WWE and their push towards Roman Reigns in the main event scene is a long-term saga that was a well-documented story of the last decade. Immediately after The Shield broke up in the summer of 2014, the company thought him to be the next top babyface star to commence a push for the marquee spot, a move that was totally rejected by the fans.
Reports came out by multiple sources suggesting that WWE wants Roman Reigns to be the next “Face Of WWE” since John Cena was transitioning to a part-timer, at that point. In his absence, the new face was going to the main event WrestleMania 31, where he was originally scheduled to defeat Brock Lesnar to win his 1st WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
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However, WWE trying to book Roman Reigns exactly like Cena didn’t turn out in his favor. Both critics and fans denied this move while he wasn’t getting cheered as a babyface (despite being a top merchandise seller from the get-go, exactly like Cena). This could be the reason why WWE pushed back his world title win at ‘Mania 31 and allowed the Money in the Bank briefcase holder Seth Rollins to win it.
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Roman Reigns didn’t require an imminent babyface push
During a recent interview on The Player’s Experience, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle discussed Roman Reigns’ main event run in WWE. The veteran wrestler said that the Samoan Superstar didn’t deserve his initial babyface push, but his current character deserves the push.
“I think what he did is he went through his lumps.
In other words, the company was pushing him when he probably didn’t deserve it, but he stepped up to the challenge and he overcame it and he actually did better than everybody expected him to, and he became the best athlete in the business, the best wrestler in the business.”
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Since fans were rejecting him, Roman Reigns was supposed to take a heel turn on WWE programming but the company held down the move for a long time. The heel-turn eventually happened in Summerslam 2020 which turned out to be the best run of his career and as well as in the modern era of the WWE. He is also having the longest World Title reign in WWE of the last 35 years.
