Roman Reigns best suited in anti-hero role

By Daniel DeMarco Syndicated from todaysknockout,



Like much of WWE’s audience, I was fervently against the idea of Roman Reigns winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 32.

But you know what? Less than 24 hours later, my whole perspective changed. This whole fiasco could actually be turned around in a really good way both bringing a lot of entertainment and good storylines, as well as actually making Reigns an enjoyable character to have around. Reigns winning at WrestleMania might actually be more than worth it.

Monday Night Raw, the day after WrestleMania, is must-see. The show guarantees one of the best audiences of the year and WWE always throws surprises out there as well as starting brand new stories and feuds. Funny then how the biggest takeaway was the subtle booking of Reigns in his brief appearances on Raw that, overall, were likely not meant to matter much.

For weeks now, all the talk has been about an overwhelming desire for Reigns to turn heel. Fans were hoping to be swerved at WrestleMania with such an occurrence; hoping it just would not end up being the basic, predicted victory without any extra frills. Everyone wants a heel-Reigns because the guy just is plainly not a babyface like WWE was pushing him to be. The square peg cannot be pushed through the round hole, and Reigns cannot be pushed as a good, clean babyface.

Somehow though, everyone seemed to miss it, and WWE just may have found it. We have been too busy looking at the two opposite ends of the spectrum, but the real answer is in the middle. He said it himself. He’s not a bad guy. He’s not a good guy.

Reigns is certainly not meant to be a babyface, and perhaps he could make a good heel, but the outfit that would suit him best is that of the anti-hero kind of character. The right way to build the Reigns character is in the same vein as Stone Cold or CM Punk; he cares not for what is good nor what is bad, he cares for what needs to get done.

Reigns already has the look down. Whether a fan or not, you have to admit that Reigns has a cool presence; he looks like a badass brawler. It is a makeup that is already screaming anti-hero.

On top of that, Reigns has another feature to him which fits the bill quite well. If you notice, he is a generally casual guy. He presents himself pretty calm and collected, and, particularly in the post-‘Mania Raw, nonchalant. Yet when you cross him, the guy is a powerhouse of fury and rage who will destroy everything in his path to do what he came to do. Again, an excellent match for the anti-hero role — it is eerily similar to how Stone Cold presented himself, yet with Reigns it does not feel like he is ripping it off in the slightest.

Reigns’ appearance on Raw also seemed to hint at something which would help his character and the product as a whole. WWE may be booking Reigns to be a fighting champion, and if so, it would be excellent.

Similar to John Cena and his run with the U.S. Championship. It was a great gimmick to enjoy each week with Cena, but it fits Reigns’ character too. He comes off as a guy who likes to fight. There are no cheap tricks or cons with him like Seth Rollins throughout his title run in 2015. You could even book Reigns as the guy who wants to defend his title at any chance he can get, so much so that the higher-ups like Vince and Stephanie McMahon have to stop him from doing so. That would get over so well.

When you combine the two elements of the anti-hero and the fighting champion which were hinted at, either purposely or accidentally, you have got yourself a compelling character. Not to mention it fits.

It has only been some 18 months of WWE trying to push Roman Reigns. In the end, when it looked like all hope was lost and the audience was dead-set on resisting no matter what, WWE decided to plow forward and go with the unpopular plan anyway.