With Braun Strowman on the injured list for somewhere between one and six months, there’s a slight risk we might stop arguing about Roman Reigns for a while. The debate about crowd reactions to the Big Dog was exacerbated by Strowman getting cheers for overtly heelish acts like assaulting a dude strapped to a gurney, or Reigns being booed for getting revenge on the Monster Among Men.
Without Braun, maybe we’d be forced to just watch Roman have good matches with guys like Finn Bálor?
Never fear, wrestling fan on the internet. As usual, John Cena is here to rescue us by giving us reasons to talk about Reigns and why fans respond to him the way they do.
Here Cena’s theory, as explained in a recent interview with SI.com:
I’m not going to take anything away from Roman. He handles his business with the utmost professionalism. He’s doing it on his own watch. He’s not one of the those guys that comes over to me and asks me, “What happens next?” He’s doing it his way, and I think that’s the best way to do it. He’s not trying to be the next John Cena, but he is being the only Roman Reigns - and that’s why it’s met with so much adversity.
I can tell you from first-hand because I know. I wasn’t trying to be Stone Cold or The Rock, I was John Cena. That was met with adversity from people looking for the next Stone Cold or the next Rock. That’s what creates the dichotomy, the polarizing environment.
So, because we want Roman to be the next John Cena (or some other “top guy” template we think he should be following) we dislike him, just like we hated on Cena because he wasn’t trying to be The Rock or Stone Cold?
Not sure I buy it. Your thoughts, Cagesiders?