In round four of WrestleTalk’s Top 5 Wars, Francesca Wood has had enough of Roman Reigns as a babyface – it’s time for Vince McMahon’s chosen one to turn heel.
Watch Oli Davis’ Top 5 Reasons Why John Cena Should Turn Heel here.
5. BECAUSE THE ROCK
When Roman Reigns looks into the camera, looking kind of bored, and says how he’s not just a good guy or a bad guy – he’s the guy…it’s very easy to forget he’s related to the most electrifying man in sports entertainment: The Rock.
But things weren’t always so great for Dwayne. In fact, they were exactly the same as they are for Roman Reigns right now.
When The Rock first debuted, he did so as the white meat babyface Rocky Maivia. The fans hated him because he was a one-dimensional good guy who was being forced down their throats. Sound familiar?
But back then, the WWF had competition. If fans took against a character when they weren’t meant to – like booing someone who’s meant to be a good guy – they usually went back to the drawing board.
With, Rocky Maivia, he was given control of the Nation of Domination faction and turned heel. His personality slowly emerged and promo skills materialised out of nowhere. Going heel essentially allowed smiley, happy, annoying Rocky to become The Rock we all know and love.
What’s so frustrating about the WWE is that they’ve already learnt the ‘turn Roman Reigns heel’ lesson with The Rock, but they’re making the same mistakes.
Mind you, it’s not that surprising when you see Vince McMahon forgetting half his lines doing a simple promo on RAW. I’m surprised he remembered who Shane was when he came back.
4. BECAUSE HE ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH AT THE MOMENT
Bret Hart once said that to become a top star in wrestling you need to be a 10 in at least two of the three following areas:
wrestling skill, your look or promo ability.
Roman Reigns is only a 10 in looks.
He falls down most in the promo section because of the poorly scripted, forced babyface material he’s made to awkwardly mutter through each week. Somehow, John Cena manages it, but Roman comes off smarky at best, monotone at worst. Somewhere in there, though, is really a great talker.
When Roman has been allowed to improvise in front of a live crowd, he suddenly turns into a badass. One you actually would cheer for.
If Roman was turned heel, he’d be able to develop this promo skills by properly engaging with an audience. He wouldn’t be fighting the uphill battle of getting people to cheer him when they’re so totally against him.
3. BECAUSE THE CROWD HATES HIM
The main event of Wrestlemania 32 saw Roman Reigns win the WWE Title from the evil Triple H and dominatrix Stephanie McMahon, finally overthrowing the evil Authority. In Vince McMahon’s eyes, this was the big babyface win,
of the good guy overcoming the bad ones…the ultimate feel good victory to close the company’s biggest show of the year. But here’s what the crowd thought:
“BOO THIS MAN. BOO THIS MAN HARD!”
With the fans taking so totally against the person the WWE are presenting as their big hero, it’s actually damaging the product. Roman needs to go with the grain. To steal an Authority phrase, it’s best for business.
2. THE GOOD OLD FLIP FLOP
How the fans react to Roman Reigns also plays into number 2: we’ve got to hate him before we can fully love him.
It’s a dance as old as wrestling itself – or, at least as old as Mae Young – if a wrestler is a good enough bad guy, the crowd will eventually start craving them to turn face.
Unless you’re the Miz.
But with Reigns, if he stays heel long enough, and he’s booked right, the crowd will turn him face for Vince, organically. Not forcefully shoved down our throats like the WWE are doing right now.
There are plenty of examples: Randy Orton after his Legacy storyline, Bray Wyatt all the time, or the guy we’re going to close the countdown with…
To find out the top reason why Roman Reigns should turn heel, watch the video above.
