Even (or maybe particularly) when WWE needed followers to cheer Roman Reigns, they wouldn’t.
WWE’s failure to show Reigns into the 2010’s model of Hulk Hogan or John Cena is well-covered floor, however it principally got here right down to the corporate’s then-leader Vince McMahon misunderstanding Roman’s charisma*. He was by no means going to be a “say your prayers and take your nutritional vitamins” or “hustle, loyalty, respect” man, and the moments the place he obtained to show his inherent swagger as a substitute of claiming “sufferin’ succotash” proved it. For instance, his five-word promo after beating The Undertaker at 2017’s WrestleMania 33.
Be mindful, he was nonetheless technically taking part in a babyface at this level.
Moments like that additionally offered proof of idea for the heel character Reigns returned with in 2020 after taking a short hiatus initially of the pandemic. As The Tribal Chief, Roman held WWE’s high title for nearly 4 years whereas portraying against the law boss-like determine who used his Bloodline secure to rule over the corporate’s fictional universe. It gave followers an in-story motive to boo the man they’d been booing for principally meta causes, and helped “The Bloodline Saga” turn out to be WWE’s major focus because it entered its hottest interval for the reason that flip of the century.
That it allowed Roman to be himself (or no less than play to his strengths) additionally meant that followers had been beginning to like Reigns even whereas they had been chanting “F*** You, Roman” throughout his matches.
As chances are you’ll recall, a significant chapter in that Saga wrapped up at WrestleMania 40 this previous April when Cody Rhodes “completed the story” and ended Reigns’ historic run with the belt. We haven’t seen Roman since, however The Bloodline have remained as distinguished as ever. In The Tribal Chief’s absence, his cousin Solo Sikoa took over the group. He introduced in outsiders from different corporations to do his bidding. As WWE’s announcers have informed us how unhinged and harmful these additions (Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa from New Japan, and former MLW World champ Jacob Fatu) are, we’ve watched as they purged first Jimmy Uso after which Reigns’ “clever man” Paul Heyman from the group in brutal style.
We hadn’t even gotten to these story beats when the “We Need Roman” chants began, although.
Quick-forward three months, and Sikoa goes to problem Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE championship this Saturday (Aug. 2) at SummerSlam in Cleveland. Rumors and sportsbooks** favor a Reigns look, probably constructing to a Bloodline civil warfare angle that would take us by way of the remainder of the 12 months.
That may probably contain Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (each heard of him?), who joined The Bloodline for a storyline that included nearly as many behind-the-scenes strikes as on-screen ones. You will get the WWE’s Rock-centric model of that story within the documentary they put collectively about it right here (or ask your favourite professional wrestling diehard for his or her take and settle in, since you’re about to really feel like a girl in a type of “bro explaining” memes).
We haven’t seen Rock since shortly after ‘Mania both, when he teased the continuation of his personal rivalry with Rhodes. There’s additionally tons of hypothesis Rock will probably be revealed as the ability behind Sikoa’s throne and feud with Reigns, and that Roman will reconcile with the Bloodline members he mistreated as a heel (specifically Jimmy & Jey Uso and Sami Zayn) for some multi-man matches earlier than an eventual Rock/Reigns conflict.
Along with his subsequent movie (Bennie Safdie’s The Smashing Machine) wrapped, it’s conceivable we may see Johnson on Saturday night time in Cleveland Browns Stadium — both along with or as a substitute of Reigns.
None of that adjustments the truth that if Roman does make the scene this weekend, we would hear one of many loudest “pops” in a very long time. And contemplating the place Reigns was 5 years in the past, that’s fairly darn exceptional.
* It was initially born out of a vocal portion of the viewers rebelling in opposition to any McMahon-picked “high man”. However Roman was immensely fashionable as a member of The Defend simply previous to the backlash, so it stands to motive {that a} presentation that leaned into the cool, stoic persona he confirmed in that group would have gotten him over as a solo act, too.
** Sure, you possibly can wager on wrestling. You’ll want to make use of a world/on-line outfit, and wagers are capped at fairly low quantities so it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. However somebody will take your cash, similar to they’ll for the Oscars or every other variety of non-sports prop bets.
