Roman Reigns Mega (push) Thread! *SPOILERS*

Rjd2

rossie1977 wrote: »

with the amount of heat this guy has online right now its very interesting to see what wwe do. i think many self combusted yesterday after seeing the fake billboard post on twitter/wrestling inc

they could have him win the rumble, beat lesnar and then pin rollins when he tries to cash in (would be first person ever to do that). if they do that he will have nuclear heat and it would then be a perfect time to turn him heel.

the possiblities then would be immense. wwe could keep throwing guys at the unstoppable heel wwe champion reigns like cena, bryan, ambrose, orton, ziggler. later in the year then debut balor and zayn and have one of those guys be the first to pin him for the title.

I doubt Vince and Trips give 2 damns about his online reaction. He does seem to get a decent enough reaction whenever I seen him on Raw so he is not as heatless as some say. The promos are dire, but they can work on that.


On the haters line? Its stupid anyone over the age of 13 uses it, but a lot of celebrities are quite fragile when it comes to criticism sadly. Heck we all are probably.

leggo

Ah now, you won't hear me defending Reigns as a WrestleMania main event caliber talent anytime soon (I put it in print MONTHS back that this would happen exactly as it has - save the injury), but to say it was a protest cheer simply isn't true. How do you explain his Survivor Series cheers then? He was crazy over!

Like I said, I watched (well, skimmed through, it's an hour long) a video with reaction to last year's match just a couple weeks back when editing the Woolshed ad. I remember it well and the video backs it up. When it came down to Reigns and Batista, sure people were sickened at the idea that Batista could win, but there was also that, "ooooohhh..." factor with Reigns, he was on a run of momentum and people were curious and willing to get behind him as a winner. Otherwise they would've just **** on the whole match if they weren't. There was genuine excitement until Batista won and the audience deflated instantly.

Reigns isn't terrible. He has raw talent but you need to be near flawless when you have that big spotlight on you, and he's just too fresh. He's Orton in 2004: Mr Right, just not Mr Right Now.

gerrybbadd

Ya see in that video rovert posted, Reigns, when he's not reading stupid lines about being Superman, actually has a lot of personality.

WWE should stop trying to make Roman into Cena V2. When he's reading lines, he's wooden in his delivery. When he's let go like in Roberts video, he oozes likeable and charisma.

leggo

If I was booking him, he'd be a natural heel. He's good looking, smug because he knows it, naturally hateable but the kind of guy you could also see yourself getting behind if he gave you a good reason to. Very like The Rock around 1997.

But it's a tricky situation and one that a lot of guys find themselves in: it's easier to get cheers and be a fiery babyface as big comebacks are easily orchestrated and executed for limited guys. It's a lot tougher working as a heel as you're then calling the majority of the match in the ring more often than not. Again, think back to when Orton turned again after his short 2004 babyface run: how boring were his matches with the stomps and chinlocks? He's since honed that and turned it into an asset as a heel, he knows how to work the crowd with his boring bits so the exciting ones let the face look amazing.

The solution is to not let guys get past that upper midcard tier until they've developed a genuine connection with the crowd based on a personality that'll work long-term. And WWE thought they already had that with Reigns' reactions at Survivor Series and beyond. The problem is that they've now booked themselves into a hole reliant on building ready-made stars they thought they had that haven't panned out just yet. Taker put over a soon-to-be out of contract Brock, for what now? If it's to build a new star that'll lead the company for years, great. But if it's to be beaten by the guy they've already had win a WrestleMania main event it's kind of a waste.

Stereomaniac

This time last year, people were marking out for Roman Reigns. I don't care what anyone says.

brianregan09

I wanted Reigns to win it last year I'll be honest , and it wasn't because of any hate for Batista because i like Batista , This year though with the breakup of the Shield and his injury he lost alot of momentum and this has hurt him more than anything

Angron

Stereomaniac wrote: »

This time last year, people were marking out for Roman Reigns. I don't care what anyone says.

Cause he was in the Shield, not standing in the spotlight alone. His weaknesses weren't as obvious at the time.

Stereomaniac

He was standing alone when he stole the match at Survivor Series 2013 & almost won the rumble.

Angron

Tag and multi-person matches, hardly convincing me I'm wrong there.

Stereomaniac

It doesn't really matter what you or I think, though. He dominated both those matches anyway.

Mr.Nice Guy

I think the problem is on WWE's end. They don't know how to properly utilise the guy and are trying to turn him into John Cena 2 like they try to do with all babyfaces that come along. It's the same old lame, goofy humour. It happened with Sheamus as well when he was given his big run. Remember his hilarious tales? :rolleyes:

They also tried it with Goldberg as well which is one of the reasons he got pissed off. That segment with Goldust and the wig just typifies WWE logic. He needed humour to get over in their eyes despite the fact that in WCW he got over by just tearing through guys and being a badass.

It amazes me because the last guy the WWE had who fit this profile and who they did get over was Batista. And again there was no goofy humour involved. He just came out, destroyed people, and was believable in doing so. Nobody was raving about Batista's promos. In fact, I'd say Reigns is a better promo than Batista was in 2005.

They didn't need to reinvent the Reigns character. He was already gaining great reactions in The Shield and they had kept him strong there. He didn't need to start playing a comedian once he went solo. Sadly, their mindset is that it works for Cena so everyone else must follow suit.

I think he would be much more liked now if they had kept his promos short and sweet. Even keeping the backstage talking-to-the-camera stuff from The Shield might have been good for him and kept him a bit different to everybody else.

I listened to his recent promo on Smackdown and this is not the same guy of even six months ago. I think they're doing a really good job of ruining his character the way they are going but I can't say I'm surprised because they never learn. And they wonder why no one else gets over.

jaykhunter

Sufferin' succotash! As far as main event level goes, IMO Roman's
look: there
signature moves: there
charisma: very good
wrestling skill: good, not great
promos/delivery: embarrassing

I don't see wrestling skill improving wildly but he'll get more competent (and will always be behind Seth & Dean) but the kicker is he can't deliver the terrible promos he's been asked - his charisma isn't enough to pull it off (although Dean can weather the terrible writing storm). Now that he's got the WWE machine behind him, he's under scrutiny, and he's not ready for it - his own skills and WWE getting their act together needs another year of development. 2016 Rumble is a far better bet.

Separately, has the boat sailed on him getting non-Shield knock-off gear? Feels like Jannetty post-Rockers.

DM_7

Its weird how they are trying to turn him into Cena but fogot the Cena they are going for is not the one that became popular to start with.

Mokuba

Roman shouldn't even be in the conversation for a Royal Rumble win this year. The only reason he is, is because he is a Vince McMahon big guy. It's 2015. He looked decent in short, dominant spots when he was with the Shield. Everything since then has shown he is unbelievably far from ready.

Randy Orton held his hand through their match and he still looked poor. That was his only singles PPV match last year. Since then he has gone on to deliver possibly the worst promo in the last couple of years, and has barely improved in the ring. He is the hot tag, not a 20 minute match guy right now.

Right now Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Seth Rollins are all significantly ahead of him in development. If we are planning Rumble winners for this year and next year, it should be from that pool.

Lord TSC

I'd be curious if he wins; Reigns vs Brock SHOULD be the build of a new superstar. But the way Brock is at the moment, I think the crowd would move solidly behind Lesnar and turn completely on Reigns.

Palo Alto

I hope Lesnar doesn't renew and the whole match gets booed to death.

brianregan09

what if brock did retain and Rollins cashed in ...Alot of people have missed that possibility

Sirsok

With reigns last night winnin the rumble it got me thinking. While I know Bryan had a massive baby face moment at Mania last year, but when you think about it, he originally got over as a heel . The fans first started to care about him as a heel and that naturally changed him.

Dating back to the ATTITUDE era this has been the case. Austin, Rock, Jericho,, HHH all heels before becoming a natural baby face.

Same with Cena, people cared about him as a heel, he was a highlight on Smackdown in my younger years, and naturally became a good guy.

Agreed Reigns started off in the shield as a heel, but it was the shield who got over and was naturally turne not just REIGNS.

I am trying to think the last time a babyface got over huge from just being a babyface. Mysterio was soon turned on by the fans after his rumble win in 06, as was Shemus when he dominated and put on great matches on Smackdown.

Do we just automatically assume a guy who WWE try and push as a face is being rammed down our throat?Obviously I stand to be corrected but I genuinely can't remember the last time in our modern era a top guy was accepted by the fans during an initial babyface run as opposed to being turned from a heel run naturally.

Bounty Hunter

Ambrose is over. If they would push him insted of his old shield mate the crowd would buy into it for the simple reason that Ambrose is ready.

It will always be easier to be a heel and therefore easier to make your mark and get fan approval before a potential face turn down the line (like Rollins is doing now) but getting over as a face can be done if they book someone right and not try and make them Cena Mk2 (see Sheamus here too)

Rock Lesnar

Dolph Ziggler is over with the crowd, and hes never had any mic time compared to others, i dont know what he has to say, yet i want him to succeed.

They should give him the mic and let us here what he has to say. you never know, he might actually achieve something

Mr.Nice Guy

Ryback got over in the modern era as a babyface. So did Goldberg. And Lashley. Notice the connection though.

You will naturally get over to some degree by being given wins.

Wins = this guy should be taken seriously

Losses = this guy should be viewed as a joke

The problem is that the guys they push tend to be the kind of guys Vince likes, not the fans. The guys mentioned above are the kinds of guys Vince loves. Big, muscular dudes.

The kind of guys the majority of fans like, casuals and die-hards, tend to be those that can back it up in terms of in-ring action. When is the last time they pushed a guy like this very hard? You have to look to NXT for that type of booking.

Sirsok

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Ambrose is over. If they would push him insted of his old shield mate the crowd would buy into it for the simple reason that Ambrose is ready.

It will always be easier to be a heel and therefore easier to make your mark and get fan approval before a potential face turn down the line (like Rollins is doing now) but getting over as a face can be done if they book someone right and not try and make them Cena Mk2 (see Sheamus here too)

I think if Ambrose was positioned as the guy, and we all knew he was going to be a the guy to lead us into the new era the fans would quickly turn. At the same time is character is a little more ambiguous then reigns, and you could nearly classify him as a tweener.

The whole concept of face/heel is a little dates anyway, if you look at TV shows like sons of anarchy and breaking bad, bad Gus have a moral code to, not everyone is a straight up bad guy or good guy, and this needs to be replicated in wrestling. Like they are doing with Lesner yeah he is a heel but that doesn't mean he automatically gets on with other heels

DM_7

Give us a reason to like someone other than them smiling or winning a lot.

One of the biggest problems is also the lack of credible established heels. Rollins is only around 9 months on his own and they did their best to **** him Up. Wyatt is still recovering from Cena. Rusev is new.

After that is Kane and Show, who nobody regards as important so a face gets no boost facing or beating them.

If they wanted fans to care about Reigns facing Brock they could have created an idea that Reigns needed to face Brock for some sort of vengeance and that the Authority would never let him do it so had to earn the title shot the hard way.

We never had a reason to shout for Reigns over anyone else.

Reigns has family in wwe, heritage, is a great athlete but WWE never sell those things.

Quick thought make fans hate Brock. He could beat up and injure an Uso in anger backstage, he could go after the other Uso the next week and start toying with him only for Reigns to save his cousins, the guys he grew up with. Thats just a random idea but i am just trying to show that they should at least look like they are trying to get us to care.

Winning the rumble before getting people to care is a bad idea and why it didn't work for Batista last year.

764dak

Rock Lesnar wrote: »

Dolph Ziggler is over with the crowd, and hes never had any mic time compared to others, i dont know what he has to say, yet i want him to succeed.

They should give him the mic and let us here what he has to say. you never know, he might actually achieve something

Wasn't Ziggler a heel before?

Omackeral

DM_7 wrote: »

We never had a reason to shout for Reigns over anyone else.

Reigns has family in wwe, heritage, is a great athlete but WWE never sell those things.

Quick thought make fans hate Brock. He could beat up and injure an Uso in anger backstage, he could go after the other Uso the next week and start toying with him only for Reigns to save his cousins, the guys he grew up with. Thats just a random idea but i am just trying to show that they should at least look like they are trying to get us to care.

Winning the rumble before getting people to care is a bad idea and why it didn't work for Batista last year.

They did that tonight with the Reigns/Lesnar interview and did it well actually. Your scenario with the Uso's is a fantastic one IMO.

Rjd2

764dak wrote: »

Wasn't Ziggler a heel before?

flip flopped a bit but was heel for years when he started his solo run.

Super-Rush

They could do an angle with Reigns and Dwayne where they could look back on Dwayne's entry to the WWE and how he was booed out of the building night after night.

They could also do a Hart Foundation story with Reigns, Uso's and Ambrose.

Lord TSC

Loughc

Lord TSC wrote: »

And look what happened to him... kill it, kill it with fire.... or Kane.... either one works...

No one gets over unless Vince McMahon says so....

thebostoncrab

Yes, a face can get over today, and faces have gotten over for the past few years.

Dolph Ziggler. Dean Ambrose. Ryback. Zack Ryder. CM Punk. Daniel Bryan.

They all got over with the crowd big time playing a face. The crowd wanted them and they ate them up. And they all come from different environments and only 3 of them are indie-darlings.

The issue isn't a face getting over, the problem is the wrong people are being pushed into that main event spot when the crowd doesn't want them, and it's doing damage more damage to the person being pushed to be honest. Reigns, if he was given a year build up and a chance to work more on his in ring and mic skills would have probably been super over by next years rumble and no one would object to him winning the thing, but now that he has won and is being pushed into the main event when the fans don't want him there yet, it's doing huge damage to his stock. Now he runs the risk of being boo'ed long after 'Mania, even if he gets better in the ring, as the fans will just view him as the guy they didn't want and represents everything they dislike about the product today. It's a damn shame too as it was bound to taint the win for Reigns also.