had become known for and the excitement amongst the fans was palpable.

However, as the match went on, no surprise returns or debuts appeared. But as it neared its conclusion, all the announced participants had entered, and fans were convinced that WWE had saved someone big for the coveted number 30 spot.

Would it be Samoa Joe? Kurt Angle? Finn Bálor?

Nope, it was Roman bloody Reigns, and he was back to being public enemy number one.

The fans were enraged, as you can see from the video below.

To make things even worse, Reigns would be the man to eliminate The Undertaker, teasing a potential match between the two at what was rumoured to be The Phenom’s final WrestleMania and final ever match.

But surely if WWE wants the fans to love Roman, they weren’t about to have him end The Undertaker’s career…were they?…

#5 WrestleMania 33

So the Reigns hate was well and truly back after ‘The Big Dog’ wrecked another Rumble, and he was set for another marquee match at WrestleMania 33 against The Undertaker.

Although news of the match wasn’t well received by fans at first, it ended up becoming arguably the most intriguing match on the Mania card. People were eager to see whether this would be the Deadman’s last appearance in a WWE ring, plus Reigns was obviously going to be the villain in this scenario, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to pull the trigger on his much-anticipated heel turn.

However, as has been a running theme during his career, the potential to do something interesting with Reigns never came to fruition, and he yet again picked up another straightforward, clean win. No underhanded tactics or bending of the rules, just a simple pinfall win that brought The Undertaker’s legendary career to a close in a mediocre fashion, courtesy of Roman Reigns.

The heel turn may not have happened at Mania, but the following night’s Raw saw Reigns get booed mercilessly by the crowd for around 10 minutes before he just stated: “This is my yard now”.

It was short and straightforward, yet perfect, arguably Roman’s best promo of his career, surely this was the catalyst for the edgy, arrogant heel that Reigns’ current situation seemed to fit.

But, no. Another missed opportunity passed WWE by, and he soon resorted back to trying to be the brave babyface hero that Vince desires him to be.

It just doesn’t work though, and I don’t know what it’ll take for WWE to see this. Sure, he gets a reaction whenever he appears, but the boos that ring out are directed more at Vince and co rather than Reigns himself. He is the puppet of WWE’s hierarchy and has yet to mould his own persona.

He can be a huge star for the company, whether it be as a face or heel, but he needs to start getting reactions for his own actions rather than for WWE’s booking of him. The hate he receives is not for anything he has done, but for the situations, he has been put in, and that’s why there is a disconnect between him and the fans.

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