10 Wrestlers Who Got Much Worse (But WAY More Over)
5. Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns was an explosive babyface worker who could take and sell the absolute sh*t out of a gnarly ass-kicking. Rewatch his performance at WrestleMania 31. He was positively awesome. The creative had to be atrocious for his playing the singles star hero not to have ever worked on a meaningful level.
The creative was atrocious. WWE’s insistence that Roman had to be the guy was strong - about as strong as CM Punk was ordered to make him look.
There is many a thrilling match tucked into that late 2010s back catalogue, but none of them will ever be viewed through the lens intended. They were often great in spite of the warped crowd reaction. Some were so undeniable that he actually got the crowd on side. Not many, but some.
Of course, as the Tribal Chief, Roman actually fulfilled the impossible prophecy WWE wrote for him. He will one day leave the business better than he found it as one of the promotion’s all-time biggest stars.
But Christ almighty: while his 2020s matches were undeniably effective and hugely dramatic more often than not, the exposition of the in-ring monologues, the molasses pacing, the repetitive finishes, the contrived run-ins…
He was far more exciting as a babyface when the bell rang.