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At the 2020 SummerSlam event, Roman Reigns came out at the end of the show to unleash a brutal beatdown on Braun Strowman and The Fiend. The former Shield member's demeanor during the beatdown hinted that he had finally embraced his dark side. The suspicions only grew when he aligned with Paul Heyman mere days later.
Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman were arch-rivals back when the latter was aligned with Brock Lesnar, and the alliance gave us one of the most surprising moments in a long time.
Reigns went on to win the Universal title from The Fiend and has been holding the coveted belt ever since. Turning The Big Dog heel has been one of the bravest and most popular decisions WWE has taken in a while, and fans are enjoying this brand new persona.
All's not well though when it comes to WWE's handling of Roman Reigns. Here are five mistakes WWE have made with The Tribal Chief, ever since his heel turn.
#5 Turning him into a generic coward heel who needs help from his peers to win big matches
The traditional heel in pro-wrestling is usually a cowardly character who is hell-bent on winning his matches at any cost.
This works most of the time, and top Superstars like Chris Jericho, Triple H, and Edge have made careers out of it. In Roman Reigns' case though, it is something a lot of fans are having issues with.
The Tribal Chief has been absolutely brilliant as a bad guy ever since he turned, and his promos have given off vibes of a legit bad guy who can get the job done by himself.
However, all this goes down the drain when he competes in the squared circle against a top opponent like Kevin Owens.
Roman Reigns needs to win big WWE matches on his own
At TLC 2020, Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens was marred with constant interference by Jey Uso, finally leading to The Tribal Chief's victory. The same thing happened on WWE SmackDown after TLC, where Jey helped Roman Reigns defeat Owens again.
When you're trying to create one of the most dangerous heels in WWE history, having him win title matches with the help of his lackey on multiple occasions isn't exactly a good idea.
Reigns needs to win matches against credible opponents like Owens, on his own, in order to establish himself as a force to be reckoned with.
Hopefully, WWE will rectify this flaw quickly.
#4 Sacrificing a major star like Kevin Owens in order to make a heel Roman Reigns look strong
When Roman Reigns turned heel, many fans knew that he would be pushed to the moon at the expense of many Superstars on the blue brand. Reigns won a Triple Threat match at WWE Payback to win the Universal title and has been wreaking havoc on SmackDown ever since.
However, His rise to the top of the food chain came at the expense of one of WWE's top Superstars: Kevin Owens.
Roman Reigns recently had two Universal title victories over Owens
WWE shot themselves in the foot the moment Owens was chosen to feud with Reigns. There was no way KO was going to take the belt from the mega heel that's Roman Reigns.
This resulted in The Tribal Chief defeating Owens in two back-to-back Universal title matches.
KO is a former Universal Champion and is one of the best mic-workers on the blue brand. There were several other options WWE could have picked up to feud with Reigns.
Owens came out of the feud empty-handed, and finally came to peace with the same:
"I gave it my all at TLC, gave it my all in the cage and I will keep doing so until there’s nothing left. Fight hard enough for long enough and something good has to happen. Right now, I’m right where I belong and I couldn’t be happier. From my family to yours, Happy Holidays!" said Owens in a Tweet after his loss to Roman Reigns.
That brings us to the next point, which involves another Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens contest, and possibly another big loss for the latter...
#3 Not going ahead with the Roman Reigns vs Adam Pearce plan at the 2021 Royal Rumble event
After running roughshod through Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns needed another opponent for the 2021 Royal Rumble event. Reigns and Jey Uso made sure that Adam Pearce of all people would come out victorious in a No.1 Contenders Gauntlet match, and many fans were intrigued by the idea of these two squaring off at the upcoming event. Pearce, a former NWA World Champion, hadn't wrestled in seven long years.
Roman Reigns won't be facing Pearce at Royal Rumble
Eventually, the WWE Official tricked Reigns and feigned an injury to back out of the match. The replacement was Kevin Owens, and fans weren't thrilled with the reveal.
Owens had lost his feud with Roman Reigns following the Steel Cage match, and fans didn't want to see the rivalry continuing any further.
A better idea would have been to let Roman Reigns maul Adam Pearce at the Royal Rumble, much like how Brock Lesnar did with Ricochet last year.
Reigns beating a five-time NWA World Champion with ease would have given his heel character more credibility. Instead, we are going to see another Reigns vs Owens outing, with KO quite possibly on his way to losing another Universal title match.
#2 Hinting the addition of a new member in Roman Reigns' stable, who's not related to him
WWE recently hinted that Apollo Crews might be another addition to Roman Reigns' stable on SmackDown. Crews had a chat with Paul Heyman on Talking Smack, with the latter stating that the former US Champion's "nice guy" persona was holding him back.
Last week, Crews was getting career advice from none other than Roman Reigns. Soon after, The Tribal Chief hinted that the former US Champion could be the newest addition to his stable.
No Roman Reigns-led Anoa'i stable in WWE?
Ever since Roman Reigns turned heel, he has talked on multiple occasions about the idea of a stable consisting of members of his family. Reigns even took shots at factions like The Hurt Business and RETRIBUTION, while bragging about what an Anoa'i stable could manage to achieve in WWE.
When Jey Uso joined Roman Reigns, fans were excited at the prospect of a stable in the future, consisting of several members from the Anoa'i family. With the latest hint about Crews possibly joining forces with the Universal Champion, it seems like WWE isn't keen on having an all Anoa'i family stable reign supreme on the blue brand.
The possibilities with an Anoa'i faction would have been many, with an actual real-life family ruling over the company and putting down everyone on their path.
If WWE goes ahead with the tease about Apollo Crews joining the stable, the idea of an Anoa'i family faction will be thrown out the window.
#1 Overexposing Roman Reigns
The biggest takeaway from Roman Reigns' arch-rival Brock Lesnar's dominant second run in WWE was that he was kept interesting and special for a very long time.
The reason this was the fact that Lesnar had a lucrative contract that allowed him to take long breaks, and WWE was incredibly careful with his appearances, with The Beast Incarnate coming out only on special occasions.
Imagine Lesnar coming out on every single RAW, plus all the pay-per-views. His character wouldn't have stayed as special as it did for years on end.
Roman Reigns needs to be handled with care by WWE
Ever since Roman Reigns made his return as a heel, he has competed in 10 matches with three of them being Tag Team encounters. The Universal Champion has also been part of many segments on TV as well.
That's a lot for a special character and puts The Tribal Chief at the risk of being overexposed and becoming stale pretty soon.
WWE doesn't need to keep him away from TV as much as they did with Brock Lesnar, but theyre also needs to be a limit when it comes to Reigns appearing in segments and matches regularly.
Roman Reigns has stated that he wants to face The Rock at WrestleMania 39 in 2023. To make it possibly the biggest babyface vs heel attraction in WWE history, the company needs to be careful with putting out The Tribal Chief in front of the audience.
If the plan is set for a future match between the cousins, two years down the line, Reigns shouldn't be out there regularly. It'll only hinder the aura of his character, and that's the last thing WWE would want.
A heel Roman Reigns is money, but only if he is kept special and not overexposed to the WWE Universe.
