10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About The Shield
6. The Many Failures Of Roman Reigns
The debate over Roman Reigns' push as 'The Guy' is overdone, and rife with bad takes, but 'The Big Dog's' post-Shield history is filled with events that WWE would love to pretend didn't happen.
He cut a meme-worthy promo on a January 2015 episode of SmackDown, famously referring to Seth Rollins as a "snivelling little suck-up sellout full of sufferin' succotash, son." Reigns was then universally rejected as the 2015 Royal Rumble winner, with even The Rock unable to save him from the crowd's brutal, deafening jeers, and his WrestleMania 32 coronation went down much the same way.
At 'Mania 33, Roman had the "honour" of retiring The Undertaker - an outcome that infuriated his many detractors. Rusev, Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt, The League Of Nations: these are only the first few names on the list of stars sacrificed to get Roman over since The Shield's dissolution.
They aren't his fault, and he definitely gets far more hate than he deserves, but Reigns' crimes are many. WWE would love you to blindly cheer for him, but the audience's unwillingness to buy what they're selling became apparent a long time ago, and Roman's divisiveness continues.