5 reasons why Roman Reigns is underrated

Roman Reigns is WWE's most polarizing superstar this side of John Cena.

Since debuting as a member of The Shield in 2012, Reigns has accomplished quite a bit in a relatively short span, including three WWE Championship reigns and a Royal Rumble victory. Along with that success, however, he's gotten himself a fair share of haters, who can't stand how strongly he is pushed and who wonder why he seems to be "The Chosen One."

Reigns has been called everything from arrogant to boring to overrated, but there is plenty of evidence that suggests none of those things are true. "The Big Dog" isn't overrated by any means. In fact, he never was and never will be.

Here are five reasons why Roman Reigns is underrated, despite what critics might say.

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#5 He doesn't control the booking

Reigns isn't on the creative team, is he?

What many Reigns haters seem to forget is that Reigns isn't in control of his own storylines, promos or actions of his character.

In other words, Reigns isn't booking everything that he does himself. Cena used to face the same criticism that "he never puts anyone over" or that "he buries other talents," when the reality is that Reigns, more than likely, has very little, if any, input into what his character does on TV.

So, to the fans who are blasting Reigns for being pushed too strongly or winning too many matches, congratulations: you've officially been worked. Labelling an on-screen performer "overrated" because of the material he's given to work with isn't an indictment on the performer himself like many think it is.

Rather, it's a criticism of those who are producing the material, and Reigns isn't doing that. Thus, is Reigns really overrated because he wins most of his matches and is booked strongly? No, he just has the support of WWE officials, who want to plaster his face all over the planet.

#4 His promos aren't nearly as bad as fans think

Roman Reigns still gets blasted for "not being able to cut promos" because on instances such as the infamous "Daffy Duck" fiasco, which occurred two or three years ago.

But Reigns is proof that less is more, and when the material is right and the dialogue is clear and concise, he's certainly not one of the worst talkers in WWE. In fact, you could argue that there are plenty of stars who have had significant pushes despite being unable to cut main-event level promos.

Do stars like Jeff Hardy, Finn Balor, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton or Bayley cut better promos than Reigns? No, they don't. Even Internet darlings like Cesaro, Matt Hardy (when he isn't "Broken") and Seth Rollins aren't exactly all-time great microphone workers, but since they aren't despised by WWE's most vocal fans, their weaknesses as talkers are often overlooked.

Reigns will not go down as one of the best mic workers in WWE history, but if the main goal of a promo is to get the fans to pay attention and buy into what he's saying, then Reigns is clearly doing his job and doing it well.

See the promo above, where Reigns says one sentence in about 10 minutes but has the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand the entire time.

#3 He always generates a reaction

No one generates a reaction like Reigns does.

There are very few stars who constantly generate loud vocal reactions from the crowd. Names like AJ Styles, John Cena, Dean Ambrose and, of course, Reigns come to mind.

But aside from Cena, no one gets a more consistent reaction from the WWE Universe than Reigns, which suggests that he has the "it factor" and is clicking with fans in a way that perhaps only a handful of superstars do. If you pay close attention to crowd reactions for both Raw and SmackDown, even some of the biggest stars in the company sometimes hear crickets.

Reigns never does.

That's a testament to the fact that whatever Reigns is doing is working. He makes fans care about what he's doing and who he's feuding with, which, in turns, benefits whoever his rival is at the time. One could argue, after all, that Braun Strowman would never gotten over to the level he's at if it weren't for Reigns, his biggest rival.

The mark of a truly great superstar is that he always makes fans care and passes that on to whatever superstar he is feuding with, which is exactly what Reigns does week in and week out. Why? Because no one generates a reaction quite like he does.

#2 He has a long history of stellar matches

Reigns vs. Styles is one example of the many great matches "The Big Dog" has had.

Roman Reigns can't wrestle? Yes. Yes, he can.

It's hard to tell where this narrative that "Reigns can't wrestle" actually started, but at this point, anyone who believes that is the case clearly hasn't watched Reigns perform in the ring over the years. Not even including all of his stellar matches as part of The Shield, Reigns has a long history of putting on consistently good to great matches with a variety of different superstars.

Singles matches that come to mind immediately include his WrestleMania 31 match against Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles at Extreme Rules 2016, Daniel Bryan at Fastlane 2015 or even Braun Strowman at Fastlane 2017. But really, his matches have been well above average for the vast majority of his run as a singles star over the last three years.

Is Roman Reigns the next Shawn Michaels? Probably not. But he always brings a big fight feel to his matches, which are typically very good and rarely has a bad match no matter who his opponent is.

#1 There is no one who can replace him

Reigns is irreplaceable.

Especially with John Cena nearing the end of his career, there is no one in WWE who could realistically replace Roman Reigns right now.

According to the Wrestling Observer (h/t WrestlingInc), Reigns is WWE's No. 2 merchandise seller behind only Cena, and "there's nobody ready to take his place." That really sums up the tremendous value of Reigns, who has essentially become irreplaceable in a company where he's clearly its No. 1 star when Cena is not around.

Cena has been able to stay atop WWE for well over a decade, and naturally, fans called him "overrated," too. But Cena ultimately proved, through a series of stellar matches and feuds, just how valuable he was and is to WWE and how he puts more eyeballs on the product than anyone in the company.

Now, Reigns is assuming that same position. He consistently puts on quality matches and entertaining feuds, and he is one of the main reasons why many fans tune into WWE on a weekly basis.

That must make him overrated, right?

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