Road Dogg has dismissed claims that WWE should have turned Roman Reigns heel earlier.
Even while The Shield were together it was believed that Roman Reigns would be positioned as WWE’s next megastar. As soon as The Shield fell apart, that theory came true and Reigns became a fixture in the main event. However, not everyone was happy about it.
As time passed Reigns became a source of significant criticism from fans who cited his lack of evolution since being in The Shield, while others resented him dominating the card no matter what. Reigns became so unpopular that not even an appearance from The Rock wasn’t enough to prevent him from being booed after winning the 2015 Royal Rumble after their favourite Daniel Bryan was eliminated from the match early on.
However, Reigns finally turned heel in the summer of 2020 and has been on the run of a lifetime ever since. This has only added to the claims from fans that WWE should have turned him heel earlier.
Despite this, speaking on a recent episode of his podcast Oh You Didn’t Know, WWE Executive Road Dogg maintained that the company did the right thing.
“No, I don’t think so. I mean, I think you gotta let stuff sit. You got to let stuff simmer, and I know that’s unpopular in today’s day and age where I can get whatever I want and I can get it right now. But sometimes you got to sit on this and see which way the wind blows, you know what I mean? And like, boy, it blew in the right direction because look where we stand now.
Look where he stands now, as an individual, as a Superstar and the company’s better for having him, you know what I mean? It all speaks volumes to the many that during this time hated Roman, you know what I mean? It speaks volumes to them to go don’t take it so seriously. Tomorrow’s a new day like we’re going to change things are going to change and be different and whatever you know what I mean.
People hated him, they hated him, and they hate him now but yet everybody in the sold out arena, which there are a lot of them nowadays, acknowledges him on the weekly, you know what I mean? And they listen to every word and they’re hanging on every word and every facial, even in these in ring promos, Holy mackerel, man. The matches are secondary. Like it’s the acting and the and the the writing of the in-ring promos that are award winning in my [mind],it’s the best I’ve ever seen in wrestling.
And I’ll say that without a shadow of a doubt Roman getting down on his knee and crying and then hitting [the low blow], that hurt my heart when he started crying, because I get that man, I feel that in there with your brothers. They’re his cousins, but they were as tight as brothers that grew up together, they live together and they’re all family in there. And they’re on top of the wrestling world. And they’re doing this. I could cry in there to be honest with you, I bust out crying.”
Roman Reigns Set For Tribal Combat
As Roman Reigns’ run of domination has continued, a new challenger has emerged. After the splintering of The Bloodline, the war between Reigns and Sikoa and The Usos has been intense. On the July 21st episode of SmackDown, it was confirmed that Jey Uso will be the next man to challenge Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title at SummerSlam, while Reigns’ title as Tribal Chief will also be up for grabs.
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