A Penny For Your Thoughts Wrestlemania Countdown Day 4; How to Salvage Roman Reigns

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So we can pretty much all agree that Roman’s push is an abysmal failure. Despite massive and consistent fan backlash over the past two years, Vince refuses to accept that we just don’t like or want Roman as the top main event face. Which is sad because he does have so much potential to get over if handled right.

Vince has tunnel vision when he decides who we as fans should latch on to. He always has. Vince has never respected his audience. His ego tells him he’s infallible, his ideas are always good, and that only he can choose who gets over. And there are any number of examples of this over the years. From cancelling a Jake Roberts/Hulk Hogan feud in a panic because the audience cheered Jake giving Hogan a DDT on an untelevised edition of the Snake Pit, to pushing the Rock originally as a sickeningly sweet classic babyface until the Rock himself convinced Vince to let him turn heel. Vince hates to be wrong, and hates even more to admit to BEING wrong.

So for two years, no matter how loudly the fans rebel against it, Vince has been doggedly pushing Roman Reigns as the top face of the company, more and more trying to recreate the magic of his feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin in the Attitude era, completely oblivious to both the fact that the fans don’t WANT a rebel vs boss story anymore and the fans rejection of Reigns as a face. Vince NEEDS to check his ego and listen to the fans.

Sadly it’s too late for him to do so in time to prevent his Mania main event from being a magnificent trainwreck. I mean get the popcorn and trololol to your heart’s content but that match is going to be comedy gold just for the live crowd being all but guaranteed to completely shit on it. There’s no way to save the match or prevent the impending apocalypse.

BUT!

It IS still possible to salvage Reigns the night after on Raw. We know that Vince, barring a last minute bout of sanity and uncharacteristic self-awareness, wil put the belt on Reigns on Sunday. So on Raw, have Reigns come out and just completely turn on the fans. No scripted promos, no bad Vince dialogue, just give Reigns a mic and let him cut loose, Rock style, and just utterlt shit on all of us for booing him. Let Reigns have his “Die Rocky Die” promo. Let him chew the fans out, flip them off, and walk to the back sneering. Let him care only about himself and to hell with all of us.

Because Roman can NEVER succeed being shoved into the Stone Cold mold, but he CAN grow into the top star he could someday be if he’s run through the Rock’s paces. Let him turn heel because the fans shat on him. Let him shit on us right back. Let him follow in his cousin’s footsteps, in his own way. Let the fans come to embrace him organically as he finds his feet and figures out who he is on stage. Stop trying to force him into an archetype, let him find it on his own.

Fans may be sick of Cena now but when he was at the height of his popularity it was because he was being himself. Fans hated Rocky Maivia but came to love the Rock because he found his way into becoming that character organically, when he was given room to find it.

And that’s the only way to salvage Reigns, to ever get the audience behind him. He HAS to turn heel and it HAS to be because of the fan backlash. and from there, give him enough slack to figure out who he needs to be on his own. Give him, pardon the pun, enough free reign to find his footing and win the audience on his own for the right reasons.

That’s the only way Roman Reigns has a future in this business now. Hopefully, Vince will be embarrassed enough by the trainwreck we’re going to see on Sunday to realize this.

Tomorrow; Checking into the Ambrose Asylum

 

Penny is a now divorced intersexed disabled lesbian in BC Canada. She's been watching wrestling and reading comics since she was a kid, and knows her stuff. She lives with her pets and passes her free time writing, drawing, doing paid photoshop work (including logos done for Pulse's Own Mike Gojira), and is a part-time Queer model.