Roman Reigns Explains Why He May Never Turn Heel

Roman Reigns has long been one of the most controversial superstars in the modern WWE. Despite being positioned as one of the WWE's top babyfaces, crowds have regularly showered Reigns with as many boos as they have cheers. In a recent interview with Pro Wrestling Shoots, Roman dashed a lot of the internet's hopes that The Big Dog will ever make a full-on heel turn.

"Whatever we've been doing, it seems to be working. It continues to have loud reactions. Nobody has been to more wrestling shows than me, you know what I mean? I watch every show. I understand reactions. You can be as informed within the wrestling community and the internet as you want but there's one thing that I know and that's listening to what kind of reactions are happening."

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"One thing I like about my situation, I think if I were to commit to one (role) 'I'm a bad guy now, I'm pissed and I'm just gonna try to take everybody' then it's just only one (reaction) like, 'boo.' But when I'm out there, there's all kinds of noise. There's all kinds of chants. It's pandemonium. I like a mixed reaction. I like people competing as to which is going to be louder, the boos or the cheers. I just want to bring out the most in our fans, give them an opportunity to rage or to fulfill themselves with joy. They spend their hard-earned money, I want them to have a phenomenal experience."

Fans have regularly called for Reigns to turn heel, hoping the negative reactions would force WWE's hand, but just as with John Cena, many have speculated that WWE will stay the course with Reigns.

On an early 2017 episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer claimed that Vince may actually end up turning Reigns heel, but the reactions would have to turn from boos to silence, saying that if Roman still gets hate, and gets it louder than anyone, nothing will change.

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Meltzer said, "If pay-per-view buys had continued to fall with Roman Reigns' push, the old Vince McMahon would've made a change.

"He made changes based on pay-per-views buys all the time. So yes, if pay-per-view numbers were dropping, if house shows numbers were dropping, and Roman Reigns was the top guy, Vince would be looking for another top guy."

While Roman seems to have grown comfortable with the reactions, another former champion feels bad for The Big Dog.

WWE and WCW legend, Goldberg, was a guest on a March episode of Eric Bischoff's podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling. During the conversation Goldberg admitted he didn't understand all the negative reactions aimed at Roman Reigns.

"These fans are completely different! When I went out there ... you always have an alternative worst case scenario for what you're going to say and if you don't you're not prepared. The crowd these days, they like to be the ones who say "hey, look at me." They like to dictate what's going on and when they voice their opinion, its deafening. And they, for some reason man, have a disdain for him that is completely misguided because as you say, he oozes talent and oozes star quality. He's like Rock, physically and ... he's a good guy, too. How the crowd thing is handled is, I don't know. I feel for this guy. I just don't get it."

Roman came as close as he could to becoming a heel when he retired The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33. It will be interesting to see how crowds react to his next run at the very top of the card.