Roman Reigns can undergo a character change similar to WWE legend who had a 793-day title reign, claims veteran (Exclusive)
Roman Reigns is fast approaching 1000 days as Universal Champion, and while some fans might be annoyed by his never-ending reign, Dutch Mantell compared the Tribal Chief to Ric Flair and spoke about a potential character change.
The undisputed world champion has been sitting pretty at the top of WWE for a few years now, and as highlighted on this week's Smack Talk, fans might be getting tired of his dominance. Some viewers have admittedly gotten bored of seeing Roman Reigns as a heel, and Dutch Mantell urged WWE to listen to the growing voices.
As noted earlier, Mantell proposed a face turn for Roman Reigns and provided Ric Flair's example from the 1980s, when The Nature Boy was at the peak of his powers.
Flair had multiple reigns with the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, with his longest run ending at 793 days. Astonishingly enough, The Nature Boy had three more world title stints that crossed the 400-day mark and another for 631 days.
Dutch Mantell recalled that despite being a heel, Flair was adored by the audience and envisioned the same for Reigns.
"Can it get annoying? Yes. And hopefully, they listen; hopefully, they listen to the people, and they will change that. Roman Reigns is probably over more than everybody they've got over there, I think. But they pushed him like a son of a gun for three, four years, and he will be like the heel like Ric Flair. They pushed him so long when they turned him, and he was a babyface, really. He was a heel they [fans] loved. And I think Roman can do the same thing," explained Dutch Mantell. [From 1:09:00 - 1:09:55]
Ric Flair wished he would have wrestled Roman Reigns
The 16-time world champion returned to the ring last year in his "Last Match," and even though he's proven to be unpredictable with his promises, Ric Flair does not plan on wrestling again.
While speaking on his podcast last month, the 74-year-old legend named Roman Reigns as the only superstar he wanted to wrestle in his illustrious career but couldn't.
While Flair has competed against the best from various eras, he regrets not getting the chance to share the squared circle with WWE's biggest superstar.
"Not while I was active, but the guy I always wish I could have wrestled even in my early 50s is Roman [Reigns]. He's the only guy I wish I could have wrestled that I didn't get to because I wrestled everybody else," said Flair. Not at my best, but at least I got a chance to be in the ring with them." [From 49:20 to 49:43]
Who would you predict to win if Ric Flair and Roman Reigns battled each other in their respective primes? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you use quotes from this article, please embed the YouTube video and add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.