Good to see Reigns got over with the fans.

[GearSolidMetal]

I'm one of those wrestling fans that only watches the big PPVs like Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Hell in a Cell, and Elimination Chamber. So I don't keep up with the week-to-week updates of Raw or Smackdown.

But watching last night's Elimination Chamber was very satisfying to see Roman Reigns finally have the fans behind him. I get why fans resented him because Vince choose him to be the 'star' after Brian had to retire due to injuries, but the absolute hate towards him was near nuclear levels..... especially after last year's Wrestlemania.

I heard The Shield reunited last fall, and it seemed the fans absolutely loved it. But I was wondering if that'd also extend back to Roman in single matches, or, is it just when he was with the other two members of The Shield.

And it looks like Roman is FINALLY, after 6 or 7 years with the company and headlining three Wrestlemanias, decent on the mic!



About damn time. Took him long enough, and he finally knows what to say to get the fans going without being boring and studdering. He finally has some damn passion when the mic is up to his mouth.

Has there been anything else I missed out on, besides The Shield getting back together, that got the fans on his side?

 

[Frank23]

Roman Reigns has been sharing history lessons during black history month. That means a lot to me.

 

[HereticBD]

I wouldn't go that far. He's more worked his way up from the bottom, to the middle, in terms of being over. His reactions are still very mixed for the most part, and you bet your ass that he'll be boo'd out of the building at Mania.

 

[Stargazer Rex]

Roman Reigns has been sharing history lessons during black history month. That means a lot to me.

I learned a lot from his this month, Frank.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

I wouldn't go that far. He's more worked his way up from the bottom, to the middle, in terms of being over. His reactions are still very mixed for the most part, and you bet your ass that he'll be boo'd out of the building at Mania.

Reigns was never at ‘the bottom’. He never worked spot shows for 50 people at an armory like the guys who came from the indys.

 

[sleepwalk]

Reigns was never at ‘the bottom’. He never worked spot shows for 50 people at an armory like the guys who came from the indys.

Funny enough, some of his detractors point to that as a knock against him.
(Something that I never understood.)

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

There's no reason to boo the guy. He always puts on really good matches.

Just because he went over instead of Daniel Bryan that one year, people cant get over that? I bet people don't even know why they boo him anymore. Also, Daniel Bryan is old news anyway lol

 

[HereticBD]

Reigns was never at ‘the bottom’. He never worked spot shows for 50 people at an armory like the guys who came from the indys.

Speaking purely in terms of being over with the fans. I'm well aware he's had a rocket strapped to his ass for damn near his entire career, and never paid his smark dues.

 

[Goatenstein]

Reigns has done nothing but get ass fucked by Vince and injected with steroids.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

Speaking purely in terms of being over with the fans. I'm well aware he's had a rocket strapped to his ass for damn near his entire career, and never paid his smark dues.

Oki doki

 

[Wariowokecancel]

There's no reason to boo the guy. He always puts on really good matches.

Just because he went over instead of Daniel Bryan that one year, people cant get over that? I bet people don't even know why they boo him anymore. Also, Daniel Bryan is old news anyway lol

I’m fine with Reigns but it’s cool to boo him and it’s changed and will not change into the You Suck or John Cena Sucks Cool. Shit it took Cena years of jobbing, being cool and Total Divas to make John Cena Sucks just a cool chant for an over dude.

 

[sleepwalk]

I’m fine with Reigns but it’s cool to boo him and it’s changed and will not change into the You Suck or John Cena Sucks Cool. Shit it took Cena years of jobbing, being cool and Total Divas to make John Cena Sucks just a cool chant for an over dude.

It has become kind of Pavlovian, I've noticed. It's like hearing "Potvin sucks!" at a NY Rangers game. Maybe 10% of the crowd was of attending age when it started. The guy is long retired but, hey, it's our thing. And, if there's anything promoters, performers, and fans themselves have to get a handle on nowadays, it's how to navigate what becomes "ours," how it happens and how much. People like to chant "10!" They love to finish people's catchphrases. They are compelled to boo Cena, Reigns, etc, even if they pop for every one of the guys' moves. That's the new marketing they have to master because the toys and t-shirts are great but nobody likes watching a show with a dead crowd and nobody likes being in a crowd, watching guys deliver promos to the empty half of the arena. I dont know the answer to any of this and my best guesses thus far involve a time machine. If only, right?

 

[HereticBD]

There's no reason to boo the guy. He always puts on really good matches.

Just because he went over instead of Daniel Bryan that one year, people cant get over that? I bet people don't even know why they boo him anymore. Also, Daniel Bryan is old news anyway lol

It's easy to forget, but I think you're forgetting just how terrible he was during that initial push, where Vince wanted him to be just like John Cena. Not just in how he wins all the time against all odds, but in personality as well.

Remember "sufferin' succotash"? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Unfortunately for Reigns, he wasn't in a position to get a character reboot like Braun after the WWE botched him, and he had to wash that stink off naturally. That shoot/work promo might've finally achieved that. Weird, that. You let guys go out there and shoot from the hip, and good things happen. Who knew? Oh', that's right, EVERYONE.

 

[gspieler]

There's no reason to boo the guy. He always puts on really good matches.

Just because he went over instead of Daniel Bryan that one year, people cant get over that? I bet people don't even know why they boo him anymore. Also, Daniel Bryan is old news anyway lol

Fans/smarks boo him because they don't like to be told who they should like. Especially if the one they're supposed to root has mediocre mic skills. This is an era where the crowd pushes who they want to, and it's often in contrast with who the WWE wants to push as "the guy".

 

[Teefs]

Funny enough, some of his detractors point to that as a knock against him.
(Something that I never understood.)

Completely off-topic, but I just noticed you have a Taylor Ham belt, haha. I lived half my life in Jersey.

Where ya from?

 

[sleepwalk]

Fans/smarks boo him because they don't like to be told who they should like. Especially if the one they're supposed to root has mediocre mic skills. This is an era where the crowd pushes who they want to, and it's often in contrast with who the WWE wants to push as "the guy".

I think we've gotten to a point where it's nearly as much because WWE is pushing someone. On paper, Roman is damn near perfect to brand: big, fit, good-looking, athletic, ethnically ambiguous guy with an admirable work ethic and family ties to the company for, what, four generations? But they made two nearly fatal mistakes.

First, the suspension of disbelief. If Roman had CM Punk's mic skills, he could have done what Punk did: Make everybody in the audience believe that the company that licenses hit music, prints T-shirts, and puts the title on a guy, is out to get him, out to hold him down. Whenever people talk about how Roman is protected, I can't argue that the intent is there but truly the execution is flat. Instead of booking him to allow for the mic work to progress while he molded the character around his own personality, they forced Roman Reigns down the throat of Joe Anoa'i as much as the audience's.

Second, despite throwing wins at him like singles to a stripper, Roman has had storyline stop/start and confusion like nobody else. Is he the golden boy in the white hat? Then why is he coming out to fuck with Rusev and Lana who never did a thing to him? Why is he sneaking his friend from behind in the Royal Rumble? And why the fuck is this sore loser attempting vehicular homicide on Braun Strowman? And why can't our hero beat the chosen corporate champion... who is a pork dumpling half his size?!
Cena beat up all The Wyatts by himself.
CM Punk beat all The Shield by himself.
Steve Austin beat all The Corporate Ministry by himself.
Every casual that I showed that feud to was confused as to who the good guy was because Roman looked so weak. Every casual that saw The Undertaker wince his way to the ring at WrestleMania asked, "Who is this supposed to help?" Roman Reigns' push looks like how the US does social programs and foreign policy: throw a shitload of money and effort at it without a plan.

 

[sleepwalk]

Completely off-topic, but I just noticed you have a Taylor Ham belt, haha. I lived half my life in Jersey.

Where ya from?

A place where we're not despicable heathens that call pork roll "Taylor Ham!"

Sorry. Sorry. Whew. Okay.
Yeah. I'm from around Asbury Park and Monmouth College. I'm guessing you were North of that.

 

[Teefs]

A place where we're not despicable heathens that call pork roll "Taylor Ham!"

Sorry. Sorry. Whew. Okay.
Yeah. I'm from around Asbury Park and Monmouth College. I'm guessing you were North of that.

Yeah, I'm from Middlesex County and lived there for most of 21 years. I had some friends in Neptune, though. The only other people I knew in south Jersey were from Jackson.

 

[Amerikuracana]

He was totally over as a heel about to turn, and even as a face, right up until the Daniel Bryan rumble. People booed because of the terrible writing, and wanting DB to win, and it just stuck.. It became a "thing" that people could do to show they had some idea what was going on in the story. It's been b.s. ever since, and a joke.

Go ahead, watch the shows leading up to that rumble, and then immediately after. I'll wait. Tell me I'm wrong. I'm not.

 

[HereticBD]

He was totally over as a heel about to turn, and even as a face, right up until the Daniel Bryan rumble. People booed because of the terrible writing, and wanting DB to win, and it just stuck.. It became a "thing" that people could do to show they had some idea what was going on in the story. It's been b.s. ever since, and a joke.

Go ahead, watch the shows leading up to that rumble, and then immediately after. I'll wait. Tell me I'm wrong. I'm not.

Your timing is a little off, I think. He was hated about at the midpoint of that year, when it was largely reported that he was going to be Vince's golden boy. It was a pent up backlash, from the fans feeling slighted when they gave Batista such a big push a year earlier, which ultimately blew up in their faces, and they were forced to change the WM main event to include Bryan, because Orton vs Batista was shaping up to be an absolute disaster. To the fans, it's like they proved their point, and then Vince went against the consensus again a year later, and gave another big goon the spotlight.

There is some smarkyness, to how Reigns was treated by the fans, but in certain respects, I can understand it, because it seemed for a while there, that Vince was just trolling them, and they let his golden boy have it, in response. Just look at that Rumble Reigns won. It wasn't just Bryan getting treated like shit. It was all the darlings, and you ended up with Reigns, Kane, and Big Show at the end. There's no way that wasn't an intentional big "fuck you" to the fans.

Reigns was initially liked though. In the Batista Rumble, they wanted him to win so badly at the end. The worm started to turn, when the writing was on the wall about the direction they were going, which was well before the Rumble. It also didn't help much that they tried to make Reigns a wise cracking, against all odds John Cena clone.