Opinion: Why Roman Reigns Should Be The Member of The Shield To Turn Heel

This reunion of The Shield has fallen flat. As a big fan of the faction, it pains me greatly to say this, but it has. After their first reunion on RAW, they've been made to look weak and not near as sharp or dominant as they always were. Stuck in a seemingly endless pattern of being on the losing end of an ill-advised Braun Strowman heel turn and a bizarre (yet effective) Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre pairing, no one really seems to know where WWE is going with this story.

One main theory, which was tested tonight, was for the eventual heel turn of Dean Ambrose. Since returning from injury Dean has taken on a very no-nonsense attitude, only showing brief glimpses of his funny side.

He's adopted more of the edge he had when The Shield first debuted in 2012. But I don't think he needs to be turned heel. I also don't feel any member of The Shield needs to turn on the others for quite a while yet. But when it does happen, I think it needs to be Roman Reigns who turns.

My first reasoning is that no matter what, Dean is going to be a fan favorite. Sure, he's not everyone's cup of tea, but who on the roster is? And I have a feeling that an Ambrose heel turn would go the route of Becky Lynch's heel turn. That's not to say that'd be a bad thing. Ambrose as a "tweener" is really Ambrose at his best.

Ambrose heel turn coming soon?

But he can accomplish that in The Shield or still buddied up with Rollins. Roman Reigns on the other hand, is still drawing the ire of the crowd even while paired with his Shield brothers. Roman's entire aura just screams heel, but we haven't seen a proper heel run out of him since 2014. It's been 4 years of trying desperately to get the fans on Roman's side as the next face of the company. Efforts that have, for the large part failed.

Ambrose also knows the pain of being stabbed in the back, of becoming a lone wolf simply because he was left in the dust while Reigns and Rollins got repeated pushes. However, in hashing it out with Rollins last Summer, a certain level of not only trust but respect was achieved. After all, it was Rollins that Ambrose came back to help, not Reigns.

A heel turn for Reigns feels more natural. The crowd is already against him, so that part is already accomplished. His heel run with The Shield was a major success.

He was just naturally believable as a bad guy. Plus, Reigns could argue that he's at the top of the food chain, fighting guys like Brock Lesnar, so what does he need with Ambrose and Rollins? That would almost instantly make him the full-blown arrogant, "big dog" heel he seems destined to be.