3 Reasons why Roman Reigns is better as a heel and 2 reasons he's better as a face

By Israel Lutete
Modified May 28, 2021 10:56 GMT
Is Roman better off as The Big Dog or The Tribal Chief?
Is Roman better off as The Big Dog or The Tribal Chief?

Following a five-month-long hiatus, Roman Reigns made a surprise return to WWE last August with a new persona. This new version of Reigns has changed the course of his career and the entire SmackDown brand. Gone was The Big Dog and in came The Tribal Chief.

The Universal Champion cemented his heel turn by aligning himself with Paul Heyman, which proved to be a successful partnership. After constantly being criticized for the majority of his solo career as a face, Roman Reigns managed to silence his detractors and show the world why he was handpicked to be the face of WWE.

While his heel run has been impeccable so far, it still comes nowhere near the heroic babyface that many fans looked up to and enjoyed watching. Many fans might argue that The Head of the Table is much better as a heel, but others believe he's best suited as a face.

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In this article, we take a look at three reasons why Roman Reigns is better as a heel and two reasons why he was a better babyface.

#5 Why Roman Reigns is better as a heel: He's less restricted

Although it may seem easy, portraying a babyface on TV is a lot tougher compared to a heel. That's because babyfaces have to show a positive attitude at all times and be ethical while heel wrestlers get to act more naturally.

There is also a long list of things that good guys can't do or say during a match or segment, while villains get to do whatever they can to win a match. One of the main reasons why Roman Reigns works so well as a heel is because he doesn't need to force anything or overact in a certain way.

He is less restricted character-wise and he's finally loose from the handcuffs. Heels also have the privilege of talking trash to their opponents or having their manager do it for them. This is one of the reasons Roman Reigns' mic work is a lot better now than when he was a good guy.

Roman Reigns is also much more confident as a heel, which is reflected in his body language. Babyfaces might be more over to the fans than the heels, but it's ultimately the bad guys who have more fun with their characters.

#4 Why Roman Reigns is better as a face: He's great at playing the heroic babyface

Roman Reigns has been on an unstoppable path since his return to WWE. He has defeated everyone who dared to challenge him and take his Universal Championship. Superstars such as Kevin Owens, Edge, Daniel Bryan and Cesaro stepped up for the challenge, but they have all been put down.

While this makes Roman Reigns look strong and unbeatable, it also makes it hard to come up with a top babyface star that is believable enough to dethrone him for the Universal Championship. There aren't enough main event babyface stars on the blue brand right now who could do that.

Normally, that person would be Roman Reigns himself. Whether it's conquering major names such as Brock Lesnar, Triple H, or Randy Orton, Reigns was great at chasing down the heels and he had enough credibility to defeat them.

#3 Why Roman Reigns is better as a heel: He can be more aggressive

During his days with The Shield, Roman Reigns was known as the powerhouse, as there's a good reason for that. He wrestled a more aggressive style, utilizing big moves such as the powerbomb, Superman punch and big boot.

Although it looked good then, it works much better now as he's a heel because it's easier for fans to boo a wrestler that is aggressive in the ring than it is to cheer for them.

As a heel, Reigns can use his aggressive style to generate more heat or go all out as we saw at Hell in a Cell last year during his match with Jey Uso.

#2 Why Roman Reigns is better as a face: Being an inspiration to the fans

Roman Reigns was often compared to multi-time world champion John Cena in the past due to Vince McMahon's refusal to turn both stars heel. Most wrestling pundits wanted the change because they felt that their characters became stale and a heel turn was the best solution.

While John Cena becoming a bad guy could've been awesome, it would've been an issue due to Cena's popularity with the younger audience, which is the demographic WWE's product is targeted at. The younger fans look up to The Cenation Leader and consider him to be a role model.

Cena is also considered to be a hero due to his Make-A-Wish contributions. If he had to heel, it would shatter the hearts of millions of children. That's why John Cena was best suited as a babyface. Although Roman Reigns was constantly booed and criticized by the hardcore fans, he was still immensely over with the younger audience.

That's one of the reasons he was chosen to succeed John Cena as the face of WWE. Many people looked up to Roman Reigns as their hero when he was a babyface. It's hard not to, especially after he defeated cancer twice and came back healthier and stronger, which inspired a lot of people and it's something he can only do as a babyface.

#1 Why Roman Reigns is better as a heel: He will get the desired crowd reactions

WWE's refusal to turn Roman Reigns heel several years ago was met with a lot of backlash from fans and critics. It became so bad that they started piping in and editing crowd reactions to remove the chorus of boos Roman Reigns was receiving and replacing it with cheers.

No matter how hard WWE tried, the fans just wouldn't accept him as a babyface. Now that Roman Reigns is finally a heel, getting booed will actually work in his favor instead of against it. With live crowds set to return very soon, Roman Reigns will get the desired crowd reactions which will be perfect for his character.

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