7 huge missed opportunities to turn Roman Reigns heel 

The famous quote of “nothing changes if nothing changes” was a simple definition of insanity, as doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results are just plain irrational, and in the case of the 4-year long infamous push of one such Roman Reigns, WWE could be classified as crazy.

Even though 'Vinny Mac' positioned Reigns as the biggest hound in his yard by regularly trying the same failed booking strategies, there is most likely no way WWE can entirely get Reigns over as the next big babyface in their billion-dollar empire.

But as wrestling logic has dictated in the past, the most successful remedy for a botched babyface experiment is to utilize paradoxical booking and turn that superstar heel. And sure this solution has frequently been used and abused over the last few decades, but there is no denying that it made legends out of previously mediocre babyfaces such as The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

As ditching their vanilla superhero personas for a more badass edgy personality allowed them to transcend the ranks of professional wrestling. And while most of the WWE Universe would argue that Roman Reigns is ‘too bland,’ ‘too generic,’ and ‘too robotic’ to reach the levels of success those legends achieved, you never really know until you’ve tried.

However, trying to make Roman Reigns interesting is something WWE isn’t really interested in doing. As the constant need to market him as the hottest star in the company, portray him as the all-conquering hero on commentary and the persistent refusal to just let him be a full-time unruly badass has caused a disconnect between the crowd and “the big dog.”

Therefore, the question every wrestling fan continually asks themselves when they see Roman Reigns on their televisions, how many golden opportunities has WWE squandered to turn their unproductive babyface into possibly the most hated heel in all of professional wrestling? Well, the answer is, more times than Michael Cole plugs the WWE Network on commentary.

#1 Ruin the comeback of the decade

WWE is a land of giants and WWE and in 2015 Reigns should have been blatantly positioned as the biggest of them all.

2015, Ah the year when WWE’s bulletproof plan to push a young Roman Reigns over the moon resulted in one of the biggest misfires in their booking history. The 2015 Royal Rumble was a great pay-per-view that was highlighted by a spectacular title defence by Brock Lesnar, yeah people Lesnar used to show up for work back in the day.

But none of those awesome moments even mattered when fan favourite Daniel Bryan was shockingly eliminated early from the battle royal extravaganza, which then prompted fans to riot in their seats as they wanted the relatable underdog to go on to face Lesnar at WrestleMania 31.

And for what its worth that fan fantasy of Lesnar vs. Bryan made perfect sense as one of the best underdog babyfaces in the business trying to reclaim the title he never lost while going up against a beast that ended the Undertaker's streak would’ve been a narrative worth telling. But the higher-ups in WWE had another less enthralling idea in mind, as the star that replaced Bryan at the top of the mountain was Roman Reigns, who was mercilessly booed.

Moreover, what made Roman Reigns Royal Rumble victory even worse was the fact WWE didn’t even have him go up against potential winners that could’ve swerved fans last minute, instead the creative team opted to put two past their prime legends in Kane and Big Show against Reigns, and everyone under the sun knew that The Big Show wasn't going to main event Wrestlemania at that stage in his career.

However, WWE still soldiering on, tried tirelessly to rectify their terrible booking mistakes in the month leading up to Wrestlemania 31 as they tried everything and anything to get Reigns over desperately, but the inexperienced Reigns just wasn’t ready for the leap into the unknown, as his character and in-ring skills needed a lot more work.

Furthermore, WWE’s booking made matters worse for " the guy" as they had him beat Bryan at Fastlane 2015, and whoever thought that was a good idea needed to ask themselves if they in the right line of work. As that match only served to further endorse Roman as the top guy, and in turn made the company’s vocal fanbase hate the handpicked star even more.

But what if WWE had done the deed then and there, with the rising levels of nuclear heat Reigns had started to accumulate, WWE had a golden opportunity to turn him into a top tier heel against a man he recently said he would turn heel for- Daniel Bryan. "The American Dragon" was the superstar whose popularity single handily buried Reigns entire push in a matter of minutes, and it would make sense for Reigns to destroy Bryan for that sole reason, as Bryan's unfavourable booking directly ruined his babyface image with the WWE Universe.

Sure, that would mean that Brock Lesnar would have to play the babyface at Wrestlemania 31, and that was a role the WWE Universe was willing to accept him in back in 2015. Additionally, it would mean that Seth Rollins 'heist of the century' would have been put on hold due to Reigns proper rise as a true villain in the company, but even with all the shifting around of truly iconic Wrestlemania moments, WWE would’ve saved themselves and the fanbase almost half a decade worth of stale storytelling. As they could have started building up a young Reigns as the biggest star in the company regardless of his status as a heel.

#2 Buy into the opportunity of a lifetime

Even the raucous UK crowd were begging Reigns to shake Triple H's hand and just buy in.

In the opinion of many critics and fans alike, this was one of the most crucial moments in Reigns career to this day that was totally ignored by WWE, as Triple H’s promo to persuade Reigns to sell out and join The Authority was the perfect blend of kayfabe and reality. As Reigns wrapped up his awful narrative with Bray Wyatt at Hell in a Cell 2015 and bested three other superstars to become number one contender to Seth Rollins WWE Title, WWE was all set on a marquee match between “The Architect” and his former Shield brethren.

But unfortunately, Rollins suffered a career postponing injury that saw him vacant his WWE Title. Therefore, the company quickly booked a WWE Title tournament which saw a new champion crowned in the finals at Survivor Series 2015, and unsurprisingly the winner of the tournament was Roman Reigns.

But, before people decided to cry tears of 'joy,' WWE decided to throw a plot twist at us, and book Roman's first World Title reign to last for only five minutes and that was due to an unsurprising cash in from Mr. Money in the Bank- Sheamus.

Pushing aside the pathetic nature of WWE's booking throughout this entire tournament, Triple H’s offer to Reigns was still the most intriguing thing about this entire angle. As “The Game” openly mentioned that even before Rollins took the offer to buy into his autocratic leadership, the higher-ups had considered Reigns first, as he was everything Vince McMahon saw in his version of the perfect wrestler.

At that point WWE shouldn’t have played this off as good old Reigns showing everyone he is the ideal babyface that rebels against the powers that be, but as the man that is willing to accept Triple H’s offer as he is totally fed up with having to endure the crowd spewing hate at him every single night.

And if your memory serves you correctly at that juncture in Reigns career, he had not won one singles title on the main roster, as his chance to become World Champion was stolen from him at WrestleMania 31 due to his real-life unfavourable status amongst fans which made WWE hesitant to pull the trigger on his push.

Moreover, from there on out he was further pushed slightly down the card to partake in filler feuds in an effort to win those haters over, and from a human perspective being held back from reaching the top because a legion of 'smarks' disapprove of your success must be frustrating.

Furthermore, Triple H bringing Reigns family into the picture by saying he would be setting them up for a comfortable life for decades to come if he took his offer was icing on a perfect heel turn, as we have learned throughout Reigns time in WWE, nothing is more important for the man than his family.

Roman Reigns at that moment was justified in turning heel, and he should’ve taken the opportunity placed in front of him, as narrative-wise, it would have made perfect sense: screws the 'marks' and be “the guy.”

Even though Reigns storyline with the Authority ended up producing a special moment in his career when he won his first WWE Title in the same building where his babyface run hit its first speed bump, all that was short-term gain and a long-term loss as in just a few months everything went back to square one.

And it went back to square one because WWE sabotaged their only chance of having Reigns be a badass face rather than a corny version of John Cena. Had Reigns taken Triple H’s offer fans could’ve witnessed the ascension of a corporate heel that everyone believes is being pushed as the best thing since sliced bread, as this was one of few instances where kayfabe could’ve been intact but ultimately WWE missed the mark once again.

#3 Jealously gets the better of a broken man

Sometimes anger, frustration, and pure hatred can be summed up in one emotion, jealousy

Just 7 days before the 2016 Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Dean Ambrose promised his former Shield brethren that he will win the contracted ladder match and cash it in on the same night, and for all the people out there that are longtime WWE aficionados, they knew that promise by a fan favourite superstar was highly unlikely to work out.

When The Shield was officially broken into pieces courtesy of a couple of chair shots from "Mr Burn It Down" himself many were sold on Ambrose’s character of a man driven by revenge, and that allowed WWE to have faith in "the lunatic fringe." But as the years went on, it was evident that Ambrose was not regarded on the same level as Reigns and Rollins.

Even though that was the case, "the lunatic fringe" battled through countless midcard and lower tier programmes all with the rage and attitude of badass, and to the surprise of WWE's higher-ups, fans grew fond of this type of unpredictable character. Therefore, WWE finally decided to listen to the masses and give them what they wanted for so many years, and boy this was a decision no one saw coming.

And for all those wondering if Money in the Bank 2016 fell on Christmas Day as WWE was in the mood of showering fans with gift after gift, let's just say Christmas came early. As if Ambrose became Mr Money in the Bank at the event was not enough, WWE then did something else unpredictable, and in the context of what occurred, 'unpredictable' is actually a mild adjective. That moment of mayhem saw Ambrose living up to his promise of cashing his briefcase in the same night to complete one of the wildest Money in the Bank cash-ins of all time.

But in all this commotion, WWE should’ve stepped back assessed this decision to make Ambrose the top guy in the company, as it was apparently obvious that they had no interest in making Ambrose the modern day Stone Cold Steve Austin. Moreover, his championship feuds didn’t even scratch the surface of his real potential and Ambrose is a character that thrives in the chase instead of being the champion avoiding to lose.

Therefore, being the controversial booking artists the creative team are, they should’ve used Ambrose’s career-defining moment to make way for a more shocking scene, the betrayal of Roman Reigns. When Dean ascended to the top of the food chain in a matter of one night Roman Reigns was on a faster way down the ladder than anyone could ever fathom, from losing his World Title clean to a redesigned Seth Rollins to being suspended later in the week for failing to pass a drug test, Reigns was the perfect star, at the perfect time in the perfect place to turn heel.

As many speculated that Reigns lost his WWE Title to Rollins, was due to his drug test scandals and WWE never even try to keep this revelation about their top guy under wraps, as they openly mocked him various times during his suspension as a means of 'punishment.' But the company missed a big booking opportunity here as they could've used this real backstage heat on Reigns to turned the tables on his stagnant babyface run. And just ask yourself this question, did you honestly miss Reigns while he was gone?

Fans were excited to watch Raw without Reigns, they were overjoyed to witness Seth Rollins roast the crap out of Reigns on the first ever Rollins Report, and they didn't even want Reigns to return for the triple threat WWE Title match at Battleground 2016. WWE should've realized all this and trolled fans who thought Ambrose was going to fulfil his dream finally, to only let Reigns cost Ambrose his match by assaulting him in a crazed vicious manner, and not Randy Orton ear pulling crazy, but a beatdown that would’ve felt satisfying to the character of Roman Reigns.

There’s nothing more villainous in wrestling than stealing someone’s opportunity from right under their nose and Reigns on this night should’ve channelled his inner John Cena and cost his best friend an opportunity he worked blood, sweat and tears over. Sure this would’ve robbed fans of an unforgettable moment in Money in the Bank history; it would’ve left Ambrose revenge angle with Rollins that stretched for years incomplete and it would’ve been shockingly disappointing to witness Ambrose lose an opportunity he busted his ass to earn.

But if all that could be accredited to a heel Reigns that could not control the pressure from fans, the jealousy of watching his best friend leap in front him, and the embarrassment of his slow descent down the card, WWE should’ve taken this chance to portray Reigns as the natural heel he is, by mixing reality with a little bit of kayfabe.

#4 Destroying a 'broken down' veteran

This was one of WWE biggest missed opportunities/mistakes in recent memory.

For years on end, fans have wondered on how would WWE finally conclude perhaps the most celebrated career in their company’s history, the possibilities were endless, the ideas were perfect and the time was approaching, as fans knew one day they would have to come to terms with the fact The Undertaker cant wrestle forever.

So, the fan's most popular fantasies of how WWE could've ended the career of this legend ranged from "the phenom" retiring after his last war to keep his legendary streak intact to him winning the company’s top prize for one last time, but the 'in touch' creative decided to take all the popular fan theories and wonderful fantasy booking ideas and stick straight up our candy asses as what fans though don't mean jack to them.

As WWE's priority 'pet' project was all that mattered, and that was trying to get Roman Reigns over by giving him the worse booking in wrestling. How can a booker in their right frame of mind expect a superstar with an extremely polarizing nature like Roman Reigns to be cheered when retiring a veteran such as The Undertaker, it makes no freaking sense.

And that unfortunate/maniacal booking saw WWE waste the supposed last moment of The Undertaker's career by putting over Roman Reigns in one of the worst WrestleMania main event matches, that was more boring than watching paint dry. And even though The Undertaker's fake retirement did not last, as he was once again wasted against John Cena the following year, no one would ever forget the tear-jerking scene of The Undertaker laying his attire in the center of the ring and descending down the ramp.

Wasted tears, wasted opportunities and a wasted main event spot, WWE had one job at Wrestlemania 33 and that was to pull the plug on the Roman Reigns babyface character. As no one could care less about Roman Reigns picking up another victory at Wrestlemania, walking down the ramp as fireworks going off behind him or experiencing a passing of the torch moment, people were just fed up and WWE could've put that overloaded frustration to good use.

Every wrestling fan under the sun knew the wrestler that finally took the Undertaker out was going to the biggest star in the entire company and Undertaker losing for a second time at Wrestlemania via a Roman Reigns heel turn would’ve made Reigns the number one heel in the world. Consequently, no more evidence was needed to show this was the right time for Reigns to turn heel as the unapologetic reaction he got from the Orlando crowd the following night on Raw, was heat any heel would dream of.

As the vulgar, vicious and hot-tempered chants from the nuclear crowd were not for the fun of it, but it represented their true emotions as they were at their boiling point with Roman Reigns run as the company’s top star. No one wanted to tune into Raw and see Roman walk out acting like a conquering hero and say this is his yard but they wanted to see a smug SOB that gives little regard for people’s opinions, and the legacy of a legendary superstar. WWE had an era-defining heel turn on their hands, and they completely flushed it down the toilet, along with their credibility as bookers.

#5 Double turn with a monster

The stars were aligned, but WWE once made an idiotic decision.

It’s a rare instance when Vince McMahon's booking aligns in perfect coordination with the stars these days, and when it did, the WWE Universe got Braun Strowman. A product of the WWE performance centre, Strowman is one the very few superstars to have gotten over via WWE’s booking, as the pure intensity, badass persona and entertainingly destructive mannerisms of the “monster among men” truly resonated with fans who have been waiting for new blood to enter the main event scene.

And after bulldozing through jobbers, solid mid-carders and basically the entire Raw roster, WWE decided to pit him against the one man more protected than himself, Roman Reigns. After Reigns had speared the crap out of Braun on the Raw prior to the 2017 Royal Rumble, Strowman would retaliate in a vengeful manner by costing Reigns his chance to become Universal Champion at the event, and for those wondering the real reason why that angle with Strowman was set up, it was simple, Reigns couldn’t lose clean.

However, this storyline would surprisingly continue as Reigns would get a slight measure of revenge when he also cost Strowman his chance to become Universal Champion, and from there on out ensued a rivalry that would go down as one of the best in both men’s careers, as their matches, promos, crazy ambulance flipping stunts all felt refreshing in a stale WWE product that had been toned down for far too long.

But as in all Roman Reigns feuds, one thing was not clicking, his odd alignment as a babyface, and this time it was not just the crowd reactions that was tainting his squeaky clean record as a valiant hero, but it was himself. As WWE booked Reigns as a semi-heel throughout this whole fued, as crashing an ambulance with Strowman inside because he couldn't handle losing their Great Balls of Fire match clean and savagely breaking Strowman's already injured arm, were few instances of Reigns great work under a heel persona.

While many might jump to "the big dog's"defense saying that his heelish actions were all in retaliation for the misery Strowman put him though, the times Roman got to show off a more heelish persona was actually the best parts of this feud. Which brings this entire point to the conclusion that this was also one of those programmes WWE should have used a double turn, as Strowman was more over than anyone in the company as his antihero antics endeared itself to the WWE Universe and Roman was being hated no matter how sympathetic WWE tried to make him look.

And most would argue that at Great Balls of Fire when Roman tried to straight up kill Strowman by crashing that ambulance with him inside was in every sense of the word a heel turn, WWE didn't work with it and passed it off as Reigns be revengeful, but the company should have run with it. As Strowman walked away on his two feet looking like the biggest babyface in the world while Reigns jealously and anger over his loss made him feel like a heel that would blindsided his helpless opponent.

#6 Brothers no more

The night Rollins struck Reigns with a steel chair, The Shield ended there, as the main thing that keeps friends together is trust, and that's something The Sheild lost. But hey, management saw Dollars signs so cue Shield reunion.

As many wrestling critics believe The Shield's awesome reunification back in 2017 was another attempt by WWE to cash in on one of their popular ideas and run it to the ground,and if we really being honest here every casual and hardcore wrestling fan knew that Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns reunion was used to drive ratings up, sell more tickets and create hype to garner more interest in a lazily presented product.

But even with all the financial gain, WWE could get from this booking plan, they could get some credibility gain too for one of their most hated superstars- Roman Reigns. This Shield reunion was mainly put together for Roman Reigns and whether you like to admit it or not that is the truth.

As Wrestlemania season was approaching back in 2017, WWE needed to do two things with Reigns, firstly book a filler programme so he can stall until Wrestlemania and secondly they were trying to pull another trick out of their idea bag to get "the guy" over as a babyface with the WWE Universe. And why wouldn’t this new plan work, Ambrose, and Rollins were extremely over with wrestling aficionados before the full Shield reunion, so how could anyone boo Reigns if he joined forces with them?

And to WWE's credit, their plan actually worked, as the negative crowd reaction towards “the guy” slowly but surely got minimal to the point where his IC Championship win was thoroughly accepted by the WWE Universe. But not everything was unicorns and rainbows in The Shield's second run, as injury struck the group, and the man who was put on the sidelines while his team members thrived without him was Reigns himself.

After coming down viral infection close to the 2017 TLC pay-per-view Reigns was forced to sit out of the official Shield reunion/anniversary at TLC 2017 , and instead of his 'brothers' going at it alone, Ambrose and Rollins decided to replace Reigns with Kurt Angle and that was a decision no one in the WWE Universe seemed to protest against.

Later during the United Kingdom tour, WWE once again replaced Reigns with a man that is basically a mortal enemy to each member of The Shield- Triple H. And just to go off topic here, Triple H joining The Sheild in combat was one of the dumbest decisions the 'creative' team ever made, and even though it was a house show that decision was a big WTF moment that had fans singing "hello kayfabe my old friend."

Anyway, instead of building on this real life last minute change, and how it would affect Roman Reigns that his 'brothers' could easily replace him in a second, WWE brought him back with "the big dog" showing no concern that his place in The Shield would be expendable in ‘desperate times’ as Seth Rollins put it.

And with a fully healed Reigns back in the fray The Shield reunion could now take off with a bang as the most anticipated dream match fans have been waiting years for was finally happening at Survivor Series 2017, The Shield vs The New Day. The two most popular WWE factions of the last five years duking it out for brand loyalty, personal stakes and most of all, to finally see which stable is the best, was freaking awesome to watch.

However, WWE finally got it so right but so wrong at the same time, as when this Shield reunion was finally going to end what was going to happen with Roman Reigns? As no matter how much they tried to get him over, a majority of fans would’ve still resented Reigns for the main event pushes he would have received in the future and not taking the time to assess that outcome was a mistake in itself.

Therefore, Instead of Reigns returning to continue The Shield's run as normal, WWE could have centred this narrative around Reigns questioning Ambrose’s and Rollins loyalty to him, as they easily replaced him when he couldn’t compete. Moreover, Rollins did stab him in the back years ago and Ambrose turned on Reigns several times in the past. WWE should have made Reigns character think about all these emotionally conflicting instances and decide whether he wanted to run Raw with The Shield or run his yard by himself.

Therefore, this, of course, would've resulted in Reigns destroying Ambrose and Rollins in their match at Survivor Series and ruining whatever was left of The Shield. As WWE could’ve used this chance to have Roman drop The Shield gear, music and aura he still clings on to this day. A logical heel turn that could ve rebooted Reigns as a heel that fans could relate to, WWE could’ve made the change, but they didn’t.

#7 Pull out all the stops at Wrestlemania 34

A battle of acceptance.

Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar, was a feud that had become so frustratingly annoying to watch, as WWE booked repetitive pull part brawls on Raw, promos that don’t really sound enticing anymore, screwy finishes to their matches and Roman Reigns always coming out of every portion of this feud more terrible than usual.

And to your disbelief this has not always been the case, as even though the decision to put Reigns in the Wrestlemania 31 main event was outright rejected by the WWE Universe Reigns and Lesnar did craft one the better main events in WrestleMania history, that used the right amount of finishers, bloody spots, and OMG moments. But that was a complete opposite to their Wrestlemania 34 match where WWE inexpertly made the unwise decision to structure of the match in the worst way possible.

While one could see it in from their position of wanting to book a match that would force the unattentive crowd to pay attention to a match they did not want to see, the overuse of multiple suplexes, multiple spears, Roman Reigns kicking out a crap load of F5’s, and the use of blood in the dullest way possible. Fans didn't even give the match a chance as they just did not want to care, as #BeachBallCity was running more wild than suplex city, which is trying to relay a message to management.

But if one thing made the fans inside the Superdome Arena get up and pay attention it was Brock Lesnar picking up the win after what felt like ten minutes of nothing, and while most would commend the WWE creative for not going with the obvious booking decision of Reigns going over, it was the wrong decision now as fans can evidently witness for themselves. As now the entire WWE Universe has to bear the brunt of Reigns bombed babyface experiment, as the Universal Title is awol with Brock Lesnar since management felt it was not the time to once again give Reigns the ultimate.

And for the love of God, when will WWE feel ultimately satisfied with Reigns position as a babyface, as blaming the fans for not accepting Reigns as "the guy" is one layer to this problem, but WWE themselves being hesitant to let Reigns finally defeat Brock "part-time" Lesnar is astounding. So if WWE finally realised at Wrestlemania 34 that it was high time to make Roman Reigns the top star in the company and send Brock Lesnar on his way to UFC, a company he clearly has more interest in, they could've done that with a simple heel turn from their top star.

As what would it take for management to feel fully satisfied with a Roman Reigns victory over Brock Lesnar, it clearly wasn't him booked to kick out of five freaking F5's or being bloodied up to the point of insanity, it was the fact they want him to be accepted, accepted into a fanbase that would never accept him after enduring a decade's worth of terrible John Cena booking. And that is the most prominent theme here, acceptance, as WWE higher-ups don't want to accept Reigns won't be a popular babyface and fans don't want to accept Reigns as their next top star for the next decade.

So WWE and their fanbase needed to find common ground and that common ground is a heel Roman Reigns. Whether Reigns used the help of Pual Heyman, a steel chair or a low blow, the man needed to shift his character at Wrestlemania to finally be accepted, but WWE chose to play their stale game once again.

And whether the rumours of Reigns being the one to dethrone Lesnar at Summerslam are true or not, the one thing the WWE Universe and Vince McMahon would have to face is acceptance, as one would have to budge if Roman will finally find his footing as a character.