10 Big Lessons WWE Must Learn From 2016
3. Superman Has Failed
WWE should really have learned this lesson last year, but they keep swimming against the tide. No matter what happens, it looks like Roman Reigns will spend his career as the new John Cena. He’s the company’s chosen one, and for as long as he collects a paycheck from Vince McMahon, he’ll be pushed as “The Guy.”
It’s pretty clear that he’s never going to get over in the way they’d like. WWE have tried almost everything to get people to cheer Reigns this year, but none of it has worked. They briefly paired him with Sasha Banks, one of the company’s most popular athletes, on an episode of Raw, but that failed. Similarly, making Reigns feud with Rusev, the company’s resident Russian boogeyman, should’ve been easy heat. Instead. Rusev came-out looking like a valiant babyface, and Reigns an obnoxious bully.
Reigns’ recent re-alignment with Seth Rollins did turns things around, but only briefly. After The Shield’s Survivor Series reunion was out of the way, people soon went back to jeering the United States Champion. He’s a lost cause, and there’s nothing that’ll make him successful with this character.
Turning the USS Reigns around is vital to Raw’s recovery, particularly in the main scene. His opponents, no matter how devious, are inevitably cheered, and his presence prevents guys like Seth Rollins from becoming the brand’s natural protagonist. It’s astonishing that WWE haven’t figured this out yet, and their “our way or the highway” approach is doing nothing but harm business.