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There is little to no doubt that Roman Reigns was the biggest beneficiary of The Shield. When the faction broke up, the focus was to build Reigns as the next John Cena, and everything that happened in the years since only confirmed that fact. However, WWE legend Road Dogg shut down a statement that Seth Rollins made about Reigns' role in The Shield.
For context, this comes from The Visionary's interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin on The Broken Skull Sessions. In the interview, Seth Rollins revealed that both he and Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley) eventually realized that Reigns would be the group's focus.
He described it as WWE constantly putting in Roman Reigns moments into the matches, or what they would call "Roments." Rollins, however, didn't express resentment over the fact but simply that both he and Ambrose knew the truth.
During the latest episode of The Wrestling Outlaws, Dr. Chris Featherstone brought this topic up to WWE legend Road Dogg, who was a part of the creative team back in 2014. However, he denied Rollins' statement and said it was never about focusing on Reigns and creating The Shield to get him over.
Road Dogg even argued that Reigns had more to prove because he was far less experienced than Rollins and Ambrose:
"I didn't see it that way, and we never wrote it that way. And we didn't think about it that way, so I don't know if it was just Seth [Rollins] feeling that way or maybe it was the truth, but I didn't see it that way at all. All three of them were a cohesive unit, but they were three individually talented guys. I didn't see it like they were propping Roman [Reigns] up. I saw it as Roman kind of had to earn it in there because the other two had a lot more experience." (4:00-4:35)
When asked about their debut and why they were put together as a faction, he noted that the three of them were the closest to a main roster call-up:
"I don't know that. I think they were the closest who were ready to come. When they showed up on the scene they were pretty dominant. I think they were ready. It's kind of a wacky pairing, the three of them," said Road Dogg. (4:40-4:50)
You can watch the full video below:
Fans rejected the babyface Roman Reigns for a long time
While he is now two years into one of the most legendary heel runs of the decade, things weren't always like that.
When Roman Reigns was pushed as an individual star, fans rejected him heavily for over three years before they finally warmed up to him. Even then, the unfortunate leukemia situation in 2018 made fans sympathetic towards Joe Anoa'i, the human being, father, and husband.
In 2019-2020, he enjoyed a moderate year-long run as a babyface without getting booed. The Thunderdome Era allowed him to turn heel - something fans had clamored for years.
There was always the argument that WWE's booking failed Roman Reigns between 2015 and 2018 and not the man himself.
Did Roman Reigns earn the right to the spot that he enjoys today? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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