10 WWE Stars In Desperate Need Of A Turn
Some guys look better in a black hat.
Wrestling is an odd industry, full of brain-melting paradoxes. It is, ultimately, predicated on the concept of two guys doing everything possible to protect one another while trying to make it look like they're maiming one another.
The logic by which WWE generally operates is particularly difficult to parse. This is a company which won't so much ignore the desires of their fanbase as begrudge them entirely for daring to not agree with their mandate. This is a company which will condemn bullying in real life, yet utilise it as the primary motivation for their antagonists, whom they barely remember to give their comeuppance.
The company's fans who, by rejecting stars too overexposed in or unsuited to their current roles, are giving them storylines they want to see on a plate. Not least of these paradoxes is that WWE would rather antagonise than listen to them...
*A quick note before we get started - John Cena, the most obvious candidate, will not be making an appearance on this list. Unless the USA Network were to withdraw their TV deal, there will be nothing drastic enough for WWE to even consider it.
10. Roman Reigns
This one is a Vince Russo (no-brainer) - so much so that we're getting it out of the way early.
Reigns isn't just unpopular because of the manner in which he's been forced down our throats - there is also a palpable air of arrogance and entitlement surrounding him. Addressing the resentment towards him in early 2015, he brushed off the ill will he'd generated by saying that he was simply 'a guy getting rich'.
This was bad enough in itself, but he was trying to get over in the top face spot at the expense of Daniel Bryan, a man who endeared himself to the WWE Universe for his humility and good nature as much as his out-of-this-world in-ring ability. His comments were spectacularly misjudged, and just reinforced the idea that wasn't the guy, much less our guy.
WWE has actually done a decent job of positioning Reigns as a tweener, but you can't stop the rain. The crowd reactions haven't changed. At which point, though will WWE remove their fingers from the ears and turn him to the dark side? Are they so wilfully obtuse as to try and engineer sympathy out of his embarrassing Wellness Policy violation?