Did WWE Wait Too Long to Turn Roman Reigns Heel?

Roman Reigns spent the latter half of the 2010s as WWE’s top babyface, racking up four world championship reigns and main eventing four consecutive WrestleMania pay-per-views. Unfortunately, he spent most of this run receiving polarizing reactions from live crowds as many fans rejected the idea of him being crowned as the company’s “top guy” over the likes of Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Paul Heyman explained in a recent interview with Rick Rubin that Reigns was well aware of the fact that his “Big Dog” persona wasn’t working regardless of how insistent WWE’s presentation was. 

“…Roman understood the cap of ‘The Big Dog’ as a personality. Roman understood that the presentation of ‘The Big Dog, Roman Reigns,’ as much as he could make it his own, was always going to be ‘The corporate structure produced this talent, this Superstar, in their vision of the top guy in WWE.’ (The audience) could smell it a mile away,” Heyman said. “…Roman Reigns always had a vision of something past ‘The Big Dog.’ But he was still too young.”

“But the perception was, I’ll tell you as a fan, I really enjoyed The Shield. And post-Shield, I was not into Roman during ‘The Big Dog’ era. You could feel this inauthenticity,” Rubin said. 

“I don’t think Roman Reigns would argue with you. I guarantee you he wouldn’t,” Heyman responded. 

Did WWE Wait Too Long to Turn Roman Reigns Into The Tribal Chief?

Fans would eventually start supporting Reigns following his battle with leukemia, but it wasn’t until he returned from a hiatus at SummerSlam 2020 that WWE finally pulled the trigger on transforming Reigns’ character into the tyrannical “Tribal Chief.” In a recent interview on his Oh, You Didn’t Know? podcast, “Road Dogg” Jesse James was asked if WWE waited too long on that decision give all the success Reigns’ persona has brought in over the past three years.

“No, I don’t think so,” James said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). “You gotta let stuff sit, you gotta let stuff simmer. I know that’s unpopular in today’s day and age, where I can get whatever I want, and I can get it right now. Sometimes you gotta sit on this, and see which way the wind blows. Boy, it blew in the right direction, because look [at] where we stand now, and where he stands now — as an individual and superstar.”

Do you agree with James? Let us know in the comments! Reigns returns to action on Aug. 5 at the SummerSlam event in Detroit. 

WWE SummerSlam 2023 Card & Rumored Matches

• World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
• Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar 
• Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
• Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Yet to Be Confirmed)
• Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus (Yet to Be Confirmed)
• Ricochet vs. Logan Paul (Yet to Be Confirmed)
• Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre (Rumored)
• SmackDown Women’s Championship: Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair (Rumored)
• Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. TBA (Rumored)