WWE Opinion: WWE Superstar Roman Reigns Does Deserve The Fan Hate, But Is It Completely His Fault That He’s Hated?

WWE Superstar Roman Reigns might be the most disliked wrestler in the world today. Some would say that John Cena is right up there when it comes to not being loved by fans. However, there is a major difference between Reigns and Cena. Fans seem to have enormous respect for Cena, they don’t seem to have it for Reigns. On top of this, Cena has seemingly put on great match after great match for the last few years, and the fact that he loses a bit more than usual makes fans happy to see because WWE had him win far too often.

Fans saw Roman Reigns come along as Cena 2.0 and he simply couldn’t cut it, but was it completely his fault that he sucked the moment he went into the singles world? Yes and no. When The Shield ended, Seth Rollins moved on to be part of The Authority and was instantly put into top heel status. Dean Ambrose, who was the WWE United States Champion during his run with the group, also went into the singles world with his first target being Rollins.

This left Roman Reigns by himself for the first time since he arrived to the main roster. He was an okay wrestler in developmental, but was only showing he could do exciting moments but never proved he could last an entire match on his own. In fact, he rarely if ever wrestled a singles match on television while with The Shield. Rollins and Ambrose did often, but never Roman seemingly. Once fans knew that WWE picked Reigns to be “the guy” over more talented people like Seth and Dean, he was instantly nitpicked for everything similar to what they did with John Cena.

However, fans didn’t have to look hard. WWE did all they could to keep The Shield material on Roman. They allowed him to keep the music, the attire, and even the entrance from the time he spent in The Shield. He was the lone man left while Ambrose and Rollins did their own thing in high profile ways. WWE fans wanted to see Roman succeed, contrary to popular belief. Many loved him from his time in The Shield, so they wanted all three men to do well really.

Sadly, WWE dropped the ball. They had him work terrible matches with the likes of the Big Show and even Kane. His rivalry with Randy Orton was also forgettable, all while Ambrose and Rollins are lighting it up. Then Roman had to have surgery due a hernia, which hindered his time with WWE. He then started trying to cut promos which simply did not work. I mean, sufferin suckatash, guys.

This led to WWE pushing to have Seth Rollins cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase in the main event of WrestleMania 31, because a Roman Reigns WWE World Title win would not have settled well with fans. It made total sense as he simply was not giving us what we needed to see as a wrestler that was supposed to be the next big thing for the company. Nothing was working and it seemed like WWE was not able to get Roman over no matter what they did, which meant the Chairman had to quite literally step in.

At the end of 2015, Vince McMahon returned and tried to fight against Roman Reigns, which would hopefully help him get over. Not only did he help do so, but he even took a punch and a few bumps for Reigns. If nothing else, we have to talk about the commitment to the business that McMahon has. The man puts literally all he has into his business and few in the world can say they do it like Vince does it. Sadly, the fans only were for him because Sheamus was the WWE World Champion, something most every fan was against. Heck, even some of the Irish fans were questioning the move. He would basically steal the title from Reigns, so it made sense for Roman to want it back.

When he won, fans liked him for seemingly a few weeks before going back to booing him. He just wasn’t working yet again. That led to Triple H taking the WWE World Title from Roman at the Royal Rumble then losing it right back to Reigns at WrestleMania 32 earlier this year. All of this gave Reigns three WWE World Titles in the span of five months. That is an average of a World Title every one-and-a-half months. Luckily for Reigns, AJ Styles was signed to the WWE and helped to give Reigns some really good matches. Seth Rollins then returned from injury to do the same before Roman would get popped for failing a drug test under the WWE Wellness Policy. He reportedly used Adderall, which is banned in WWE without prescription.

Ever since he returned, he has been universally booed. However, the question is why, at this point. He did improve on both the mic and in the ring. However, fans simply do not want Reigns to be at the top of the card anymore. They never really wanted him there and they want THEIR guy to be there. WWE fans seem to feel that it is not so much that Reigns is bad, because he has improved. The issue is that they didn’t pick him to be there, the WWE did, and that is where the problem comes into play the most.

Does Roman Reigns deserve the hate he gets? Up to a point, yes, he does. He was not good enough to be at the top when he was put there, and you only get one shot to make a first impression. He did not succeed with what he was given at the time and the fans haven’t let him forget it. Meanwhile WWE is just as responsible for the hate Roman has now. He should have run through the mid-card world like Dean Ambrose did before being thrown up to the top of the card. Ambrose easily could have been in the same spot Roman was in and probably would have done better, but it was given to Reigns.

Fans know when something is bad and they know when things go from being real in their eyes to being corporate. They see when talent is wonderful yet has to take the dive to put over the more important guy in the company’s eyes. Fans see the issue with so many wrestlers and they know the ones that are good. They don’t want someone who looks the part, they want someone who IS the part. When Reigns was put in the place he was in, fans knew things were too corporate and have revolted against him since.

You still see love for him from women. Online you see a lot of love from the people in India, who often times do not know if wrestling is real or fake — seriously. Some even suspected he was Indian at times, totally serious again. Meanwhile women like him because he is a good looking guy, which is fine and all, but that does not make him worthy of the top of the card. WWE is now making Roman Reigns earn his spot back, which fans like. However, he is still getting booed and that may never end until they let him go heel and go on a run that would work best for him. If and when he does go heel, expect cheers to follow. Fans are fickle, but they see when something is good. Give them good with Reigns and they’ll love him, if not, expect the hate to remain.

[Featured image by WWE]