Levin: Still A Ways To Go With Getting Roman Reigns Over, But There Is A Way

He’s not a good guy. He’s not a bad guy. Roman Reigns is “the” guy when it comes to WWE and its World Heavyweight Title. Regardless of whether fans love him or hate him, he is the one who will carry the banner as long as the company sees fit.

Reigns had a much better showing at WWE Payback in his match with AJ Styles. Despite the awful booking, the interference of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and the start-and-stop motion of Shane and Stephanie McMahon, there was a real improvement—more intensity and a more brutality to Reigns’ game plan. This is the type of character the former Shield member should have displayed all along.

The reality is Reigns is a “tweener”—where fans love and hate him at the same time. It’s not the same concept as John Cena, where the conquering hero has been around for more than 12 years and fans either love his patriotism and bravado, or have grown tired of the shtick and want something fresh like a heel turn.

Sorry fans, it’s not happening.

Recently, the topic of Reigns’ reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion came up in an interview with Triple H.

“I think the world is a different place now,” Triple H told The Mirror. “I think you’re going to find it very hard now, at the top level, to find anybody that is either a good guy or a bad guy. Someone who is universally loved or universally disliked. It’s very difficult.

“ I think part of that is the Internet, in that I don’t care what the topic is, whether it’s politics, music, sports, anything,” he continued. “You can go on the Internet and find somebody who loves it and somebody who hates it. You can jump on whatever conversation you want to have with people who are like-minded to what you think, or opposite-minded to what you think.”

WWE put all of its eggs in one basket banking on Reigns to be “The Guy” in a business that has shoved wrestlers down the throats of fans more than they care to swallow. The effect has been a revolt of sorts by even the most diehard fans. Now, in an attempt to get them back, WWE has promoted other Superstars who could carry the marquee if they had to. AJ Styles was a coup. Bray Wyatt is underutilized. Cesaro isn’t given enough credit. Kevin Owens is ready to run with the title. Dean Ambrose is a new version of Brian Pillman. And when all else fails, Chris Jericho is still pretty freaking awesome.

And we all are waiting for Seth Rollins to tear down the arena again.

The COO of WWE has a monster-sized problem on its hands with Reigns, who looks the part, but is better suited for having a manager or part of a stable. The breakup of The Shield was the best and worst thing to happen to him. Paul Heyman would look amazing by his side and even Triple H as his “mentor” makes sense. But still days go by and it does not happen.

Reigns current situation with Styles is good for him. Maybe it means the eventual reformation of The Shield to battle Styles, Anderson, and Gallows. Fans would plunk down tickets to see it. As long as Reigns continues to show more ability in the ring, show a care-less attitud, and continues to hold the title above his head night after night, fans will still wait and wonder and hope.

And Triple H will still have a major problem on his hands to deal with.