How Good Was Babyface Roman Reigns Actually?

The Shield altered WWE's landscape and gave Vince McMahon his most successful act in years, then the 3 members in that 'Hounds Of Justice' trio began to forge their own paths. More than Seth Rollins or Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns courted the bulk of hysteria and extreme reactions post-Shield. Unfortunately for him and the maniacal billionaire, a lot of that feedback was largely for all of the wrong reasons. 

Following the 'Ruthless Aggression' era and being expected to fill the enormous void left by John Cena's decision to leave wrestling as his full-time job (whilst attempting to conquer Hollywood), Roman Reigns was given the dubious opportunity to lead a billion-dollar global entertainment enterprise into its brave new future. It was a massive task, and an unnecessary one, considering WWE is seen much more as a team effort with retrospect in the wake of McMahon leaving the company.

Join us as we relive the pre-'Tribal Chief' years of Roman to reassess how good he actually was during that period. Was he unfairly criticized, or was the 'Big Dog' incapable of running WWE's yard? Strap yourselves in, because this is not a reappraisal for the faint-hearted.

Just take a look at Roman and you'll understand the thinking behind WWE’s head office throwing their full weight behind making him the heir to John Cena as the top guy. He’s big, strong, athletic, and women are kicking off their shoes to try to be with him just at the sight of the muscular Adonis.

However, presentation played a large part in why these early years failed to capitalise on Roman's talents. After The Shield split up, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose got new entrance music, updated their look and ran with personas that expanded on their work in the group. Meanwhile, Reigns kept everything that worked before, and that was to his detriment. Coming in through the crowd clicked for The Shield because they looked and felt like a SWAT team about to indulge in guerrilla warfare; Roman walking through the crowd alone made it look like he hadn’t let go of the past, whilst his compatriots had moved on without him.

Entrance music was also a big problem with this part of Roman’s career. As the 'Tribal Chief', he has music that demands your attention. From its thumping drum intro, it feels godlike and commands spectacle with its grandiose operatic vocals. It suits his aura, with a main piano melody drenched in drama and punctuated by stabs of powerful, distorted guitars. The Shield’s music is so intrinsically linked to their arrival as a team, because they had such a monumental, landscape-altering impact on WWE. Just giving that music to Reigns meant he had to carry the weight of all of that, and it was too much for any one man to carry, let alone a performer still trying to "find his thing".

Roman's look didn’t receive an update either. See him today, kitted out in the freshest shoes from sneaker culture and his logo looking like wrestling’s Jumpman. Keeping the SWAT team look of The Shield felt silly because the whole point of that look was to make it seem like the members of that group were geared for squad combat. One man in protective gear looks scared.

The biggest problem in keeping the look, music, and feel of The Shield is rooted in ethics, too. The stable worked because they looked, felt and were presented as being anti-establishment, but Roman couldn’t have been more anointed by Vince McMahon if he came out doing the 'Billionaire Strut'. His presentation vs. the reality of the situation were completely incongruous with one another, especially for an audience that felt overly cynical towards Roman.

Cody Rhodes is a great babyface, but he embraces the idea of being "QB1". Roman was given that jersey in this era, but his presentation was supposed to make us believe that he wasn't handed that on a silver platter, and it didn't work for him.

None of this is Roman’s fault. He was pushed in ways that his skillset couldn’t handle yet - WWE let Roman down with all this negligence. The thought behind him was “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Audience reaction from the very beginning should've shown this to be deeply flawed logic.

2/10