Saving the Roman Empire

One of the most puzzling things I’ve seen as of late on WWE television is the creative team’s utter botching of Roman Reigns character. By now you’ve seen a dozen and a half articles about how WWE is (or depending on who you ask, isn’t) booking him. At this point there is no need to rehash any of that. What we can and will focus on today is something I’ve picked up on in recent months and that is the fact there are other superstars on the rosters who are flourishing in the role that would be perfect for Roman’s character.

Exhibit A: none other than Smackdown Live’s own Baron Corbin. The Lone Wolf went on a war path destroying “little guys” a couple months back leading up to a brief feud with Kalisto. That isn’t the part that caught my eye though, it was how he was doing it. He talked very little and when he did he was straight to his point, and then he proceeded to carry out his mission by dominating his opponents relentlessly. Corbin also has victories over many of the elites on Smackdown Live such as Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles.

Now let’s look at exhibit B: the newest member of the Monday Night Raw roster, Samoa Joe. In his case he began his main roster debut by shelving one of the hottest superstars on the brand in Seth Rollins. There is no better way to get your career off to a hot start than to take out a former multiple time world champion. Similar to Corbin, Joe speaks very little (but pretty well when he does speak) gets straight to his point then proceeds to dominate his competition in brutal fashion (see his most recent dismantling of Sami Zayn on last week’s episode of Raw). 

Now for my point: both of these guys are flourishing in a role that is PERFECT for Roman Reigns. The question is, why doesn’t the creative team realize this or the better question, do they care? It seems WWE upper management is hell bent on us liking Roman whether we want to or not. Roman should have been turned over a year ago and allowed to make his way on his own by doing his favorite thing: kicking ass. Instead, we are still being force fed something we showed that we didn’t want in Philly two years ago. He would thrive in a role similar to these two guys as his mic work leaves more to be desired and his in ring work could still use some fine tuning. I feel like if they continue down this path, that they are going to ruin him permanently. On the other hand, I also do not feel that it’s too late for him. I still have faith that the Roman Empire can be salvaged, if given the right role.  . It’s just up to WWE creative to realize this as well. What are your thoughts? Drop a comment below and let’s talk!