Who Is Roman Reigns?

Trying to figure out just who is Roman Reigns. 

(411mania.com)

Am I supposed to believe Roman Reigns can win the WWE Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania? Because I don’t. 

This past Monday on Raw, Reigns lost to Seth Rollins in the main event of the evening. Reigns had to fight off the big and the little goofs at ringside, but he ended up losing when Randy Orton grabbed his leg and Rollins rolled him up for the victory. Paul Heyman is a pretty smart guy. I think he could easily re-enact this same scenario with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania. 

In the two weeks following his victory at Fastlane, Reigns has allowed Daniel Bryan to score the pinfall in a tag match and now he’s lost to Seth Rollins. This is a man who needs all the help he can get following the botched Royal Rumble that saw him eliminate Kane and Big Show due to their own stupidity and need help from The Rock before tossing Rusev. 

It’s extremely tough to get believe in Reigns right now because there seems to be no story behind him. Last year the story practically wrote itself. Daniel Bryan had been screwed over time after time while gaining immense popularity that propelled him into the ultimate underdog role. This year, what’s the story? Who is Roman Reigns?

WWE runs a merchandise commercial that promotes a shirt with the phrase “One vs. All.” Until recently, I didn’t know who this shirt was for. I had never heard or seen that phrase on WWE television and was wondering who came up with it. It turns out, that shirt is promoting Roman Reigns. Apparently for Reigns it’s always been one vs. all.

Except that it hasn’t. Reigns started his WWE career with The Shield, a three man group. The Shield’s whole gimmick was that they always had the numbers. It was always three vs. one and Reigns was never that one. When The Shield disbanded and Reigns became a singles competitor, it was rarely one vs. all. The odds were never stacked against Reigns during his time as a singles wrestler. He may have been on his own, but it’s always been one vs. one for the most part. When Reigns has needed help, like at the Royal Rumble, he’s gotten it.

Even though it’s tiring seeing John Cena always overcome the odds, at least he’s had odds to overcome. Besides the crowd turning on him, what odds have been thrown in front of Reigns? He had to put his title shot on the line against Daniel Bryan, the guy who never lost the title, in a one-on-one match? Poor guy. 

You can’t position Reigns as a sympathetic babyface, who is always on his own against everyone…and then never throw any real obstacles in his way. And when you do throw obstacles in his way, don’t have him need help. 

So if Reigns isn’t a sympathetic babyface, he should probably be an ass-kicking machine. After all, he’s facing Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania. He’s facing the guy who ended the streak. He’s facing a guy who destroyed John Cena at SummerSlam. He’s facing the guy who survived and won a brutal triple threat match that saw him get put on a stretcher at Royal Rumble. Brock Lesnar has looked damn near indestructible for over a year now. So if you don’t have an underdog babyface that can overcome the raw power of Lesnar or a witty heel that can potentially outsmart “The Beast,” you need someone that can match his power and ass-kicking ability. 

Reigns has not been that guy. He looked like a punk at the Rumble, lost to the Big Show, picked up a couple of DQ victories, had a competitive match against Daniel Bryan but blew up pretty bad, and has now lost to Seth Rollins. Would it kill him to squash guys? He’s the only guy in one of the top matches who is wrestling heading into Wrestlemania, he should probably win a few of those matches.

Have him destroy J&J Security along with The Big Show and Kane in an actual match and not in some post-match nonsense. Have him beat Wade Barrett since he’s losing anyway.  Have him beat The Ascension because they obviously aren’t serious about pushing them. 

He’s not a sympathetic babyface, a cunning heel, or an ass-kicking tweener. So who is Roman Reigns? He’s a guy that was part of a dominant faction, and ever since The Shield broke-up, he’s still part of that faction. Nothing about him has changed. He talks more, but he still has the same entrance music, the same crowd entrance, and the same ring gear. He’s still living off The Shield gimmick instead of separating himself like Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose have done. 

He doesn’t stand out with his wrestling and he doesn’t stand out with his promo work. He’s just a big guy who looks strong and athletic, but isn’t allowed to shine in such ways because he’s either having competitive matches or losing. His big moves look good, but they don’t mean much if he’s not winning in the end. The dive over the top rope was pretty cool on Raw, but he still lost the match prior to the dive and wins and loses should mean more than cool moves and standing tall to end the show. 

WWE has three weeks to make fans believe in Roman Reigns. Constantly saying, “I’m going to beat Brock Lesnar. BELIEVE THAT!” doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of hope when you can’t even beat The Big Show.