10 Wrestlers WWE Pushed At The EXACT Wrong Time

1. Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns
WWE

Literally everybody on the face of the planet, other than the person it was up to, said that Roman Reigns should have turned heel either upon leaving the Shield in 2014 or, at a minimum, a few months after his future top guy babyface push had failed and was never going to succeed.

Everybody said the same thing: turn him heel, it seems highly probable that he will be amazing playing heel, he will not get over playing babyface until people start to recognise his immense talent - which is best harnessed for now in the heel role - after which point, when the audience will respect him, then he can play babyface, because this is how wrestling promotion tends to work.

Incredibly, the one person who didn't share this opinion was the most preeminent wrestling promoter of all-time.

This wasn't just naive message board knowitallism, something like "Ted DiBiase, Jr. should end the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak": Roman Reigns did get over as a massive heel star, the biggest in wrestling, in 2020. He was an amazing heel. He will turn face at some point and get over because fans now respect his work.

Pushing Roman Reigns like this after almost a full decade of Super (John) Cena was like that Homer Simpsons eats donuts in hell gag, only replacing "donuts" with "sh*t".

 
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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!