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What he has to do to beat the boos and win the love of all the crowds
Roman Reigns is back. He beat cancer and now he’s made the transition to Smackdown Live. And he didn’t just head over to Smackdown Live. He made a big impression by taking out Vince McMahon and declaring it his yard. I am ecstatic to have Roman Reigns back. I’m glad he beat leukemia and is back doing what he loves. But the question remains, why do we still not feel the love with Roman Reigns?
So what happened?
I’ve racked my brain trying to come up with some reason that we may still not be crazy for Roman Reigns. I think I’ve stated before that I don’t care for the “big dog” persona. Roman Reigns should be a god of sorts. A real warrior. But the big dog is just eh. It’s been nearly a year since I’ve considered the ways Roman could win us over. Back then, we didn’t know about the leukemia. Back then, he was getting boos at every arena. And with the announcement of his return, I fully expected that the boos would stop or at least be held off for a few more than just 1 week following WrestleMania 35. But I was wrong.
The Move to Smackdown Live
In Montreal the week following WrestleMania 35, Roman Reigns comes out in huge fashion at the end of the show while Vince McMahon is in the ring. Their relationship on TV has been anything but friendly and we know that the inclusion of Vince is typically for something really big. Roman’s music hits the reaction was weak at best.
Roman SUPERMAN punches Elias, and people boo. And then the ending you may or may not have been expecting, Vince gets SUPERMAN punched in the face by Roman. The crowd gets a little more into that, but the reaction is still light. Which brings me to my point. What does Roman have to do to get us behind him?
Possibilities
A year ago, my thought was to put Roman up against a true heel and that would do the trick. Well, there is no greater heel in the WWE than Vincent Kennedy McMahon. And as you and I can tell from the video, that did not get the reaction that anyone was expecting. So now, his possibilities are limited. The direction I think the WWE must go is the same way they have been able to make Rusev, The Miz, and other such heels and boo-able stars into the loved characters they are: give us some reality.
Sharing his struggle with and subsequent defeat of leukemia was important, and cannot be overshadowed, but unfortunately, I don’t think that was enough for people because they were removed from it. And rightly so. We cannot be showcasing people’s health conditions as a way to get Roman over. I think we need to see Roman in a home setting. Maybe include his family backstage and have people attack him for no reason. Something has to be done to make us have some real emotional connection to Roman Reigns before the move to Fox this fall.
