WWE News: Roman Reigns To Take On An Arrogant Persona As WWE World Heavyweight Champion

WWE fans have been begging for a Roman Reigns heel turn for quite some time now. But, it doesn’t appear that the company has any plans to turn the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion heel at any point in the near-future. But, they aren’t going to completely ignore the fact that the fans have been heavily booing Reigns for the better part of the last two years.

On Thursday’s Wrestling Observer Radio , Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed the idea of WWE acknowledging the hatred for Reigns, and they also revealed that the idea, at least for now, is for Reigns to be a tweener, and not a full-on babyface.

“WWE is going full tweener with Roman Reigns as the champion. That’s would he should be as the champion if he’s facing AJ Styles. If he’s facing another babyface, he’s got to be the subtle heel, because you root for the championship to change hands, and besides, he’s just not that popular. But, I think the whole key is that (WWE) wants to keep him as a babyface for promotional reasons.”

Reigns will also be taking on a new persona, as he’ll be a more cocky, and arrogant WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It’ll give the fans who hate him a reason to boo him, and it’ll give his supporters all the more reason to get behind him.

This week’s SmackDown spoilers suggest that we’re going to get the first look at the new, cocky Roman Reigns, as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion will end up in a face-to-face situation with AJ Styles, who is the new number-one contender for his newly won championship. At the end of the confrontation, Reigns tells Styles that there is no way that he can take his title, then he smirks, pats Styles on the shoulder, and leaves the ring.

Also, Reigns’ brand-new catchphrase is, “I’m not a bad guy. I’m not a good guy. I’m the guy.” He debuted it on this past Monday’s RAW, and apparently he’ll be using it for the foreseeable future.

When Reigns’ push began two years ago, it looked like WWE was trying to make him into the next John Cena, and it become pretty clear that making him the next Cena wasn’t going to do him much good. Now, it’s looking like they’re trying to make him completely different from Cena, which he’ll benefit from in the long-run.

It’s wise for WWE to not push Roman Reigns as a complete babyface at this point, because he’s about to go into a match with AJ Styles where there will be almost nobody who’ll want to see the new WWE Champ retain his title.

AJ Styles and Roman Reigns had a brief physical exchange back at the Royal Rumble, which was where “The Phenomenal One” made his WWE debut. But, it was short-lived, and viewers didn’t really get any clue as to what a one-on-one match between the two would look like.

It’s expected that Reigns vs. Styles at WWE Payback will be a great match. It’s also expected that, much to most of the fans’ displeasure, Styles will come up short in that match.

It doesn’t look like the Styles vs. Reigns rivalry will extend beyond WWE Payback. But, a lot can change in the next couple of weeks, and the finish of the match may end up calling for a rematch at Extreme Rules, which is set to take place just three weeks after Payback.