Will WWE Prolong Roman Reigns’ Agony Or Did Vince McMahon Dangle Inside Move?


The future of WWE star Roman Reigns has gotten even more convoluted today with yet another avenue for the wrestler being tossed out as a tease by Vince McMahon. Many WWE fans see Reigns as a guy who has the makings of a superstar in him, but how he gets there is what has folks at odds. Vince McMahon’s latest tease about the future for Reigns just mucks up the works even more when it comes to what the fans can expect.

After a banner fourth-quarter earnings, McMahon is singing praises to the WWE’s brand extension, saying that this is working “extremely well.” The evidence he offered up was the record number of subscribers to the WWE Network, reports Comic Book.

Even without Reigns’ name being mentioned, the fans know that this guy entices them to the WWE today along with an array of superstars. While many fans cheer for their favorite WWE character, the groups flocking to their TV sets to watch Reigns in action are polarized in what they’re rooting for.

You’ve got the diehard Reigns’ fans that just know he’ll start gathering more and more momentum and be known as one of the greatest superstars to ever grace the ring. Then there’s another group of diehard fans that are just waiting for the day that he goes full-blown heel. These are the fans that love to hate this guy.

So what does McMahon have in mind for Reigns? He teased a Roman Reigns move to SmackDown. McMahon said during his fourth-quarter earnings call yesterday that they are seeing a viewer crossover with Raw and SmackDown.

This was something the WWE didn’t see before the split, which has given the franchise a new opportunity. McMahon explained that with only one WWE show the challenge of building a new star was daunting, but going from brand to brand allows other talents to climb their way to success. The split works at keeping talents fresh as they go from one brand to another, cites McMahon.

This is when McMahon threw Roman Reigns’ name out as an example. As Comic Book suggests, “that’s a pretty specific example.” Some may say that Reigns’ character has become stale to many in the WWE fan population. Although it might be that he’s more stagnant than anything else. The tweet below had social media seeing this as a sign of Reigns turning heel. The confusion around the destiny for Reigns continues today.

Reigns is in limbo when it comes to making a solid name for himself as either a good guy or bad. With many seeing SmackDown being more of the fan favorite of the two shows since last year’s split, it wouldn’t be a bad placement for Reigns. With that said there’s a lot of stuff that needs fixing for the wrestler, so just switching Reigns to Tuesday nights probably isn’t the magic potion.

Anticipation is a big draw when it comes to the next step for any wrestling character, but the anticipation for Reigns is running on low to empty. This is one wrestler who doesn’t seem to have any more of that element of surprise looming in his near future, which is not his fault — it’s the WWE’s doing.

The only “if” hanging over Reigns’ head today is the possible heel status, but as soon as he gets close, the WWE pulls Reigns back just enough to get the guessing going again. As Comic Book suggests, a trade to SmackDown for Reigns would be a better fit instead of the WWE “working more on tweaking the portions of his character that the Roman haters have grown weary of” these days.

The WWE molding Reigns to head one way and then pulling him back just to point him in the same direction again has many fans seeing Reigns only gaining superstar status under the heel label. Wrestling Inc. suggests that Roman Reigns “can be one of the biggest stars in WWE” if Reigns does become a villain. Another tease about the direction of where Reigns may be headed is seen below.

Wrestling Inc. suggests the a goal of most wrestlers is to hit superstardom, “no matter if one is fish or fowl.” Their theory seems to indicate that even as a villain, Reigns’ superstar fame is still within reach. Is becoming a superstar villain settling or is it just as good as being the hero?

If the WWE does waltz Reigns over to Tuesday nights, it might finally clip the visions of turning heel that have been rumbling around for way too long. Just letting him loose in the ring on a different night could get just as old as the scenarios given to his character today. Unless the WWE points him in one direction and they give him something more to go on than they have in the past, they could just be prolonging the agony.

[Featured Image by Manish Swarup/AP Images]

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