Opinion: Why perspective proves that Roman Reigns is the top guy in WWE because he is also Joe Anoa'i

Roman Reigns’ rise to the top of WWE has been nothing short of exceptional. He headlined WrestleMania three years in a row, he defeated the Undertaker on the ‘Grandest Stage of Them All’ and he was the defacto leader of one of the greatest stables in modern WWE history.

But this exceptionalism and these achievements have led to Roman Reigns as a character becoming a divisive figure in the WWE. Many felt he didn’t earn the chances he was given and the achievements he accomplished.

Many felt he wasn’t a good enough wrestler to be the top guy, he didn’t deserve to beat The Undertaker. He was being shoved down our throats.

This led to Reigns receiving mixed reactions from live crowds and being labelled the next John Cena, another top guy often derided for his position in the company and the way he won matches.

Reigns would get booed and jeered whilst doing promos or winning matches. And the whole time Reigns carried the company on his back, he was the main event. The man hand picked to finally dethrone Brock Lesnar.

Maybe those things are true, maybe there are other Superstars deserving of being the top guy, maybe there would’ve been better guys to main event WrestleMania three years in a row.

But here’s the thing, we only see what they want us to see, we lack perspective. Maybe, just maybe, the WWE saw something in Reigns that we didn’t?

In 2015 an article about a former teammate of Roman Reigns' revealed that a ‘serious illness’ halted his football career.

"As a free agent, Anoa'i got a shot with the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars, but a serious illness forced him to take some time off. After spending a season in the CFL, it was clear the NFL dream wasn't going to happen."

A lot of people brushed over this. He was a football star then and he’s a wrestler now, not a big deal.

See what I mean by lack of perspective? Not until Roman Reigns’ shocking opening announcement of Monday Night Raw would we truly understand what this meant and why it was significant.

Even on his way to the ring on October 22nd, Reigns was booed by the live crowd until he dropped the bombshell. Eleven years ago he was diagnosed with leukemia and had fought it, but now it was back, he was going to relinquish the Universal Title and take some time away from WWE until he has fought it off for a second time.

The boos stopped, the arena fell silent. Everyone there that evening had just gained jaw-dropping perspective into Joe Anoa’i and not Roman Reigns.

This was massively important because as always with fictional entertainment and particularly in an industry like wrestling that blurs the lines between reality and storyline, people were starting to be unable to differentiate between Roman Reigns, the bad-ass superhero-esque character and Joe Anao’i the bad-ass real life person.

Reigns' announcement in the middle of the ring drove a massive wedge between the two, offering the audience clarity that these were two different people.

Instead of seeing Roman Reigns, the unstoppable force, taking the spotlight away from better wrestlers, because he had been handpicked by those on top of the company due to his size, look and wrestling lineage, people saw Joe Anoa’i the guy whose promising football career was tragically derailed by a vicious illness when he was supposed to be in his prime, but who bravely fought to recover from it, successfully forging a career for himself as a wrestler.

That in and of itself is a remarkable story and a true eye opener on the life and career of Roman Reigns. Suddenly you almost start thinking that for him to get over the devastating end of his promising career to fight his way to the top of the WWE is an incredible thing to do. Maybe all of a sudden he did deserve to be there.

That’s the interesting thing about perspective. Had the audience known about Reigns’ struggle with cancer during his rise to the top maybe he would have gotten more respect from the audience, maybe he wouldn’t have been booed so much.

Because who boos a cancer survivor given a second chance getting success? But we didn’t know. WWE didn’t bring it up. That’s the thing we only ever saw what they wanted us to see, we only ever saw Roman Reigns and only now are we starting to see Joe Anoa’i.

This is what it’s all about!! @ConnorsCure #ConnorsCure 💛 Smiles all day! pic.twitter.com/UnwAFRFmB5

— WWE (@WWE) September 17, 2018

And that’s your answer, why is Roman Reigns booked so strongly? Why is he the top guy? Because he’s Joe Anoa’i and Joe Anoa’i has earned it. He’s a perfect company guy, just days ago he himself was visiting children suffering from the same disease he had to make their ordeal easier and better.

You just need to look at the emotion on the faces of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose during that segment to see the mark Anoa’i has has on their lives.

And then there’s the overwhelming outpouring of support and respect from Anoa’i’s peers. All of them sharing stories about how he led the locker room, how he helped them, how he had an incredibly hard work ethic and when you put all of that together you immediately start to see exactly why Anoa’i as Reigns was in the spot he was.

Because this new found perspective teaches us that perhaps nobody deserved it more.

It’s also a crying shame that the WWE have tried for three years to get Roman Reigns as well liked as a character as Joe Anoa’i is as a person backstage and all it took was a tragedy like this for people to get it.

But hopefully now when Anoa’i beats this thing for the second time and when he triumphantly returns, he’ll receive a true hero's pop from the crowd and he will be treated as the top guy of the company, not because of his character but because of who he is.

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We here at Sportskeeda wish Joe Anoa'i all the best in his recovery and can't wait to see him back where belongs!