WWE News: Roman Reigns Heel Turn Was Canceled Earlier This Year
Roman Reigns has proven over the past two plus years that being “The Guy” in WWE isn’t easy. Over the past couple of years, he’s been getting a very mixed reaction because the WWE Universe is divided on their opinion of him. Over the past few months, Reigns has been batted around like a ping-pong ball by WWE officials between the midcard and the main event because they couldn’t decide what to do with him on Raw.
His recent suspension after violating the WWE Wellness Policy over the summer put him in an interesting place on WWE programming. Had his suspension not been a factor, it’s possible that he could still be the WWE Champion today, and the entire WWE Draft may have gone differently. But, it happened like it did and WWE officials finally made up their mind about his position on Raw at WWE Clash of Champions.
Last Sunday, Roman Reigns defeated Rusev to become the United States Champion. Thus far, the WWE Universe is responding much more favorably to him holding the US title, but there is still a lot of debate about what is right for Reigns going forward. Before deciding on the title change, even WWE officials had some ideas about changing up his dynamic with the WWE Universe and giving him a new attitude on Raw.
Recently, there was a backstage update on any potential plans for Roman Reigns to turn heel at any time in the near future. That report claimed that WWE never strongly considered actually turning him heel, but that may not be true. According to a new report, it’s being said that WWE officials had plans to pull off a double-turn, which would have seen Seth Rollins turn face and seen Roman Reigns turn heel over the summer.
WWE’s plans for Rollins weren’t canceled; they were just postponed until the present day. Seth Rollins is currently on a face turn that is expected to be a slow-burn with a huge payoff down the road. On the other hand, Roman’s heel run has been canceled, but it’s not confirmed how serious WWE was about it a few months ago. For the immediate future, Reigns will be remaining the top face in Raw’s midcard scene.
The potential for him to turn heel now is extremely unlikely based on his rivalry with Rusev continuing and his United States title reign expected to last for quite some time. WWE is still working hard to build him sympathy from the WWE Universe in order to make him the most important champion on Raw.
It’s possible that WWE could turn Roman Reigns heel if they eventually give up trying to convince the WWE Universe that he is better off as a face. However, the WWE Universe is reacting well to Reigns’ US title win, which will transition him into getting a more positive reaction over the rest of 2016.
Most of the negative reactions that Roman has been getting over the past few years are about his push into WWE’s main event. Whenever he has stepped away from WWE title picture, the WWE fans haven’t been as intense about their disdain for him on WWE television. There is a rumor that Reigns could be challenging for the WWE Universal Championship at the WWE Royal Rumble, but that’s not written in stone.
For now, Roman Reigns is the US Champion on Raw, which will give him and WWE great opportunities to create new stars on both Raw and SmackDown. Overall, that’s one of the benefits of the brand split and can even give a star like Reigns something new to accomplish and maybe give the WWE fans a reason to cut him some slack.
[Image via WWE.com]
