5 Matches that made the WWE Universe dislike Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is, without a doubt, the biggest Professional Wrestling Superstar of the current era. In the fall of 2013, it started becoming evident that WWE would be pushing Reigns to the moon after the inevitable split of The Shield.

The idea was favored by many members of the WWE Universe. After the split, WWE Universe continued supporting Reigns while he was climbing the ladder to the top and improving himself gradually.

However, he suffered an injury in September 2014 that sidelined him for 3 months. Upon returning, he inserted himself in the Royal Rumble match. From there on, WWE straight away pushed Reigns to the main event status without having him develop some much-needed credibility and charisma. This caused the fans to turn on him.

Some of the matches involving Reigns in the last four years seem like they were booked to make the fans boo him. This approach doesn't make any sense as The Big Dog is supposed to be the top face of the company. Now that Reigns has once again won the support of WWE Universe, the creative should book him wisely this time around.

Here are 5 matches that were bound to make the WWE Universe dislike Reigns and it was so obvious that WWE should have seen the outburst coming.

#5 Royal Rumble 2017

Having Reigns as the surprise 30th entrant and eliminate The Undertaker didn't sit well with the WWE Universe.

2017's edition of Royal Rumble was one of the most loaded Rumbles in recent time. From part-timers such as Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, The Undertaker to full-time Stars such as Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, Braun Strowman etc., the match looked solid on card. After all the top advertised Stars showed up, fans started expected someone huge as the final entrant. The final spot is mostly reserved for a returning Superstar or a huge surprise.

However, as the countdown reached zero, Roman Reigns appeared as the final entrant. The problem wasn't that Reigns showed up in the Rumble match, but that he already had a match earlier in the night against Kevin Owens for the Universal Title. To make things even worse, he eliminated The Undertaker. It was obvious that the WWE Universe would not react positively in those situations

#4 Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles at Payback 2016

Roman Reigns was treated as the villain by WWE Universe during his feud with AJ Styles.

One way to garner heat for Roman Reigns is to pit him against highly over and likable Superstars. This happened at Payback 2016 when Roman Reigns defended his newly won WWE Championship against AJ Styles.

Back in 2016, The Phenomenal One finally made his long-awaited WWE debut. Every time he showed up, the fans reaction was unbelievable. Roman Reigns, on the other hand, was struggling for cheers.

So maybe having Styles as Reigns' first challenger wasn't a good idea. The heat on Reigns could have been controlled had he defended against a heel such as Chris Jericho or a League of Nations member (though the latter would have been a slow bout).

Although the Reigns/Styles match was quite good, the incredibly negative reactions Reigns received throughout were brutal. Things got so out of control that Reigns vented his frustrations on the WWE Universe after the event went off-air. Honestly, it was expected, given the popularity of Styles and the heat on Reigns following his title win at Wrestlemania 32.

#3 Elimination Chamber match (2018)

After a show-stealing performance, Braun Strowman was put away with just one spear, much to the audience's displeasure.

As 2018 kicked off, many people already predicted Roman Reigns to headline Wrestlemania 34 against Brock Lesnar. No amount of negative reaction could have stopped the inevitable from happening. To make things worse, the Elimination Chamber match took place featuring seven of the most elite Raw Superstars competing for a chance to face Lesnar at Wrestlemania 34.

Heading into the match, Seth Rollins had competed over an hour in a gauntlet match on the Elimination Chamber go-home edition of Raw. Although he wasn't expected to win, he was the one going into the match with most fan support.

Braun Strowman emerged as the MVP of the match. He single-handedly eliminated five of his six opponents, with the exception of Roman Reigns. The match ended with the Big Dog spearing the Monster Among Men and scoring the win.

It was almost certain that Reigns would be winning. However, having Strowman and Rollins come out as absolute stars during the build-up and actual match discouraged the fans even more with the outcome.

#2 Wrestlemania 33 Main Event

Roman Reigns was heavily criticized after defeating The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 33.

The longest tenured WWE Superstar, The Undertaker is perhaps the most respected Superstar. A perfect way to put heat on a Superstar is to have him face The Undertaker.

There's absolutely no chance that the fans will ever turn on the Deadman. So, what caused WWE to book The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns as the main event of Wrestlemania 33? Maybe it was done to pass the torch from Taker to Reigns, but that didn't turn out so well.

The Big Dog ended up defeating The Phenom in a decisive fashion at the Show of Shows. The outcome, followed by Reigns' appearance the following night on Raw, was met with an outburst.

The reaction was so loud (in a negative way) that Reigns wasn't even able to start his promo for a while on Raw. The video of Reigns' promo on the Post-Wrestlemania Raw emerged as the most disliked WWE video at that time.

All it can be said is that the outburst was a guarantee and even the top heels of today struggle to receive that kind of reaction.

#1 Royal Rumble 2015

Not even The Great One could help Roman Reigns against the negative crowd reaction.

Let's come back to where it all started in the first place. As discussed above, Reigns' slow build to the top of the food chain in the summer of 2014 was decent. He had fans cheering for him.

An injury sidelined him from the action in September. Upon returning, The Big Dog announced his intention to enter the Royal Rumble match. Everything was going well but another Superstar was also confirmed for the same match.

That man had the biggest fan following at that time and perhaps the most emotional Wrestlemania moment of all time earlier that year. That man was none other than Daniel Bryan.

As soon as Daniel Bryan got eliminated from the match by Bray Wyatt, fans immediately realized that Reigns would be winning the match. As soon as the Big Dog's music hit, he was showered with overwhelming boos.

He ended up winning the match and was booed out of the arena. Even assistance by The Rock couldn't help in polarizing the negative reactions. That was the night when Reigns' controversial rise to the main-event status officially began.