No wrestler in the history of WWE has been subjected to more scrutiny than Roman Reigns. This rampant analysis has earned Reigns a remarkably polarizing reputation with WWE fans; ranging from folks gleefully accepting him as Vince McMahon‘s new messiah, to those who believe he is a detriment to the company.
But the question isn’t if he is good or bad, it’s whether or not he has “it.”
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“It” is the intangible ability to distinguish oneself. It is star power. “It” commands even a jabroni’s attention. Any athlete or performer who possesses this coveted quality tends to transcend not just lofty expectations, but sometimes time itself.
And to Bruce Prichard, a former WWE backstage official, current podcast extraordinaire, and forever, Brother Love, Roman Reigns‘ it-ness is an easy puzzle to solve.
Prichard sat down with Sporting News to settle the debate.
“Roman Reigns has ‘it.’ Roman Reigns is going to be the guy. He’s got all the tools. Love him or hate him, they care about him. I have no problem with Roman Reigns being the next guy to take it to the next level because he’s a stud,” said Prichard.
In a vacuum, Reigns presents like an ace: uncanny wrestling heritage, former football player, tall, handsome, and hasn’t had a bad match in years. However, Vince McMahon’s affinity for The Big Dog got out quick and fans rejected him fearing another era akin to John Cena’s.
This regurgitation of Reigns has made for a handful high profile boo-fests that nullified WWE’s efforts to make Reigns more palatable. And such loud moments of disdain have muffled the true ability of Reigns. However, this tsunami of refusal is based in a logical folly: fans think that because they don’t like Reigns, that makes him unqualified for any opportunity an incapable of success. This same flawed rationale has been applied to Tom Brady, The New York Yankees, and Brussels sprouts.
Leaning into Reigns’ binary reaction, WWE quickly pivoted to branding Reigns as “The Guy” instead of assigning him a clear moral foundation. Eric Bischoff blasted WWE for choosing such “cowardly creative cop-out,” instead of giving Reigns a more distinct character. Even more, to throw fan off the scent, WWE largely kept Reigns away from the Championship picture in 2017. This subdued some of the squawking, but that was only Step One of the Roman Reigns Refurbishment Plan.
Step Two was the Shield reunion. However, an untimely Reigns illness coupled with Dean Ambrose’s surgery added The Shield 2.0 to the infinite list of bad sequels.
Step Three was about turning the WWE Universe against Brock Lesnar. WWE had the Universal Champion skip a few advertised shows, allowing Reigns to take the moral high ground. This was working, but for some reason, WWE flipped strategies and called for Lesnar to show up regularly, but to inflict punishment on Reigns. It feels like WWE rushed that WrestleMania build and that loss of momentum probably contributed to the Superdome’s hostile air.
All of that was to say this: Roman Reigns has been harmed by fan’s knee-jerk rejection and a few fumbled decisions by WWE. However, Roman Reigns most certainly has “it,” but both us a WWE are screaming too loud for anyone to notice.
In the end, “it” may simply be Vince McMahon’s unwavering conviction. If Vince felt the same way about Drew McIntyre, he’d strap the same rockets to his back, regardless of how we felt about it.
Just like the genie can’t go back in the bottle, Roman Reigns is never leaving WWE’s main event. Some of that is because he’s been anointed by decision makers, but a lot of that is because he’s very good at his job.
[H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Photo: Getty
