Credit: WWE.com
Reigns, believe it or not, has suffered his fair share of losses over the last year or so, notably losing major matches at Extreme Rules and SummerSlam in 2017 and both at Royal Rumble and in that historic gauntlet match on Raw in 2018. But despite Reigns' win/loss record being worse than expected in big matches, that hasn't prevented WWE from doing everything it can to position Reigns as the bona fide face of the company and the heir apparent to John Cena.
At this point, though, there is still some obvious fan resentment to the long-running push of Reigns, who continues to be one of the most polarizing figures in wrestling history. However, there are many signs that his push is working, like his incredibly strong YouTube viewership and impressive merchandise sales, and even when his push doesn't seem to be going over too well with WWE's most passionate fans, WWE pulls out all the stops to guarantee that it does.
Over the past six months or so, WWE has made a number of strategic moves in regards to its booking of Reigns, all with the ultimate goal of helping him secure his spot as "the guy" in WWE. Here are five ways WWE has desperately tried to make Reigns its No. 1 star.
His "Shoot" Promo On Brock Lesnar
Credit: WWE.com
There is nothing like a good "shoot" promo to help a star win over even the hardest-to-please fans, and Reigns' worked shoot promo on Brock Lesnar a couple of weeks ago was a clear attempt to get Reigns some more cheers.
Reigns was booked to call out Lesnar on every major issue fans have with "The Beast," including Lesnar's friendly part-time contract and long-running rumors that Lesnar doesn't care about pro wrestling and is simply in it for the paycheck. The promo worked, too. Many called it the best promo of Reigns' career in large part because they've gotten sick of Lesnar's barely there schedule and because they agreed with most of the points Reigns was making.
It's a page right out of the John Cena vs. The Rock playbook, when "The Champ" would criticize "The Great One" for only showing up from time to time and not being truly dedicated to WWE. The idea, of course, was to add a sense of realism to their feud, and it paid off as their match at WrestleMania 28 was the biggest reason why that pay-per-view is the most purchased in WWE history.
That feud was slightly different because The Rock and Cena were both clear-cut babyfaces, but the format of the Reigns/Lesnar rivalry is quite similar. Ultimately, it's all about using the real-life possibility that Lesnar may leave the company in order to quell some of the boo birds for Reigns, and it has worked to a certain degree as the reaction to Reigns' promo was surprisingly and overwhelmingly positive.
Maintaining that momentum will be a completely different animal, but with reports stating WWE wants to make this feud seem as real as possible, don't be surprised if Reigns continues to bash Lesnar in route to WrestleMania 34 in an attempt to win over more fans.
Associating Him With Seth Rollins And Dean Ambrose
Credit: WWE.com
As indicated by their (likely) top five merchandise sales in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are about as close to Reigns as you're going to get when it comes to WWE's full-time stars.
Both Ambrose and Rollins are consistently pushed as upper midcard and main eventers, and as two stars who are almost universally liked, WWE often uses them to the benefit of Reigns. That explains why WWE often associates Rollins and/or Ambrose with Reigns in some way, shape or form, including last fall when The Shield, once a top merchandise seller during their prime in 2014, reunited and was positioned as the No. 2 seller in WWEShop.com advertisements behind only Cena.
It also explains why Reigns is still loosely associated on-screen with Rollins, who is in the midst of one of the best stretches of his career and is arguably the hottest act on Raw right now. The logic behind making sure Reigns continues to have some type of on-screen friendship with Rollins (and Ambrose, who is injured right now) is simple: Seeing Reigns with Rollins will make fans miss The Shield, and ideally, that will cause fans to like Reigns more than they would otherwise.
The Shield is perhaps the most popular stable in recent WWE history, so having Reigns subtly or not so subtly continue to have a connection to that group (he does still use its entrance music and ring gear, after all) is WWE's way of hoping that fans like him more than they normally would. After all, if you go back and watch some of the segments involving The Shield from last year, like the group's official reunion (which was one of WWE's most viewed YouTube videos in 2017), it's easy to see why WWE believes that a loose association between Reigns and the other Shield members is the best way to have Reigns win over the fans who despise him the most.
">WWE is moving full steam ahead with a massive push for Roman Reigns.
Credit: WWE.com
Reigns, believe it or not, has suffered his fair share of losses over the last year or so, notably losing major matches at Extreme Rules and SummerSlam in 2017 and both at Royal Rumble and in that historic gauntlet match on Raw in 2018. But despite Reigns' win/loss record being worse than expected in big matches, that hasn't prevented WWE from doing everything it can to position Reigns as the bona fide face of the company and the heir apparent to John Cena.
At this point, though, there is still some obvious fan resentment to the long-running push of Reigns, who continues to be one of the most polarizing figures in wrestling history. However, there are many signs that his push is working, like his incredibly strong YouTube viewership and impressive merchandise sales, and even when his push doesn't seem to be going over too well with WWE's most passionate fans, WWE pulls out all the stops to guarantee that it does.
Over the past six months or so, WWE has made a number of strategic moves in regards to its booking of Reigns, all with the ultimate goal of helping him secure his spot as "the guy" in WWE. Here are five ways WWE has desperately tried to make Reigns its No. 1 star.
His "Shoot" Promo On Brock Lesnar
Credit: WWE.com
There is nothing like a good "shoot" promo to help a star win over even the hardest-to-please fans, and Reigns' worked shoot promo on Brock Lesnar a couple of weeks ago was a clear attempt to get Reigns some more cheers.
Reigns was booked to call out Lesnar on every major issue fans have with "The Beast," including Lesnar's friendly part-time contract and long-running rumors that Lesnar doesn't care about pro wrestling and is simply in it for the paycheck. The promo worked, too. Many called it the best promo of Reigns' career in large part because they've gotten sick of Lesnar's barely there schedule and because they agreed with most of the points Reigns was making.
It's a page right out of the John Cena vs. The Rock playbook, when "The Champ" would criticize "The Great One" for only showing up from time to time and not being truly dedicated to WWE. The idea, of course, was to add a sense of realism to their feud, and it paid off as their match at WrestleMania 28 was the biggest reason why that pay-per-view is the most purchased in WWE history.
That feud was slightly different because The Rock and Cena were both clear-cut babyfaces, but the format of the Reigns/Lesnar rivalry is quite similar. Ultimately, it's all about using the real-life possibility that Lesnar may leave the company in order to quell some of the boo birds for Reigns, and it has worked to a certain degree as the reaction to Reigns' promo was surprisingly and overwhelmingly positive.
Maintaining that momentum will be a completely different animal, but with reports stating WWE wants to make this feud seem as real as possible, don't be surprised if Reigns continues to bash Lesnar in route to WrestleMania 34 in an attempt to win over more fans.
Associating Him With Seth Rollins And Dean Ambrose
Credit: WWE.com
As indicated by their (likely) top five merchandise sales in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are about as close to Reigns as you're going to get when it comes to WWE's full-time stars.
Both Ambrose and Rollins are consistently pushed as upper midcard and main eventers, and as two stars who are almost universally liked, WWE often uses them to the benefit of Reigns. That explains why WWE often associates Rollins and/or Ambrose with Reigns in some way, shape or form, including last fall when The Shield, once a top merchandise seller during their prime in 2014, reunited and was positioned as the No. 2 seller in WWEShop.com advertisements behind only Cena.
It also explains why Reigns is still loosely associated on-screen with Rollins, who is in the midst of one of the best stretches of his career and is arguably the hottest act on Raw right now. The logic behind making sure Reigns continues to have some type of on-screen friendship with Rollins (and Ambrose, who is injured right now) is simple: Seeing Reigns with Rollins will make fans miss The Shield, and ideally, that will cause fans to like Reigns more than they would otherwise.
The Shield is perhaps the most popular stable in recent WWE history, so having Reigns subtly or not so subtly continue to have a connection to that group (he does still use its entrance music and ring gear, after all) is WWE's way of hoping that fans like him more than they normally would. After all, if you go back and watch some of the segments involving The Shield from last year, like the group's official reunion (which was one of WWE's most viewed YouTube videos in 2017), it's easy to see why WWE believes that a loose association between Reigns and the other Shield members is the best way to have Reigns win over the fans who despise him the most.
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