Is The WWE Finally Buying Into A Roman Reigns Heel Turn?

02/06/2017 02:03 pm EST

To many fans, it often seems as if the WWE is willfully deaf to the cries for a Roman Reigns' attitude change, but it turns out that is not the case. When Reigns became the surprise #30 entrant at the Royal Rumble, the WWE knew exactly what they were getting into.

Dave Meltzer recently noted in The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Reigns entering the Rumble at #30 was designed to get Rumble winner, Randy Orton as big of a face reaction as possible, even though he's a heel. It managed to kill two birds with one stone, as in addition to getting Orton the big pop, it also set up Reigns' upcoming WrestleMania match with The Undertaker.

So, is the WWE finally buying into a Roman heel run? We probably shouldn't hold our breath, but here's what we know: Leaving Reigns out of the Rumble would have kept him in the role of babyface who was cheated out of the Universal Championship. They could have simply led that into a WrestleMania program with Braun Strowman that would have been easy and predictable, but they chose another route specifically knowing the heel reaction it would elicit.

WWE is under no confusion as to who would be the crowd favorite in a WrestleMania match between Reigns and the Undertaker. Vince has reportedly wanted this match to be a passing of the torch from Taker to Reigns - so much so that he even scrapped a Taker Cena match in favor of Reigns. Considering how Taker looked in his Rumble performance, it's very possible this Mania could be his last.

Can you imagine the heat it would draw if Roman Reigns was the one to finally "put down the Deadman"?

As McMahon surely knows, every great babyface from Hulk Hogan to The Rock to John Cena to Daniel Bryan has first had a great singles run as a heel. Is the WWE finally ready to let Roman prepare for his?

You can listen to Comicbook.com's Over The Ropes podcast discussing the Royal Rumble, Undertaker's Wrestlemania plans and Seth Rollins' knee injury below:

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