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Roman Reigns finally turned heel after over 5 years of fans demanding it. When his "superman" push began in late 2014, WWE fans recognized that Vince McMahon had found his new golden boy in Roman Reigns and was "forcing" fans to accept him as the next coming of John Cena.
Unfortunately for Roman Reigns, WWE tried so hard to make him John Cena's replacement that they seemed to forget that Roman Reigns is an individual of his own with different capabilities. Few denied the fact that Roman Reigns was main event material, but the argument in the eyes of most fans was that WWE was "force-feeding" Roman Reigns as a top babyface when fans didn't want to view him that way.
While a lot of things changed for Roman Reigns between 2018 and 2019, his 2020 return after 5 months away saw him align with Paul Heyman and turn heel for the first time in six-and-a-half years.
Rusev, once Roman Reigns' United States title rival in 2017, was asked about The Big Dog's heel turn and was full of praise. Rusev elaborated by stating that it's key for Roman Reigns and every superstar to have new challenges and changes:
"It's fantastic. The man needs a different challenge. I felt that way after being a heel for so long - I literally got tired of it. There were no challenges. Even before 'Rusev Day' - even during 'Rusev Day', they had me working as a heel and I was so over. People need challenges, people need changes. Why wouldn't he want to be a heel? People wanted him to be a heel forever now. I think it's going to be really fun for him, I know he's going to have a blast. He was a great heel and has always been a great dude and great worker and he gets it, so I think he's got [Paul] Heyman and Vince [McMahon], so he'll be fine. I think he did the right thing"
The partial similarities between Rusev and Roman Reigns
As Rusev explained, Roman Reigns' situation was partially similar to his in late 2017-18, where he had gotten over big with 'Rusev Day' and became too big of a babyface for WWE to deny. While that run wasn't capitalized on, Roman Reigns had reportedly asked to turn heel as well and it would have been hard for WWE to deny him.
It's going to be interesting to see how Roman Reigns' heel run plays out.
