What’s the Story?
WWE Hall of Famer Afa Anoai of The Wild Samoans asked the fans to be patient with his nephew, Roman Reigns.
Afa was on Is Wrestling Fixed: The Bill Apter Podcast when he suggested that fans should be more patient with Reigns and give him room to grow, as he is still learning and is a young wrestler.
“It’s just like anything else. The thing about my other nephew The Rock was, when he first started they were booing him. That was because of his lack of experience. The kid’s young. He will grow in to become a somebody someday if he not already is. You’ve just got to be patient. You’ve got to give people a chance to grow.”
In case you didn’t know...
Reigns has been in the hot seat with the fans for a long time now. He had a good relationship with the fans until the 2015 Royal Rumble, where he won the Royal Rumble instead of WWE superstar Daniel Bryan; who had just returned from injury and was the fan-favourite.
Reigns would win some of the fans over after his WrestleMania main event against Brock Lesnar but would lose them almost completely, following his WrestleMania main event against Triple H the following year.
While Afa is Reign’s uncle, Sika is his father and he is also the father of former WWE Superstar Rosey; one-half of the tag team 3-Minute Warning. The Anoai family has a long legacy in professional wrestling with hundreds of championships from WWE, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Memphis Championship Wrestling, and hundreds of other wrestling federations.
The heart of the matter
Here’s what Afa went on to say:
“He’s still learning a lot, just give him some time. There’s a lot he needs to learn and me and my brother, we kind of want to stay out of it. These kids today are much smarter and the business is different, you know? We kind of just let them do it their own way and every now and then if they need some advice we will give them the “old school” advice. As far the fans go… give the kids a chance. They’ll come around. He’ll come around.”
The request made by Afa can be interpreted in two ways. Many fans will view this as nothing more than an uncle attempting to come to the rescue of his nephew, who many believe is a floundering babyface. This is further exemplified by the fact that Reigns was the first baby face in history to win the PWI’s Most Hated Wrestler of The Year in 2016.
On the other hand, this could also be Afa’s subtle way of letting fans know that a heel turn could be imminent. Many fans and people in the business have claimed that Reigns appearing in the 2017 Royal Rumble as the 30th entrant, plus his interaction with The Undertaker, was done to facilitate a heel turn at some point in the near future; which could potentially be the case.
What’s next?
Whether fans decide to be patient or not has less to do with the words of Afa, but more to do with WWE’s way of booking Reigns. If this heel turn is coming at some point, then fans will have to wait until WrestleMania or the Raw after WrestleMania to see if the character change comes to fruition.
Sportskeeda’s take
The Roman Reigns situation is in desperate need of a change, otherwise, the Big Dog may be doomed to an eternity of getting booed out of buildings, while portraying a babyface character. Fans appreciation and disdain comes and goes, but it’s important for a character to adapt in that situation and do what’s necessary to fix it.
And this point, a heel turn is probably the only thing that can help Reigns’ character, aside from taking time off; something even less likely than him turning heel. At the end of the day, Reigns will be the company’s guy; whether he’s beloved as a face or continues to be hated, lies in Vince McMahon’s decision making.
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