I love the idea of Reigns short circuiting unwanted crowd reactions by constantly wrong footing his opponents, doing the unexpected. Part of the reason that wrestling fans get so vocal about storylines or characters they dont like is because we see the same old crap over and over and over, to the extent that we can often predict the outcome of angles weeks in advance. What got Reigns cheered at the end of TLC in December wasnt just his beatdown of the boss in frustration at losing his match for the title due to interference. He was cheered because he was doing something different, something exciting. It felt like he was articulating the crowds frustration with witnessing yet another sh*tbox finish to a title bout. What kind of thing do I mean? Well, theres the aforementioned plucking the mic out of Triple Hs hand in mid promo. He could make his entrance through a different section of the crowd every time, forcing the spotlights and the mobile cameras to search the crowd for him. Lets see him inexplicably pull out a flawlessly executed submission move at WrestleMania, and lets see him have perfect counters for all of Triple Hs fifteen year old offense, forcing him to change up his routine - after all, hes one of the easiest men in the world to scout. Reigns has probably been doing so since he was a kid. In every situation, have him take the unpredictable path. It wont take long at all before the crowd begin to appreciate him for it. If Reigns keeps doing the unexpected and doing it well, he'll get cheered more than booed. If he does it without sounding like a giant tit on the mic, hell get cheered even more. And the old WWE audience adage always rings true: once a live crowd knows it's okay to cheer him, it'll happen more and more often.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
