What if Roman Reigns takes on The Rock at WrestleMania 35?
Last year, the rumor mill got buzzing about The Rock potentially looking to return to WWE, and the most likely scenario of him facing off with his cousin Roman Reigns. The pairing would make sense enough in WWE’s ongoing mission to get Reigns over at the highest level. Additionally, Reigns is one of the very few stars who is both of stature to reasonably challenge The Great One, and also still benefit from the rub (whereas talents like The Undertaker, Triple H, John Cena, and Brock Lesnar wouldn’t get the same benefit to their standing).
Ideas of Rock vs. Reigns, and indeed Rock working a match at ‘Mania at all, fizzled after Reigns announced he had to take time away to battle leukemia, and after as rumors emerged that The Rock wasn’t interested in a proposed transition to working Lesnar.
However, now that Reigns is back on the WWE landscape and has returned just in time for WrestleMania, it seems likely he’ll ride his first major wave of popularity to a match at ‘Mania. If that’s the case, might we get Reigns vs. The Rock after all? This article takes a look at what that might mean.
#5 Face vs. Face
Face versus face matches can be difficult for the awkward dynamic of fans not being sure whom to root for, no one being able to work a proper heat segment, and the risk of damaging whichever wrestler becomes the de facto heel. Just the same, The Rock vs. Roman Reigns would represent a unique set of circumstances.
Reigns has fan support like never before right now, based on beating back leukemia in real life and his inspirational return to the squared circle. For the first time, WWE probably couldn’t garner a heel response for him even if they wanted to (which probably wouldn’t make any sense now anyway).
Meanwhile, The Rock is the biggest megastar to come out of wrestling, emerging as a bona fide Hollywood star. While he can play the heel effectively, and some fans are inclined to boo him, he’s nonetheless a big enough star that it would be difficult for WWE to cast him as a villain out of the gate. Moreover, Batista already seems to have cornered the market on returning legends playing the bad guy. With all of these factors in consideration, the only logical conclusion is that Reigns and Rock would both play faces.