8 Ways We Didn't Realise WWE Has Been Re-Living The New Generation

Lex, meet Roman. Roman, meet Lex.

It’s been said before, but the push of Roman Reigns has at times mirrored so much of what New Generation fans were force-fed with Lex Luger. Vince McMahon looked at Lex’s rippling biceps and got tight in the pants at the prospect of having his next Hulk Hogan primed and ready to go, yet audiences weren't sold on Lex and instead were clamouring for Bret Hart to lead the company forward.

McMahon’s insistence on pushing Lex only succeeded in two areas: it soured fans on the former Narcissist and only further boosted the support for The Hitman.

In the recent example of Roman Reigns, VKM ignored what the vocal majority of his fan base wanted. McMahon wanted Roman, so you wanted Roman, dammit! And much like this all led to an even bigger support for Bret Hart, the main benefactor of the Reigns push was ultimately Seth Rollins.

Since his return to action earlier this year, the reaction to The Big Dog has clearly been much improved and far more positive, yet the unrelenting push of Reigns in the years prior simply made audiences become more vocal in their support for Rollins as the performer to carry WWE forward.

To compare Roman Reigns to Lex Luger in an in-ring sense is outright ridiculous, of course. Reigns is a fantastic worker with undeniable charisma, albeit one whose never-ending push was what caused fans to reject him. For Luger, his rejection came from the simple fact that his in-ring work was dull and his charisma was non-existent whenever he was handed a microphone.

Regardless of the reasons for their respective rejections, the one thing that Lex and Roman have in common is Vince McMahon's sheer stubbornness to not listen to his audience as he powered ahead with forcing WWE fans to adore these chosen ones.