How Good Was Babyface Roman Reigns Actually?

One of the reasons why this babyface run didn’t work is that it came in an era directly after fans had witnessed John Cena being forced down their throats for over a decade. Although John gets called the "GOAT" and has a string of moments and matches that are sold as core memories to fans retrospectively, wrestling fans who only had WWE as a viable weekly TV show were sick and tired of the Hulk Hogan-esque approach that had been served to them. When Vince tried to promote Roman in the same way, fans rebelled.

McMahon was so far past his creative best by the time he was booking Reigns as his lead babyface that Reigns became the poster child for how much the old boss had lost his mojo. It’s why Paul Heyman, with his contemporary pop culture references and mindset, was so vital towards revitalising this character and showing Roman who he was capable of being.

The 'Big Dog' would be eaten alive if faced the 'Tribal Chief'. When the kingpin of the 'Island Of Relevancy' pointed out that WWE works for him during a SmackDown encounter with Brock Lesnar, it was done with the power of a thousand men. This went beyond Reigns trying to sell himself as a powerful force during these years. When CM Punk aimed barbs at Roman on Colt Cabana’s podcast, pointing out that he was WWE's newly anointed golden boy to an audience that wanted the anti-Roman in Daniel Bryan, it set him back years because he couldn’t and didn’t defend himself.

Reigns was able to stand up against Punk’s heaviest artillery, eyeball-to-eyeball, on the road to WrestleMania 42. That direct comparison shows how far he has come since those early years. He was a timid boy back then, and he is a mountain of a man today

Look at Oba Femi in 2026, too. The machine is so behind him that he has (allegedly) retired Brock at 'Mania mere weeks after arriving on WWE’s main roster. He's being pushed to the moon, and nobody has a problem with it because he has his own unique, unquestionable vibe, and WWE's creative (no matter what you might think of it) isn't as insulting towards the audience as it was under McMahon. The 2014/15 Roman didn't have half the required aura to fill the spot he was being asked to, and he was hampered by just about everything WWE gave him.

3/10