WWE: Roman Reigns Makes History Winning A "Most Hated" Award

You might assume a heel would take an award like "Most Hated" without much competition, but this year a little bit of history was made concerning the not so vaunted prize.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated debuted their annual honors in the latest issue, and in a surprising twist a babyface came out victorious in the "Most Hated" category. That babyface? That would be the always divisive Roman Reigns. Here is Pro Wrestling Illustrated's take on the award (via Wrestling Inc).

"Here's a guy who fights honorably and abides by the rules. He has proven loyal and dedicated to family and friends. He always conducts himself as a gentleman, never ducks a challenge, and has managed to overcome the odds every time they seem stacked against him.

And the fans boo the crap out of him.

More than a quarter of our respondents cast their vote for Roman Reigns as the Most Hated Wrestler of the Year, marking the first time in the history of the PWI Achievement Awards that a so-called "fan favorite" has won this distinction."

That's not the kind of honor one wants to receive if they are a babyface, but that doesn't look to derail Reigns. The superstar is poised for a big bout at the Royal Rumble against Kevin Owens, and could find himself leaving with the WWE Universal Championship. The fans might boo him at Monday Night RAW, but he continues to sell plenty of merchandise, and WWE is keen to keep him in the title picture.

That might be a bit confusing, but ComicBook.com's Brandon Gnetz recently broke down why Roman remains so prominent in WWE, including why those Boos matter, just not in teh way you think. "Roman Reigns continually gets the largest reaction of any wrestler on the roster. Yes, that reaction is almost always boos, but his ability to evoke such a strong emotion from the audience is something that holds infinitely more value than how good your favorite wrestler can execute a northern lights suplex. The only bad reaction a wrestler can get is silence. Roman doesn't even have to tell you how much your local sports team sucks to make you to jump out of your seat and tell him how much you hate him.

Hate or love him, just get used to him, because he's not going away anytime soon.

MORE WWE: Get Ready To See A Lot More Of Brock Lesnar / Eric Bischoff Explains Why Goldberg's WCW Streak Came To An End / The WWE Power Rangers / AJ Styles On Getting The Fans To Boo Him / Is Thuganomics John Cena Making A Comeback? / Roman Reigns Is Winning The Universal Championship / Randy Orton Throws A Jab At UFC's Conor McGregor / Enzo Amore Posts Childhood Photo With Shawn Michaels / Top 5 Wrestlemania Opponents For The Undertaker / Why Dolph Ziggler Hates John Cena ... For Real / John Cena Teases Kenny Omega