As a talent, Roman Reigns is severely underrated. While at one point the former powerhouse of the Shield was considered too unproven a commodity to be the company's next big star, Reigns has spent the past seventeen months showing the WWE Universe just how good he is. The result has been a bevy of great singles matches in which the 2015 Royal Rumble winner has more than held his own. Reigns may be talented enough to headline shows as WWE Champion, but for a variety of reasons, fans just aren't biting. Backlash started in earnest when Reigns returned from injury to a huge push, and it intensified when he began cutting bizarre promos - promos reportedly scripted by Vince McMahon himself in order to make The Big Dog a star. Since WrestleMania (where bookers were scared to put Reigns over Brock Lesnar due to the audience's assumed reaction) WWE creative have tried their best to get Reigns over as a beloved babyface. Unfortunately, their best is pretty damn awful, and Reigns still gets a less impassioned version of John Cena's reaction. Reigns got over in the Shield because he was a strong, silent, badass dude. WWE has stripped that from his character in an attempt to make him a world-class all-rounder, and the result has been an exposing of his weaknesses. Through no fault of his own, Roman Reigns is currently a walking, breathing flop.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013