10 Booking Directions Heading Into WWE Payback 2017
2. It's Reigning Boos
RAW’s treatment of Roman Reigns the other night was perfect.
Fans yelling expletives at him for ten straight minutes while he shrugged them
off felt like the best way for his turbulent character arc to come full circle.
Roman genuinely doesn’t care what people think of him – he’s not cutting cringe-worthy promos about tater tots or smirking and sneering his way through
backstage segments – he’s back to resembling what he was whilst working with
the Shield, a stoic warrior rather than Cena-lite.
This is how things should continue for the next few weeks. Don’t have him become involved with Strowman again, or negate the pushes of guys like Samoa Joe and Finn Bálor - just let him run roughshod over lesser opponents, and listen as the boos continue to echo throughout the land.
Whether people want to admit it or not, Reigns has now lived up to WWE’s flimsy assertion that he was ‘controversial’ rather than simply pushed with the wrong character. Now he’s creating controversy in the right way, while staying true to the character that initially made him popular.
In doing so he’s become a compelling part of WWE’s weekly programming.