Top 5 Times the WWE Universe Rejected Roman Reigns

#4 Roman Reigns vs. The Miz

The Miz Recaptures the Intercontinental Title at Raw 25

This was another odd rivalry. It included two clear attempts to get Reigns over, neither of which worked out.

First of all this was a push to reform the Shield. Reigns is accepted by the most people when he is with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.

A lot of his biggest critics are huge fans of Rollins, so bringing them back together again brings those fans back into the fold.

In order for this to happen the Shield all needed to suffer embarrassing losses to the Miztourage.

Traditionally this would help garner empathy for the losing babyfaces, but the Miz is insanely popular right now.

He is the kind of cool heel that can make it hard for a babyface because the audience wants to be laughing along with the Miz and picking on whoever he is fighting.

The Miztourage was fresh and entertaining, while the Shield was an attempt to bring the old band back together again for a tour and make some money.

The highlight of Shield's reunion run and Reigns was sick at home

The fans enjoyed seeing the Miztourage grow in credibility and right when we thought we would get what we wanted, Reigns got sick and Kurt Angle took his place in Shield for a match against The Bar, The Miz, Kane, and Braun Strowman.

Upon returning momentum started to build again for the Shield until Ambrose was injured. This vacancy in the shield was filled for various shows by Jason Jordan and Triple H, but it wasn't the real Shield so they jumped away from that idea again.

The second part of this plan was to gain respect for Reigns by making him a Grand Slam Winner after he wins the Intercontinental Championship from the Miz.

There were only two problems with this plan.

One, The Miz is more popular with the audience overall than the polarising Reigns as he had spent years elevating the Intercontinental Title and keeping it relevant, and two, this was close to Wrestlemania Season, so we needed Reigns to drop the belt almost immediately so that we could have it in a different match at Wrestlemania because we already knew he's supposed to be fighting Lesnar.

So he dropped the belt back to the Miz at Raw's 25th anniversary and the audience cheered as The Miz was dubbed champion.