12 Cursed Comparisons That DOOMED Promising Wrestlers
6. Roman Reigns (John Cena)
Today, Roman Reigns is regarded as a majestic, swaggering, aura-heavy superstar of the highest order. He's a made man in WWE. Arguably, Roman always was, which is presumably why Vince McMahon chose to be so patient with him even in the face of scathing criticism from an increasingly-weary fanbase.
Those same folks had witnessed McMahon bash his head against a brick wall with John Cena for years. It feels like a sick joke that WWE resisted turning Cena heel until his retirement year, then they fudged the booking for that to completely waste a generation alignment switch.
D'oh!
Back to Reigns. In 2014, right after The Shield split, plans were put in place to turn him into the next coming of JC. When a 2015 Royal Rumble win was roundly booed, McMahon doubled down by ignoring the noise to super-push Roman to the moon as his new top face.
That led to countless painful moments for wrestler and fanbase alike. "Suffering succotash", the WrestleMania 32 win, some agonising moments against legends like The Undertaker. Oh yes, Reigns ran the full gauntlet of latter day Vince insanity and ignorance.
It wasn't until 2020 and his gimmick change to the 'Tribal Chief'/head of The Bloodline that Roman really started connecting with the core audience. They resonated far more with this version of Reigns because he wasn't tripping over himself to please them.
'Poster boy babyface' Roman worked some solid matches, but his promos sucked and his characterisation was flimsy. He was doomed to fail as that mediocre version of himself sans Shield cool points.