Roman Reigns has surprised the WWE by doing something they might not have expected from him, legend claims (Exclusive)

WWE is experiencing another boom period in its business, and Roman Reigns' historic run as world champion has undoubtedly helped their cause. During this week's Smack Talk episode, Dutch Mantell explained how WWE might not have imagined Reigns to become such an effective champion.

Roman Reigns was infamously rejected by the WWE Universe back when the promotion tried its best to make him the top babyface on the roster.

Reigns' heel turn and transformation into The Tribal Chief has given him a career-defining run, during which he has established himself as one of the greatest world champions in WWE history.

Dutch Mantell felt that even WWE would be surprised at how good Roman Reigns has turned out as champion, which is a testament to the 38-year-old's efforts to portray a villainous character.

The former WWE manager looked back at Roman Reigns' tricky journey and how the Samoan star had exceeded all expectations with his recent work:

"I think Roman has turned out to be a better champion they ever thought he would be because remember when he came back and he was a babyface. Nobody was buying him at all. Then they turned him heel, and they really weren't buying him. But they took their time; this was even when Vince was there. Slowly, they told enough of a story with him, and now he has started to get over it." [40:15 - 40:48]

Does Roman Reigns' success have anything to do with his part-time status?

Roman Reigns might get a lot of heat for it, but his appearances have reduced drastically over the past year.

Dutch Mantell said Reigns' increased influence is one of the reasons why he is now a part-time champion. Mantell stated that WWE didn't even need him to be on TV every week to have an impact, which was evident from the reactions The Rock got after he mentioned The Tribal Chief on a recent SmackDown.

Dutch credited WWE for building up Roman into a character that doesn't even need to show up often:

"That's why you don't see him every week. You don't have to see him every week. Just the mention of his name is enough to set them on fire. Hence, when The Rock said, 'I want to sit at the head of the table, the place went nuts.' Because they know what he's talking about. They've done a magnificent job with this." [40:52 - 41:10]

The length of Reigns' title reign might be of concern to many fans, but Dutch Mantell was all for certain booking decisions that others wished went a different way.

Dutch Mantell feels Sami Zayn not dethroning Roman Reigns was the right idea

Sami Zayn walked into Elimination Chamber 2023 as one of the hottest babyfaces in the entire company. He faced Roman Riegns for the undisputed title in Montreal, and many believed it would have been a perfect place for Zayn to pull off the unthinkable.

While Zayn and Reigns put on a great match, Dutch Mantell realized why WWE didn't book a title change and spoke from the creative team's perspective:

"How many people screamed that he didn't win it there? They screamed and screamed, 'Oh, the roof would have come off.' Yeah, the roof would have come off there, but now, they've got to go back to the books and rewrite everything. And I don't think the creative team was really keen on rewriting the whole thing. That's a lot of work." [39:55 onwards]

Should WWE have already taken the title off of Reigns by now, or have they done the ideal thing by stretching it this far? Sound off in the comments section below.

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