Rise of the Roman Empire...Again?

Roman Reigns has become a very interesting character in the professional wrestling world. After his victory on Monday Night Raw in a fatal 4-way match to become the number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, it appears that WWE is once again trying to give Reigns another big push. As I said in my WWE Hell in a Cell 2015 Thoughts video, the crowd reaction to Reigns will ultimately decide if this push is fueled or derailed. After a negative reaction to Reigns destroyed WWE’s plans to have Reigns officially become the face of the company at Wrestlemania 31, will this push succeed or once again force WWE to make a last second change? Allow me to explain.

Let’s start with the initial crowd reaction to Reigns when he debuted with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins as a member of the Shield in 2012. During his time with the Shield, the faction, which was originally “heel” or villainous, started to get over with the fans, and they began receiving cheers from the crowd that rivaled those of some of the top “faces” or good guys in WWE. Reigns amassed a sizeable fan base as the quiet but deadly force of the Shield, and during the 2014 Royal Rumble match, he was heavily cheered by the Pittsburgh crowd as he and Batista locked horns as the final two combatants before he was eliminated. After the split of the Shield in the summer of 2014, fan reaction toward Reigns began to turn for the worse as small pockets of boos hidden in the WWE crowds turned into a sea of anger and disdain that culminated at the 2015 Royal Rumble.

In what was supposed to be the starting point for Reigns to be the next face of the company, the Philadelphia crowd unmercifully booed Reigns out of the building after he won the match. Not even the Rock, who made an appearance to give a symbolic nod to Reigns, could turn the boos into cheers. At the next pay-per-view, Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan to retain his number one contendership for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship that he earned by winning the Royal Rumble. After the match, Bryan, a wrestler that wrestling crowds love and adore, gave Reigns his stamp of approval, but Reigns continued to receive bad reactions and at Wrestlemania 31, in what had been reported to be a last minute decision by WWE, Seth Rollins entered the main event by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract. He then pinned Reigns and walked out of Wrestlemania 31 as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Since then, Reigns has been put on the backburner as WWE seemingly attempted to figure out a way to turn the boos he received into cheers. They had him team up with fan favorite and former Shield member Dean Ambrose over the summer, and they had him do battle with one of WWE’s best heel acts in Bray Wyatt. The Reigns versus Wyatt saga concluded at Hell in a Cell 2015 with Reigns picking up a huge Hell in a Cell match win. That win is apparently another launch point for another Reigns push as he became the number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship the following night on Raw. So how will this push be received by fans?

Based on the reaction from the crowd on Monday Night Raw, the crowd has been receptive to the idea of Reigns being the next championship challenger. While there were a few boos directed at Reigns during the match, there were resounding cheers and chants for Reigns during his post match stare down with Rollins. It is still way too early to see if WWE fully commits to its latest push for Reigns, but based on what happened on Raw, I think that the rise of the Roman Empire is coming to fruition. My prediction for the upcoming Survivor Series event next month is that Reigns will defeat Rollins to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Believe that.

How he will win the title is up for debate. Is a heel turn for Reigns out of the question? To see what I think, come back next week as I attempt to book Survivor Series 2015.