The Roman Reigns problem is something that the WWE has been banging their heads on for a long time now. While even a novice who understands the wrestling business knows that turning him heel might be the best option, WWE Creative has shown abject ignorance when it comes to Roman’s booking.
But if one listens to the latest rumours, it looks like WWE might have gotten through their heads to turn Roman heel at long last. With the rumours of a potential Taker vs Reigns match at WrestleMania 33 growing strong, one can only expect WWE to turn Reigns heel in the process.
Here is a speculative article as to how to book Roman’s heel run and actually get him over the WWE Universe.
Note: This entire article is written on the basis of Roman winning the title at Rumble.
The buildup to Mania
With Roman winning the title at Rumble, he is sure to garner some heat with the ardent WWE fans for taking the title away from Kevin Owens. While WWE goes ahead with the Owens vs Jericho feud for the Mania, The Undertaker challenges Roman for the title at Mania during a segment on Raw.
Roman continues with his tweener persona during the build up. He refuses to accept Taker’s challenge and states that The Undertaker is old and washed up and couldn’t compete with him at the Grandest Stage. This creates more heat on Roman heading into Mania.
After initial rounds of fiery exchanges between Taker and Roman, Roman drops the bombshell on Taker stating that he will put his title on the line if Taker puts his career on the line. Taker initially hesitates and Roman taunts him as being too weak to rise up to the challenge, which angers Taker.
An angry Taker accepts the challenge and asks Reigns if he is man enough to step into hell with him. Reigns balks initially, but later accepts the challenge for the Hell in a Cell match with Taker at WrestleMania 33.
This creates a scenario where Taker can be sent off in style and also helps to make the match between Taker and Reigns interesting.
WrestleMania 33 – Taker vs Reigns (Hell in a Cell) Title vs Career
Heading into the match, Reigns is still the tweener that the crowd hates and Taker is the proverbial babyface who is battling for his career. Considering Taker’s age, Reigns can be the one to take a lot of punishment in the match but is also able to deliver some hard hitting shots on Taker too.
Hell in a Cell provides the ideal environment to make Taker look strong during the match. It is his playground and WWE can use the mystique of The Undertaker to create a strong showing of Taker in the last match. The gimmick match helps Taker’s age and Reigns can be the one that gets dismantled for most of the match.
After a lot of high spots, Reigns can triumph over Taker and end Taker’s illustrious career in style.
The night after WrestleMania
Reigns returns to the ring amidst heavy boos since he will naturally be hated for ending Taker’s career. Reigns could then cut a scintillating promo along the following lines to turn heel at last:
“I told you people that I was going to bury Taker in hell and I did. But I realized something last night. Last night, to be precise, when I ended Taker’s career.
You know what it is (he teases being a face), I realized how great Taker was to retain such love from you for all these years. The love I have been trying to earn from you for a long time. But...
I am sick of you idiots cheering for some old washed up guys like Taker and booing me. I am sick of these oldtimers hogging on to the spotlight that is rightfully mine.
I am sick of you morons chanting for people who are weak and washed up like Taker. And you know what, it gave me such huge pleasure to end that miserable has-been’s career.
And in that moment, I realized something. Something that I have been missing for a long time. Like an epiphany.
If these old timers don’t want to give up the spotlight that is rightfully mine, then I will take it away from them. I will take what is rightfully mine. I will end their careers if I have to.”
Thus Reigns turns heel in an explosive fashion and becomes the top heel on the roster with a single promo.
Feuding with oldtimers and forcefully retiring them
Reigns goes on to defend his title with a chip on his shoulder for being the only one to have defeated Taker at WrestleMania in a Hell in a Cell match. But during his next title defence, Reigns is robbed of the title by one of the oldtimers like Henry or Big Show who is close to retirement.
Reigns then goes on a rampage to end the oldtimers for good.
This scenario presents two great options. It effectively removes Reigns from the main event scene and pushes him to the mid card without reducing his status.
It also provides an opportunity for the old warhorses like Show, Henry, Goldust, R-Truth and several others who are on the cusp of retirement to have one last meaningful feud before they retire for good.
This also establishes a continuing storyline for several PPVs as Reigns takes on old warhorses one by one and forcefully retires them. He can even participate in handicap matches against tag teams like Golden Truth to provide some variety in the feud and to also make himself look strong and dangerous.
The crowd will hate Reigns for his attitude and demeanour while the old warhorses can get the hero's send-off they truly deserve.
SummerSlam - Goldberg vs Roman Reigns
The battle of spears is right up the alley in the ongoing storyline for Reigns. Goldberg returns to WWE and confronts Reigns on his recent activities. Reigns and Goldberg face-off. Reigns then challenges Goldberg to a match at SummerSlam on the same stipulation he gave the others. Lose and your career ends.
Goldberg accepts the stipulation and they face-off at SummerSlam. The match between them is basically a slugfest with a lot of power moves.
The match turns in Goldberg’s favour at the end. Right when he is about to hit the jackhammer, a trio of masked men attack him and lay him out much to the shock of everyone in the arena.
Thus Goldberg has a loophole if he doesn’t want to retire after SummerSlam. But this booking will enable Reigns to be established as a true heel who uses underhanded tactics.
Formation of the Samoan Stable
Right around SummerSlam, the WWE draft will take place and Reigns gets drafted to SmackDown Live! from Raw. Once he moves to SmackDown, Reigns forms a heel stable consisting of four members including himself.
The masked attackers are revealed to be The Usos and Samoa Joe. The heel Samoan stable then dominates the lay of SmackDown Live! by terrorising the roster with their ruthless attacks on other wrestlers.
They declare their intentions to clear WWE of the unworthy old warhorses and anyone who supports them.
The stable goes on a rampage which is similar to The Shield. It brings back old memories of a stable dominating the entire roster with their brutal attacks. They eventually cross paths with none other than John Cena and the repetitive beatdown on John begins.
It helps John to turn face if he is heel at that time.
Survivor Series - John Cena vs Roman Reigns (If John loses, his career ends)
The buildup to the match revolves around Roman blaming John for all his misfortunes with the crowd. He claims that John is the reason behind the crowd not accepting him when his time came and vows to end John’s career as a revenge.
John and Reigns go at each other at Survivor Series with the stable banned from ringside. Cena bucks the odds once again and wins the match to sustain his career. The victory creates a friction in the stable.
In the following weeks, their disagreement grows and the stable is almost at the point of splitting up before Rumble.
Joe and others want to attack wrestlers like Ambrose and Rollins, but Reigns reminds them that they are only after the old warhorses. This makes Joe feel that Roman is slipping in leading the stable.
Royal Rumble – The Rock returns to confront the Samoans
During the buildup to Royal Rumble, the friction between the stable boils up to a point where they are almost on the verge of splitting up. Reigns and Joe both want to be the winner of the match and hence the entire stable is at odds with each other.
At the Royal Rumble, Joe and Reigns are two of the last three men left in the match with a babyface like Sami Zayn being the other one.
Reigns and Joe get into a confrontation. They go at each other and eliminate each other. Zayn wins the Rumble and the duo are angry with each other as they face-off in the ring after the match with the other members of the stable trying to separate them.
At this moment, The Rock returns to WWE and confronts the Samoans on their activities, He calls them a disgrace to the heritage and vows to set things right.
WrestleMania 34 Buildup – The Rock vs The Samoans
During the buildup to WrestleMania 34, The Rock tries to drive a wedge between The Samoans. He accuses Reigns of staining the family’s legacy and calls him out for acting like a popinjay. He calls out the best among The Samoans to face him at WrestleMania 34.
Reigns accepts the challenge much to the displeasure of Joe, who feels that he is the best. This creates a rift in The Samoans. The Rock uses every underhanded method he knows, to drive The Samoans apart. He even questions Reigns’ capability to win a match without the help of others.
An angry Reigns bans the members of the stable from the ringside for his match at WrestleMania 34.
WrestleMania 34 – The Rock vs Roman Reigns (The Best Samoan)
With the members of the stable banned from ringside, Reigns faces The Rock at WrestleMania to determine who the best Samoan is. After a stellar match between the duo, Rock wins the match.
After the match, The Samoans attack The Rock. But Roman tries to break them up. They argue in the ring leaving The Rock to recuperate. Reigns sends The Samoans out of the ring and turns to check on The Rock. The Rock delivers a Rock Bottom to Reigns and escapes the others.
The Rock celebrants from the ramp as the Samoans check on Reigns to close out the show.
The night after WrestleMania 34
Roman comes out to the ring alone. He addresses his loss to The Rock and accepts that The Rock is the best Samoan wrestler ever. He recalls how great the match was, but in the end, the best man won.
The stable comes out much to the surprise of Roman Reigns. Joe interrupts Reigns and tells him that The Rock is not the best Samoan wrestler ever.
He says that he himself is the best Samoan wrestler and accuses Reigns of stealing his spot at WrestleMania. He says that Reigns has been slipping in his leadership for months now and it was now time that they did something about that.
The stable lays out Roman and tries to injure him. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins come out to make the save for Roman and thus create a Shield reunion to enable a Roman face turn. In the upcoming weeks, The Shield feuds with The Samoans.
Do you feel that this booking will help Reigns with his heel run? Let me know at @VKKirupa
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