Opinion: Roman Reigns returning as a heel would turn WWE on its head
When he first debuted with the Shield, Roman Reigns was a heel. But ever since he's been a singles competitor, Reigns has always been treated as and booked as a babyface regardless of the opponent.
He was the latest wrestler to receive the 'John Cena' treatment, in that he would always be treated as a babyface and overcome insurmountable odds in order to triumph.
When he was forced to relinquish the Universal Championship in October due to a reoccurrence of his Leukemia, it shocked everyone.
It also guaranteed that when he was ready to return, he'd be treated like the babyface that WWE has always tried to get him over as.
He's slated to return to both Raw and appear on Good Morning America next week in order to update the world on his recovery.
But since it's so predictable and expected that he'd return to the WWE as a face and how Vince McMahon wants to change things up from getting stale, the biggest thing they could do to be unpredictable would be to do with Reigns the one thing fans have always wanted John Cena to do - turn him heel.
Think of the feuds he could have as a heel - Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, the New Day, Ricochet - and how it might get him over a la Stone Cold Steve Austin initially. He's already feuded with a lot of the heels on the roster.
If there was one thing that was extremely stale prior to Reigns departing WWE, it was the booking of Reigns as the constant underdog challenger to the Universal Championship.
Crowds were slightly in his favor when he consistently opposed Brock Lesnar because they were tired of Lesnar's part-time antics holding Raw and the Universal Championship hostage.
Reigns' bout with Leukemia will make it easy to book him as a face looking for redemption by reclaiming the title he had to give up and not lose.
It's a big reason why crowds were behind Finn Balor so much getting another chance at the title he never lost.
But a big problem even before Reigns departed was that his storylines were stale. He would always overcome every opponent (save for Lesnar) and his matches often ran over 20-25 minutes at WrestleMania. And not an exciting 25 minutes.
If WWE is afraid of the fact that the product has become stale and that they've already ruined a lot of stars like Samoa Joe, Rusev and Braun Strowman, then one of the biggest moves they could make is having Reigns turn heel once he returns full-time.
He could be a ruthless assassin type and attack a lot of beloved faces. The simplest ways would be to turn on Seth Rollins or attack the likes of Balor, AJ Styles or Rey Mysterio.
WWE needs to switch a lot of things up regarding how they have traditionally booked things because even though they may not have changed a lot, the professional wrestling world around them has.
It might be the best move to try things out that aren't so predictable. When the chairman of the company acknowledges that the product 'is stale and that they need new superstars that they haven't ruined', then it's a clear indication that they know that they are deliberately messing up some wrestlers that had potential.
I think it's time to truly shake things up with one of the biggest stars in the company. The fans will initially be behind Reigns once he returns, but for how long? And if it comes at the expense of more stars, how long will he be cheered?
Disclaimer: These are the thoughts of the writer alone and does not reflect the views of Sportskeeda