Opinion: Does Roman Reigns Need the Shield To Get Over?

Roman Reigns has had an up and down journey through WWE. While it has seemed clear that the powers that be--namely Vince McMahon--want him to be the face of the company, he has largely struggled when positioned in that role.

The guy has a terrific look, he’s powerful and athletic, he’s got charisma, and he can hold his own for three-star matches, which is more than some historical faces of WWE could claim.

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However, whether it’s sense of favoritism around him, the presence of more compelling stars like Daniel Bryan and Dean Ambrose on the roster, or turning in subpar performances in some high profile situations, like the last two WrestleMania main events, he just can’t seem to get hardcore fans behind him.

There have been specific occasions when the fans were behind Reigns, though, and those periods were inextricably linked to when he was a part of The Shield.

As a young trio debuting together, Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins were unmistakably cool and put on terrific six-man tag matches.

Their two reunions have been similarly well received, and the second seemed not so coincidentally timed to align with Reigns finally capturing the Universal Championship over SummerSlam weekend.

So the question becomes, does Roman Reigns need the Shield to get over? These five slides consider the question in a point-counterpoint format.

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#5 Point: Match Quality

The best matches of Reigns' career have mostly been as part of The Shield.

While Roman Reigns is respectable in-ring worker, he’s a far cry from the best in-ring worker in the world today that he claimed to be on the WWE Networks Straight to the Source.

When clustered with Dean Ambrose’s more chaotic penchant for violence and Seth Rollins’s innovation and athleticism, Reigns’s more limited move set is better protected, and his explosive power can be more appropriately highlighted.

If we’re to chronicle the most universally agreed upon best matches of Reigns' career, most of them would be as part of The Shield working opposite Team Hell No and friends, squaring off with the Wyatt Family, or working other trios like Evolution and New Day.

In short, when Reigns wrestles as part of The Shield rather than as a singles performer, the matches tend to be significantly better. Better matches get fans invested and, at the end of the day, can go a long way toward getting Reigns more over—especially at the top of the card.

#4 Counterpoint: The Unexploited Heel Turn

We still don't know how over Reigns might get based on a heel turn.

Reigns debuted with The Shield as a group of heels, but the trio quickly arrived as cool heels whom fans were as apt to cheer as boo. They would ultimately turn properly face, and so Reigns has remained ever since.

For all of the pushback Reigns get, he does command attention, and arguably had his biggest reaction from fans when he’s behaved most heelishly, including proclaiming that WWE was his yard the night after beating The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33.

When it comes to ways of getting The Big Dog over with WWE fans, grouping him with his Shield running buddies is certainly one way of going about it. There’s another route WWE hasn’t exploited just yet, though—actually turning him heel. Not only could he get more over as a bad guy, but like his older cousin The Rock, it’s possible that would be the key to Reigns ultimately getting over as a face in the long run.

#3 Point: Friends To Stick Up For

Fans appreciate Reigns when he's protecting or avenging Ambrose and Rollins.

Not only do Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose add excitement to Roman Reigns' matches via their better diversified, more electric style. They also have the capacity to be a source of sympathy for Reigns.

One of the reasons big men are often cast as heels is because it’s hard for fans to feel sympathy for them. After all, tall, strong guys don’t exactly look vulnerable to getting beat up by smaller opponents, much less for the average wrestling fan to relate to them.

Rollins and Ambrose are both popular and, by WWE standards, on the smaller side. Thus, they’re ripe to garner sympathy on behalf of Reigns when they get hurt, and they’re a great source of popularity for him when he’s cavalry to stand up on their behalf against the heels who came after them.

Left to his own devices, Reigns has only himself to stand up for, or makeshift alliances without any real, organic connection. The fans readily identify Rollins and Ambrose with Reigns and are by and large prepared to get behind all three.

#2 Counterpoint: Getting Overshadowed

Reigns doesn't always benefit from comparisons when standing right beside Ambrose and Rollins

On one hand, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins make Roman Reigns more popular by association, and particularly under The Shield banner, the trio has its fans. There is a reverse side to the scenario, however, which may actually hold back Reigns from reaching his full potential in terms of connecting with the fans.

In constantly being associated with Rollins and Ambrose, Reigns is subject to constant comparisons to the both of them.

Sure, Reigns is the signature big man of the group, but Rollins is deceptively strong, too, and since returning from injury, Ambrose is looking bigger and has incorporated more power moves into his repertoire.

While Reigns will probably remain the most physically imposing member of The Shield, he’s also probably never going to be better than the second best in-ring performer after Rollins (and it’s no foregone conclusion that he’s better than Ambrose).

Most importantly, Ambrose and Rollins have a core connection with hardcore fans from their days on the indies, and from being the workhorses of the group while Reigns was still learning his craft in the original Shield run.

As long as all three are inviting comparisons, Reigns will probably never win over a substantial portion of the WWE fan base.

#1 Conclusion

Reigns benefits from The Shield, but it might be going too far to say he needs them.

Like most things, there’s no clear cut one way for WWE to go when it comes to keeping Reigns as part of a stable or run him on his own.

In the end, Roman Reigns benefits now from being reunited with The Shield for all of the stories that the group together engenders, and for the nostalgia, they provoke standing together. In the long run, though?

Perhaps he’ll emerge moreover for the success of this heel run and be better prepared than ever to operate on his own. Or maybe Dean Ambrose will deliver on his long-rumored heel turn, and be successful enough in that capacity to earn Reigns the face sympathy he’s been grasping for.

More than anything, it’s important for critics of Reigns to remember that he is still a young performer. He’s far from perfect, but there is still plenty of time for him to get over with fans, and The Shield is just one vehicle for him to do so.