10 Wrestlers Audiences Weren't Ready For

1. Roman Reigns

Bray Wyatt
WWE

The success of Roman Reigns as ‘The Tribal Chief’ seems as much to do with the mutual catharsis between the wrestler and the fanbase that WWE at long last got the megastar right.

And what an exhausting experience it was watching them get it so wrong for so long.

Somehow managing to repeat the mistakes made with Daniel Bryan and Batista from 2014, Roman's Royal Rumble disaster a year later felt like it was killing two of the company's most beloved institutions (the Rumble match, and The Rock) as well as 'The Big Dog's career. The instant demise of his first title win in November was nightmarishly stupid, as was the belief that a 20+ minute snoozer with Triple H at the end of a six hour WrestleMania would fix it. As was the near-identical issue with The Undertaker the year after that. And Brock Lesnar the year after that.

Holy f*cking sh*t, man, how is he still doing this? How are we all still doing this?

The broad success of 'The Head Of The Table' provides an answer to both of those questions - if this bloated and misanthropic organisation can eventually clean up this mess, surely they can mop up all the other ones right?

Right?

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett