10 Times WWE Was Pure Cinema
2. Roman Reigns' Evolution Into WWE's Franchise Player
How do you go from being the most despised wrestler on the roster to being the best thing WWE has to offer?
This is the tale of a character who went on to become the protagonist.
Roman Reigns must be pinching himself after the torrid time he had getting to the top. From the early days of the Shield, it was clear that the Big Dog was going to be the next big thing. We’d seen it with John Cena, now we were seeing it with another WWE pet project. He was the next superhero that was destined to become an Avenger... yawn.
So, what happened? Fans wouldn’t even cheer the future Tribal Chief over Brock Lesnar, who was nowhere to be seen during his Universal title reign. Eventually, WWE did what people asked them to do with Cena over a decade earlier.
Roman turned heel.
With Paul Heyman by his side, he took the Universal title back and went on to destroy everybody on the roster. He got to show his acting skills, have fun with his family (more on that in the next entry), and show a generation what it’s like to have a truly dominant champion.
The hero became the villain because the people didn't appreciate him. Roman had tried to win the fans over for years, but when none of that was working, he decided to go against them and put all their favourites to the sword. What a guy.