Are fans wrong about Reigns not being main-event ready?
If you’re a wrestling fan, it’s almost impossible to scroll down your Facebook news feed, without seeing a few statues about 2015 Royal Rumble winner, Roman Reigns. Whether it’s comments about his skills on the microphone, or his limited wrestling move set, fans everywhere have chimed in about what they think of the former Shield member. While the WWE Universe is entitled to their opinion, as am I entitled to mine, I can’t help but feel that many fans are judging Roman Reigns a bit unfairly. Now I’m not saying the man doesn’t have a few shortcomings inside the squared circle, but I don’t think they are as bad as The WWE Universe and The IWC want you to think they are.
Let’s start with his microphone skills. For months now, The IWC has been in an uproar over whether Roman Reigns can cut a decent promo or not, many of these criticisms came after he did his “Jack and The Bean Stock” promo on Big Show in December. Now, as a wrestling fan, I can understand that Nursery rhymes aren’t going to appeal to older individuals who watch WWE, but since were in the PG kid friendly era of wrestling, these types of promos aren’t really meant for us anyway. That means, that some of the microphone skills that everyone keeps dumping on, weren’t even meant to appeal to them at all. I don’t know about you, but when I look at other promos that Reigns has done, I find nothing wrong with them. The crowd always reacts loudly to his comments, he knows when to take a pause for dramatic effect, and his punch lines at the end are some of the best in the WWE right now! The point of a promo, is to sell a pay per view match or to progress a story, and Roman Reigns has shown he can do that just fine. I know he’s not always spot on perfect with his delivery, but I feel this comes from too many fans comparing him to The Rock, instead of letting him forge his own path.
The second thing fans seem to take issue with when it comes to Reigns, is his “limited move set.” I find this particularly funny, because fans always claim that this makes Reigns not ready for a main event title shot, but fans fail to realize that, the other person they complain about having a limited move set, is the same guy who has dominated the company for the last ten years. *Cough cough* John Cena! Have fans ever stopped to think that a limited move set is a good thing? That, maybe a limited move set helps a superstar avoid injury and conserve themselves for a long career, like John Cena has? Whatever the reason for limited move sets by certain superstars, it must be working, because Cena has definitely been on top of the mountain for a long time now, despite constant criticism of his “Five Moves of Doom.”
Statistics show that only 25% of wrestling fans are under the age of 18, which is exactly the audience the WWE is trying to appeal to. Face it...these kids are young, impressionable, and just want to see their favorite superstar beat up the villains of The WWE, they don’t give a crap about how many moves a certain wrestler has. They just care about how many times they use the moves to take out the villain. Now you may be asking yourself, what about the other 75% of wrestling fans and why the WWE is not trying to appeal to them. Honestly, The WWE has a few adult oriented segments that air throughout the night, like The Rock Concert in 2014, or CM Punk’s Chicago promo back in 2011, but the main focus in always on the children of the WWE Universe. The reason for the WWE’s focus on the children in the audience is simple, these kids, and their families actually invest into the product, by buying tickets, shirts, memorabilia and even pay per views.
On the other hand, some older wrestling fans, don’t contribute anything to the business, and watch it purely to mock the current direction that the WWE is taking. This is where those Roman Reigns haters come in. These Roman Reign haters think the product should be changed, they think they have a say, despite not contributing anything to the product, besides their snarky little comments. In the end, the WWE is not marketing to them, so their arguments have no value to them. This means, that all these complaints about Roman Reigns not being ready to main-event WrestleMania 31 are pointless. The WWE is not trying to appeal to you! Do you think for one second that these young fans care about Roman Reigns five moves of doom, or his limited microphone skills? No! To be honest, they probably don’t even notice. They’re too busy watching their hero conquer the bad guys of The WWE, not sitting around and dumping on a product that they don’t even contribute to!
Whether Roman Reigns is ready for The Main event of WrestleMania 31, is a matter of opinion that will be highly debated over the next few months by the IWC but think of it this way. When you watched wrestling when you were younger, did you notice any of the things you’re criticizing Reigns about now? Did you notice your favorite wrestler’s microphone skills, or did you just clap along when they said something funny? Did you complain that your favorite star only had a limited move set, or did you scream at the top of your lungs, when your favorite wrestler hit his finisher out of nowhere? Trust me, these younger fans don’t care about any of this. They love the WWE for what it really is, and that’s entertainment.
So give Reigns a break! See how he pans out! Don’t shoot him down right out of the gate, watch how his road to WrestleMania 31 goes, and then make a decision on what you think, but for god sake, give this rising star a fair chance!