Okay, so we're all aware that last night Roman Reigns won the WWE Heavyweight Championship to a chorus of boos and much to the chagrin of anyone who owns a computer that has access to the internet. I got to thinking, how the hell did this happen? Well, I'm going to try to take us down the path that lead us from a 2012 debut until last night's underwhelming victory over HHH.
October 31, 2012: debuted under the ring name Roman Reigns defeating some guy you've probably never heard of.
Novermber 18, 2012: 18 days after his new name debut in NXT he made his main roster debut. (Jesus fuck, this seem absurd to anyone else? He literally had one match before being moved up to the main roster.)
2012-2014: He and the Shield repeatedly beatdown a bunch of faces for about a year, before turning face themselves and feuding with the Authority. At the Royal Rumble he was a finalist against Batista who was making his return to WWE although he got tossed and Batista went onto the Mania title match. The Shield was very over although none of them could cut a promo. I personally never found the group appealing, but I'm guessing because they often feuded with people the crowd didn't like (Ryback, Cena, Kane, and Batista at the Rumble) they were over by default.
2014: Shield dissolves, Reigns becomes a singles competitor. Won a battle royal to get into MITB, competed for the title in a fatal 4 way, wins a feud with Orton. Gets injured and is given a Slammy for Superstar of the Year.
2015: Wins the Royal Rumble to a chorus of boos beating every single fan favorite. Went to Mania and he lost to Rollins in the title match after a Money in the Bank cash in. At 2015 Money in the Bank he was about to win and Bray Wyatt fucked him over. He then went over on the at the time only good heel on the roster, Bray Wyatt. Because fuck Bray, right?
Reigns ended up with a title shot at TLC, which he won. Then Sheamus beat him 5:15 later with his MITB case. For some reason the title was then given back to him when he beat Sheamus. I'm guessing they assumed if they put him in another match against someone the crowd hates it'd put him over, didn't work.
This of course led to the Royal Rumble, another Reigns victory and in a round about way, to last night.
If I were to hazard a guess I'd simply say that the fans don't like Reigns because there's been no attempt to see if they liked him to begin with. It was simply full steam ahead whether the fans wanted it or not. The longer it goes on, the worse it seems to get for Roman. The smart play would be to turn him heel and eventually work him back to get the fans invested in his career arc, but the guy we've got right now has been in the main event scene for essentially his whole career although he's really only been able to work a good match for the past 6-8 months and still can't cut a promo to save his life. That in my opinion is What the hell's going on here.
October 31, 2012: debuted under the ring name Roman Reigns defeating some guy you've probably never heard of.
Novermber 18, 2012: 18 days after his new name debut in NXT he made his main roster debut. (Jesus fuck, this seem absurd to anyone else? He literally had one match before being moved up to the main roster.)
2012-2014: He and the Shield repeatedly beatdown a bunch of faces for about a year, before turning face themselves and feuding with the Authority. At the Royal Rumble he was a finalist against Batista who was making his return to WWE although he got tossed and Batista went onto the Mania title match. The Shield was very over although none of them could cut a promo. I personally never found the group appealing, but I'm guessing because they often feuded with people the crowd didn't like (Ryback, Cena, Kane, and Batista at the Rumble) they were over by default.
2014: Shield dissolves, Reigns becomes a singles competitor. Won a battle royal to get into MITB, competed for the title in a fatal 4 way, wins a feud with Orton. Gets injured and is given a Slammy for Superstar of the Year.
2015: Wins the Royal Rumble to a chorus of boos beating every single fan favorite. Went to Mania and he lost to Rollins in the title match after a Money in the Bank cash in. At 2015 Money in the Bank he was about to win and Bray Wyatt fucked him over. He then went over on the at the time only good heel on the roster, Bray Wyatt. Because fuck Bray, right?
Reigns ended up with a title shot at TLC, which he won. Then Sheamus beat him 5:15 later with his MITB case. For some reason the title was then given back to him when he beat Sheamus. I'm guessing they assumed if they put him in another match against someone the crowd hates it'd put him over, didn't work.
This of course led to the Royal Rumble, another Reigns victory and in a round about way, to last night.
If I were to hazard a guess I'd simply say that the fans don't like Reigns because there's been no attempt to see if they liked him to begin with. It was simply full steam ahead whether the fans wanted it or not. The longer it goes on, the worse it seems to get for Roman. The smart play would be to turn him heel and eventually work him back to get the fans invested in his career arc, but the guy we've got right now has been in the main event scene for essentially his whole career although he's really only been able to work a good match for the past 6-8 months and still can't cut a promo to save his life. That in my opinion is What the hell's going on here.
