History YMMV / RomanReigns

** A large contingent of fans feel that Reigns MUST turn heel. Even Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin stated that Reigns should turn heel. As he and many others point out, practically every major face for the last twenty years were entertaining heels before they became faces, including Wrestling/HulkHogan, Wrestling/RandySavage, Austin himself, Reigns' cousin [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], Wrestling/JohnCena AKA Reigns' predecessor as "face of the company", [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] AKA the guy everyone was cheering over Reigns, and even ''Reigns himself as part of Wrestling/TheShield''. When they turned face, they [[ReformedButNotTamed retained all the heel characteristics that made them entertaining in the first place]] while doing more face-like things like being a {{Big Damn Hero|es}}. The logic in that line of thinking seems to be that by turning him heel, it allows him to make his character more believable and get the crowd firmly behind him so that way when he turns back to being a face (for example, after '''''more than six consecutive years''''', which would break Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}'s heel run record), everyone will finally accept his {{Kayfabe}} character. In fact, many fans pointed out that they REALLY don't want Reigns to be like Cena, but to be like Edge during the Ruthless Aggression and PG eras instead. These fans were arguably vindicated when Roman finally ''did'' turn heel in 2020, rapidly winning over almost everyone who'd every doubted him with his new "Tribal Chief" character and coming to be considered the best thing in all of WWE.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Specifically, the WWE and Wrestling/VinceMcMahon. After over half a decade booking Reigns as babyface despite massive fan backlash, WWE finally relented and gave him a heel turn. Which has led to the single most successful run of Reigns' entire career and fans legitimately being so onboard with his "Trial Chief" persona, they've supported a year long title reign that continues at the time of this entry.

** A large contingent of fans feel that Reigns MUST turn heel. Even Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin stated that Reigns should turn heel. As he and many others point out, practically every major face for the last twenty years were entertaining heels before they became faces, including Wrestling/HulkHogan, Wrestling/RandySavage, Austin himself, Reigns' cousin [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], Wrestling/JohnCena AKA Reigns' predecessor as "face of the company", [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] AKA the guy everyone was cheering over Reigns, and even ''Reigns himself as part of Wrestling/TheShield''. When they turned face, they [[ReformedButNotTamed retained all the heel characteristics that made them entertaining in the first place]] while doing more face-like things like being a {{Big Damn Hero|es}}. The logic in that line of thinking seems to be that by turning him heel, it allows him to make his character more believable and get the crowd firmly behind him so that way when he turns back to being a face (for example, after '''''more than six consecutive years''''', which would break Wrestling/{{Edge}}'s heel run record), everyone will finally accept his {{Kayfabe}} character. In fact, many fans pointed out that they REALLY don't want Reigns to be like Cena, but to be like Edge during the Ruthless Aggression and PG eras instead. These fans were arguably vindicated when Roman finally ''did'' turn heel in 2020, rapidly winning over almost everyone who'd every doubted him with his new "Tribal Chief" character and coming to be considered the best thing in all of WWE.

** Again one that is not Reigns' fault and several fans forgave him for that, but there is no way anyone will EVER forget [[spoiler: his retirement of The Undertaker]]. In fact, this was ''so'' badly-received that WWE saw the writing on the wall and [[spoiler: decided to basically ignore it, with 'Taker coming back at ''[=WrestleMania=] 34'' to [[SquashMatch squash]] Wrestling/JohnCena and resume part-time activity]]. Ironically, the only aspect of the situation that the fans don't blame him for is the actual match itself, which everyone agrees was mediocre, but as a result of [[spoiler:Taker's body breaking down at the wrong moment and proving he really could no longer perform at a high level anymore]]. Reigns did his best to carry [[spoiler:Taker]] through the rest of the match, but general agreement is that no one else could've done any better in his place.

** Again one that is not Reigns' fault and several fans forgave him for that, but there is no way anyone will EVER forget [[spoiler: his retirement of The Undertaker]]. In fact, this was ''so'' badly-received that WWE saw the writing on the wall and [[spoiler: decided to basically ignore it, with 'Taker coming back at ''[=WrestleMania=] 34'' to [[SquashMatch squash]] Wrestling/JohnCena and resume part-time activity]].
* NightmareFuel:

* VindicatedByHistory: Back in late 2014-2015, Reigns was considered a green CreatorsPet, undeserving of his main event push and future position as face of the company. These days, that opinion has shifted dramatically; while almost everyone agrees that Reigns really was too green at the time to receive that level of push, his "Tribal Chief" gimmick and subsequent run with the Universal Championship starting in late 2020 proves that he really is a generational talent who is every bit deserving of his top spot. As an extension of that, most feel he's actually one of the biggest victims of WWE's complacent, tone-deaf, and corporate-driven booking of the 2010s, being a natural heel who was forced to play a character that he didn't fit at ''all'' just because the company wanted someone to replace Wrestling/JohnCena and thought his marketability would make him a fitting substitute.

* VindicatedByHistory: Back in late 2014-2015, Reigns was considered a green CreatorsPet, undeserving of his main event push and future position as face of the company. These days, that opinion has shifted dramatically; while almost everyone agrees that Reigns really was too green at the time to receive that level of push, his "Tribal Chief" gimmick and subsequent run with the Universal Championship proves that he really is a generational talent who is every bit deserving of his top spot. Now, most feel he's actually one of the biggest victims of WWE's complacent, tone-deaf, and corporate-driven booking of the 2010s, being a natural heel who was forced to play a character that he didn't fit at ''all'' just because the company wanted someone to replace Wrestling/JohnCena and thought his marketability would make him a fitting substitute.

* ArcFatigue: The Reigns/Lesnar feud has been lingering in the background since 2015 (which, as of this writing, was ''three years ago'', one year longer than the infamous Cena/Rock feud). Even people who like Reigns are starting to get sick of it, especially since their last two one-on-one matches were considered lackluster. Not helping the matter is that most fans and critics can tell that the only reason why the feud hasn't ended yet is that Reigns isn't over enough with the crowd to officially take over as the next top face.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: In the sense that fans started hating the company and the character while sympathizing with the ''performer''. After ''Survivor Series 2015'', it became clear that management and creative had failed Reigns just like they have with everyone else on the roster, so many smarks on the Internet started using him as an example while detailing arguments as to why creative/Vince/whoever sucks while the hatred for Reigns went down to a noticeable degree. When Reigns got over briefly in December 2015 only to become TheScrappy once again a month later, only more sympathy was piled on to him. By that point, it was clear there was no one to really blame but management. Perhaps nothing speaks to this more than the fact that the ''character'' got over when it turned out his performer was a cancer survivor.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy:
** Part of why there was such a widespread apathy for the WWE product post-''Wrestling/WrestleMania 32'' is because the fans were conditioned to react as if Reigns were another Wrestling/JohnCena who would only lose via shenanigans and would always win otherwise. That's why his title match with Wrestling/SethRollins at ''Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank 2016'' had a dead atmosphere in the beginning -- everyone figured that Rollins was going to lose the match since it was too early in Reigns' reign for him to lose it via shenanigans yet. Nobody expected Rollins to win, let alone clean, nor did they expect Ambrose to cash in and finally become champion since the company had him playing second fiddle to Reigns despite being a main-event talent in his own right and infinitely more popular than his best friend. When they suspended Reigns for his violation of the Wellness Policy and it was revealed that the company knew of the violation beforehand (hence the title change), many fans deflated in their enthusiasm, figuring that Ambrose was only a transitional champion and that Reigns would win the upcoming Triple Threat match against Rollins and Ambrose at ''Battleground 2016'' clean -- the best they could hope for was a dusty finish so they could split the world title for the upcoming brand extension. Thus, it was a shock to the fanbase when ''Ambrose'' was the one to win the Triple Threat, and clean to boot, by pinning ''Reigns''.[[note]]Though in hindsight, it becomes clear that Reigns was not going to win the match and the title back. Handing it back to him after he violated the Wellness Policy while he was both champion and the prospective face of the company would've been a PR nightmare, especially since a few weeks after Reigns' suspension, USADA revealed that Wrestling/BrockLesnar had failed two drug tests in regards to his fight at ''UFC 200'', and WWE, in turn, was forced to reveal that wrestlers that work part-time like Lesnar aren't subjected to the Wellness Policy, putting the company in the crosshairs of a potential drug scandal, the sort of black mark a publicly-traded company obviously can't have. Yet the fans, who had become incredibly jaded over the course of Reigns's push, were convinced that there was nothing that would stop the company from continuing to back Reigns.[[/note]] Even after Ambrose won the triple threat, many still figured that Reigns would be in the Universal Title match at ''Wrestling/SummerSlam'' (though it was less having to do with the apathy and more having to do with the fact that Reigns and Rollins were the only two certified main eventers on the show) and win that match -- watching him get pinned clean by [[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Balor]], on Bálor's first night on the main roster was the final push needed to convince the fans that Reigns was no longer the golden boy and reduce the apathy regarding him to almost nonexistent. However, this has returned with a vengeance after he eliminated the Undertaker from the 2017 Royal Rumble match [[spoiler: and later retired him at ''[=WrestleMania=] 33'' (even if Vince told Reigns to do it and The Undertaker approved it)]].
** For once, Reigns was responsible for ending this, at least in regards to Lesnar's first Universal Championship reign, which was notoriously long ('''504 days''', outstripping even Wrestling/CMPunk's historic 434 day-reign). Lesnar barely showed up for even a quarter of that, and by the time Reigns captured the title from him the fans' standards had dropped so low that they were willing to accept any champion that would show up regularly and have good matches with the rest of the roster. Reigns, having improved significantly as an in-ring performer compared to his initial main event push three years prior, easily ticked both boxes so the fans were willing to give him a chance and cheered when he won the title (it also helped that the Wrestling/TheShield re-formed around this time). [[YankTheDogsChain And then he had to vacate it due to his leukemia two and a half months later, forcing the company to put the title back on Lesnar]].

** In short, between the occasional cheers in badass spots, the jarring leukemia revelation, and finally the fresh vision of dominance with none of The Shield training wheels still on, one can best conclude that all it took was less fast-tracking and micromanagement and more presentation of a seasoned Joe Anoa'i to take Roman Reigns from perpetually straddling the line of "get him off my TV" heat to being hailed as the best wrestler in the world.

** Received this since the buildup to [=WrestleMania=] 31 because WWE was clearly pushing him as the next top babyface despite him being too green, having terrible mic skills, and not having evolved his character in any way since Wrestling/TheShield disbanded[[note]]He's still wearing the SWAT attire, uses a remixed version of the Shield's theme, still enters through the crowd, and uses a modified version of the Shield's catchphrase (Believe That!). Some fans have even called him the X-Pac of the Shield because of this.[[/note]] simply because of his look, size, and [[{{Nepotism}} Anoa'i family ties]]. As a result, many of his fans turned against him since he won the 2015 Royal Rumble and wanted him to go away. His reception as a solo star went from cheers, to mixed reactions, to boos. He even received dead silence at times. Ratings for ''Raw'' were on a steady dip during Reign's title run, to the point that ''Pro Wrestling Torch'''s coverage of ''Money in the Bank 2016'', where Dean Ambrose won the title after cashing in on Seth Rollins (who pinned Reigns ''clean'' in the main event), outright attributed Ambrose's title win to WWE needing to do something after the ratings for ''Raw''. Sure enough, ratings for the ''Raw'' after ''Money in the Bank'' spiked, while Reigns's suspension for violating the Wellness Policy the night after was met with both wide celebration and massive disappointment. Celebration because he wouldn't be on ''Raw'' for a couple of weeks and disappointment because the company all but handed him everything in spite of the ardent hostility of the fans only for him to flush it all away. To illustrate just how much of a low point 2016 was for him, he won Pro Wrestling Illustrated's "Most Hated Wrestler of the Year" award, which is supposed to be granted to successful [[{{Heel}} Heels]]. Roman is the only wrestler in the award's history, first inaugurated in 1972, to win it as a {{Face}}.

* PanderingToTheBase: For a good few years beginning around 2016, WWE's then latest strategy in attempting to get Roman over seemed to be rooted in this. First, it was the attempted reunion of Wrestling/TheShield (unfortunately derailed by Wrestling/DeanAmbrose getting injured), then it was having him repeat smark complaints about Wrestling/BrockLesnar never showing up to defend his Universal Championship (which would have worked better if Roman wasn't always the one getting the few shots at Lesnar that ''did'' happen and repeatedly coming up short). Then on his first ''Raw'' after finally winning the Universal Championship from Lesnar he declared his first act as champion would be to give a title shot to the inaugural Universal Champion who'd been injured while winning the belt and forced to relinquish it then never given a return shot- Wrestling/FinnBalor (a repeated complaint for several years had been "Finn never got his rematch!"), which certainly went over well. They then reunited The Shield again (Ambrose having recuperated and returned) after Roman beat Finn to foil Wrestling/BraunStrowman's attempt to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase on Roman. WWE seemed to be using Roman to pander to every smark complaint ''except'' for the ones about ''him...''
** ...Until, of course, came '''2020''', the year in which this trope would be played ''far straighter than anyone could have predicted'': '''[[CueTheFlyingPigs the year of Roman's Heel Turn as a Paul Heyman man.]]''' A Heel run that, to this day, has claimed nothing but critical acclaim.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: In the Babyface Roman Era, WWE's clear decision that they were absolutely intent on making Reigns the next main face of the WWE had caused this. On one hand, the harder they pushed in this direction the more they polarized the fans who already weren't crazy about him; on the other hand, much like with the case of Wrestling/JohnCena, there were also fans who simply liked him without any problem. After the Heel Turn, however, ''[[EnsembleDarkHorse not so much.}}''

* BaseBreakingCharacter: WWE's clear decision that they are absolutely intent on making Reigns the next main face of the WWE has caused this. On one hand, the harder they push in this direction the more they polarize the fans who already weren't crazy about him; on the other hand, much like with the case of Wrestling/JohnCena, there are also fans who simply like him without any problem.

* CriticProof: Kind of. Reigns is supposedly one of WWE's top merch sellers, and a lot of his defenders claim that this proves he really is popular with the non-smark fans to justify his megapush. This is disputed and we could list arguments and counter-arguments over whether the statement is accurate or not, but regardless, it's the argument that his defenders in the industry (including WWE's bookers) use for continuing his push.

** ...Until, of course, came ''2021'', the year in which this trope would be played ''far straighter than anyone could have predicted'': '''[[CueTheFlyingPigs the year of Roman's Heel Turn as a Paul Heyman man.]]''' A Heel run that, to this day, has claimed nothing but critical acclaim.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: No matter how much the crowd boos and insults him, they continue to push him as a forced, cookie-cutter babyface. Triple H all but stated in one interview that as long as Roman is getting ''a'' reaction, they're going to keep doing what they're doing with him.
* PanderingToTheBase: WWE's new strategy in attempting to get Roman over seems to be rooted in this. First, it was the attempted reunion of Wrestling/TheShield (unfortunately derailed by Wrestling/DeanAmbrose getting injured), then it was having him repeat smark complaints about Wrestling/BrockLesnar never showing up to defend his Universal Championship (which would have worked better if Roman wasn't always the one getting the few shots at Lesnar that ''did'' happen and repeatedly coming up short). Then on his first ''Raw'' after finally winning the Universal Championship from Lesnar he declared his first act as champion would be to give a title shot to the inaugural Universal Champion who'd been injured while winning the belt and forced to relinquish it then never given a return shot- Wrestling/FinnBalor (a repeated complaint for several years had been "Finn never got his rematch!"), which certainly went over well. They then reunited The Shield again (Ambrose having recuperated and returned) after Roman beat Finn to foil Wrestling/BraunStrowman's attempt to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase on Roman. WWE seem to be using Roman to pander to every smark complaint ''except'' for the ones about ''him.''

** Received this since the buildup to [=WrestleMania=] 31 because WWE was clearly pushing him as the next top babyface despite him being too green, having terrible mic skills, and not having evolved his character in any way since Wrestling/TheShield disbanded[[note]]He's still wearing the SWAT attire, uses a remixed version of the Shield's theme, still enters through the crowd, and uses a modified version of the Shield's catchphrase (Believe That!). Some fans have even called him the X-Pac of the Shield because of this.[[/note]] simply because of his look, size, and [[{{Nepotism}} Anoa'i family ties]]. As a result, many of his fans turned against him since he won the 2015 Royal Rumble and wanted him to go away. His reception as a solo star went from cheers, to mixed reactions, to boos. He even received dead silence at times. Ratings for ''Raw'' were on a steady dip during Reign's title run, to the point that ''Pro Wrestling Torch'''s coverage of ''Money in the Bank 2016'', where Dean Ambrose won the title after cashing in on Seth Rollins (who pinned Reigns ''clean'' in the main event), outright attributed Ambrose's title win to WWE needing to do something after the ratings for ''Raw''. Sure enough, ratings for the ''Raw'' after ''Money in the Bank'' spiked, while Reigns's suspension for violating the Wellness Policy the night after was met with both wide celebration and massive disappointment. Celebration because he wouldn't be on ''Raw'' for a couple of weeks and disappointment because the company all but handed him everything in spite of the ardent hostility of the fans only for him to flush it all away.

** [[spoiler: Locking Strowman in the ambulance and then deliberately crashing it]] at ''Great Balls of Fire 2017''. Yikes!
** Also (ignoring for the moment the HALF DOZEN F-5s Roman took during this beatdown), everything that Brock Lesnar did to Reigns's head during ''[=WrestleMania=] 34''.
** His feud with Jey Uso leading up to ''Clash of Champions 2020'' where, during the lead up, everyone felt that something wasn't right the moment Jey was crowned number one contender. The following week after Jey joked with Roman with his Universal Championship, Roman shot the coldest DeathGlare ever seen when Jey's back was turned. When Jey called Roman out on this at the go home show, Roman made it clear that he was going to beat Jey badly if he didn't lay down and take the loss. In the match itself, Roman made ''damn good'' on his promise to beat up Jey, demanding that Jey stay down and acknowledge him as the Tribal Chief, and only becoming more violent and vicious every time Jey denied him. It got so bad an injured Jimmy had to limp out, throw in the towel despite Jey imploring him not to, throw himself into the line of fire and acknowledge Roman as the Chief himself to stop the beating on his brother from getting dire. Freaking '''[[SerialKiller Karrion Kross]]''' would've had to eat his heart out, except all the reviewers just plain ''forgot he'd also provoked a potential white-towel scenario less than two months earlier''. Roman Reigns was on such a different level of vile tyrant that even the FleetingDemographicRule dared not speak up to him.
** Then came ''Hell of a Cell 2020'' in which Roman announces the stipulations: if Jey lost he either becomes Roman's indentured servant or he, his brother and and ther families get excommunicated from the Anoai family if he refused. Come which not only Roman beat Jey within an inch ''again'' but beat up the referee that tried to stop the match and then after seemly remorseful after Jimmy came down to snap Roman out of it, he used the ruse to ''choke out the '''still-injured''''' Jimmy which had Jey saying I quit to for Roman to stop.
** Since then, Roman has been ruling ''Wrestling/SmackDown'' with an iron fist demanding fear from the entire roster whether it's corrupting Jey in beating the hell out of Daniel Bryan ([[YouHaveFailedMe and beating the hell out of Jey when he fails]]) or attacking Kevin Owens and calmly introducing himself to the Owens family to say that he will take the food from the table if KO doesn't start fearing him.

* TearJerker:
** [[https://i.redditmedia.com/zUP3GTXtGxsNszgGArL9R0pnUDBvpTGCLhWJtwId7rw.jpg?w=743&s=078563ac9cb8bc7b48d7585c33e616b8 Seeing Reigns backstage]] after [[spoiler: beating The Undertaker at ''[=WrestleMania=]'']] makes you see how much he didn't want to be the one who [[spoiler: retired The Undertaker.]]
** His brother, Matt "Rosey" Anoa'i, died on April 17, 2017 [[DownerEnding at the young age of 47.]] Unfortunately for Joe Anoa'i, this did not stop people to say that they wished that Joe died instead of Rosey. Thankfully for Joe however, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments a lot of tweets (Many of which were by people who hate Roman Reigns) were sent to support him,]] [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome along with calling out the people who wished for Joe's death instead.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSSLHiWpe0k On October 22, 2018, he revealed that he suffered leukemia 10 years ago, but after going into remission it has returned, forcing him to give up his Universal Title.]] The way he brings this up is also tragic; he enters the ring as Roman, being booed and jeered as he begins to speak into the mic. But then he begins speaking as ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Joe]]'' and talks about his struggles with leukemia in the past and the whole crowd goes into StunnedSilence. By the time he's stopped speaking and laid down his belt, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments he's receiving massive cheers from the crowd: "THANK YOU, ROMAN!" Dean and Seth show up on stage to give Roman a hug.]]

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Specifically, the WWE and VinceMcMahon. After over half a decade booking Reigns as babyface despite massive fan backlash, WWE finally relented and gave him a heel turn. Which has led to the single most successful run of Reigns' entire career and fans legitimately being so onboard with his "Trial Chief" persona, they've supported a year long title reign that continues at the time of this entry.

** Roman's heel turn also rescued the WWE Universal Championship from the heap, with Roman's dominance making it feel like a true world championship and ''the'' title of ''[=SmackDown=]'' after years of being a complete joke damaged by lackluster feuds, a pair of injury-based vacations ([[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Bálor]] injuring his shoulder during the ''inaugural match'' as well as Roman's leukemia fight during his first reign) and absenteeism by part-time title-holders.

** After being gone from WWE for four months in 2020 because of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, Roman made a shocking return at ''Wrestling/SummerSlam,'' coming out at the end of the Universal Championship match between Wrestling/BrayWyatt and Wrestling/BraunStrowman and beating up both men with a steel chair while shouting angry abuse at them. This was shocking enough and started discussions about whether this was actually Roman's long-awaited FaceHeelTurn (although this was countered by people pointing out that [[DesignatedHero Roman had done far more heelish things in the past while still being booked as a face]]). However, an even bigger shock was in store the next week on ''[=SmackDown=]'' when Adam Pearce eventually tracked down Roman to get him to sign the contract for the championship match against Bray and Braun at ''Payback'' only to find him accompanied by his new advocate- '''[[Wrestling/PaulHeyman PAUL. FREAKING. HEYMAN.]]''' So yeah, it's confirmed- after ''six years'' of playing the same character, Roman Reigns is now a ''heel!''

** In short, between the occasional cheers in badass spots, the jarring leukemia revelation, and the fresh character that is entirely separate from The Shield, one can best conclude that all it took was being less manufactured by management and more presented as an extension of a seasoned Joe Anoa'i for Roman Reigns to go from perpetually straddling the line of "get him off my TV" heat to being hailed as the best wrestler in the world.

** Reigns lost his scrappy status and XPacHeat permanently after he was forced to relinquish the Universal Title and go on hiatus to battle his leukemia. Part of it was because of sympathy, but another part of it was due to his speech. When Reigns made his speech, talking as his real self, Joe Anoa'i, he apologized that he couldn't stay and be their fighting champion, that he appreciated the fans for always reacting to him, and that this wasn't a retirement speech — after he was done beating leukemia, he was coming back ''home''. Many fans noted that he sounded more like the face that they would support and cheer for than he had for most of his career being booked like John Cena. To them, it was the final proof they needed that he really did deserve his spot as the company's top face.