What's the story?
It would be an understatement to call Roman Reigns the most hated superstar on the roster. The heat he garners on a weekly basis is absolutely nuclear. But the anti-Roman army is everywhere, with Twitter being the most prevalent base.
A fan posted a photo of Guile from Street Fighter with a caption that read ‘must be hard being a cartoon Roman Reigns'. Reigns instantly came up with a fitting reply:
The background
Reigns stayed true to his word of WWE being his yard when he cleanly defeated the Undertaker at WrestleMania 33, marking the end of the Phenom's legendary 27-year career. After a tear-jerking farewell segment of the Undertaker closed out the 33rd edition of the showcase of immortals, the fans were ready to jeer the Big Dog on the fallout episode of RAW.
What followed was one of biggest heel reactions a superstar has got in the past decade. The segment that lasted for almost 15 minutes witnessed Reigns standing in the middle of the ring amidst a voracious chorus of boos, abuses and chants that would even perplex Roddy Piper.
The Piper reference may be a little far-fetched, but the reaction Reigns got was nothing less than phenomenal. After three years of being shoved down the fans’ throats, main eventing three consecutive WrestleManias and seemingly being booked as the man to lead the New Era of the company, the win against Undertaker was the final nail in the coffin.
For Vince McMahon, though, a reaction is a reaction and as long as WWE are vocal about the 3-time WWE Champion – boos or cheers – the boss will continue to push Reigns to the moon.
The heart of the matter
The bottom line is this: Roman Reigns is the biggest heel babyface in the WWE and one thing is undeniable; he never fails to elicit a reaction from the fans. The tweet from the fan is just one of the many directed towards the man who people just love to despise.
WWE has altered the way Reigns carries himself in recent weeks and instead of pandering to the crowd, he's adopted a borderline cocky-cum-tweener persona.
He's even giving it back to the fans on social media and tweet in question has already amassed 1.3k retweets in a matter of hours.
What's next?
Don't expect Reigns to turn heel anytime soon as the boss is hellbent on seeing the Samoan Superman as the face of the WWE. The current version of the Big Dog is the closest we may get to a heel and acceptance is the way to go forward.
Reigns is expected to resume his feud with Braun Strowman with a no.1 contenders spot for Brock Lesnar's Universal title up for the taking. As Dave Meltzer reported, WWE wants Reigns vs. Lesnar for the Universal title at WrestleMania 34 and the slow build could involve Strowman, Balor and Owens being brought into the title picture.
Author's take
Reigns has somehow morphed into a new generation hybrid heel and I honestly am beginning to like it. The only issue is that there won't be any comeuppance as he is the face after all, and all of this will end with the top RAW title around his waist by next year. Deal with it!
As I read somewhere, the only way to end the Reigns era is to carry out a silent protest during all his segments and matches.
That would be unfair to the uberly talented Reigns, who possess the marketable look and tools to be the face of the company with an apt manager. I can only hope WWE divides the spotlight evenly among other deserving superstars while the Reigns agenda progresses.
