Roman Reigns enters WrestleMania 39 as WWE’s most undermined star

With WrestleMania 39 set to kick off on April 1, and Polygon contributor Abraham Josephine Riesman’s new e-book Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America set to enter the ring on March 28, we’re spending the week grappling with professional wrestling — and all the things it’s formed.

There are two methods of studying Roman Reigns’ go-to taunt, “Acknowledge me.”

The primary is because the WWE wrestler intends it: As he stated it to Jey Uso in 2020 and to everybody who has stepped to him since, “acknowledge me” is a requirement, an order to acknowledge Reigns because the Tribal Chief, the Head of the Desk, or the Large Canine, if nostalgia is your factor. It’s what Paul Heyman does when he cowers and says, “Sure, my Tribal Chief,” or goes into his long-standing “reigning, defending” bit. It’s what the Bloodline does after they perform Reigns’ orders or again down from him.

It’s, in the end, what WWE followers do when Roman Reigns is within the wrestling ring.

However that wasn’t at all times so. A second learn of Reigns’ catchphrase shades his function as crucial wrestler at present in WWE, and arguably the world. Beneath the armor of his tough-guy swagger, his intentionally paced promos, his spectacular listing of title defenses, and a two-and-a-half-year run as WWE’s high champion, a run that noticed him unify the Common and WWE Championships ultimately 12 months’s WrestleMania 38, is a plea: Acknowledge me.

Roman Reigns, actual title Joe Anoaʻi, was presupposed to turn out to be WWE’s high babyface in 2015. That was an enormous deal — WWE is pushed by babyfaces, the great guys, and being on high of that pile means being the main focus of WWE’s storytelling, its high box-office attraction, and performing as its most seen standard-bearer. If you recognize nothing about wrestling however know a few wrestlers by title, they probably had a major run as a babyface.

With John Cena, Reigns’ predecessor on this function, drifting away from the WWE, Reigns had been constructed up in addition to any heir-apparent might hope for as one-third of The Defend with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose (now All Elite Wrestling’s Jon Moxley). Starting as henchmen for established acts like CM Punk and Triple H, The Defend’s magnetic personalities and penchant for wild six-man tag-team matches made them one of many hottest acts within the firm, arguably one among WWE’s biggest creations. However after WWE Uncooked in June 2014, on the peak of their powers, they cut up. Having overwhelmed Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton, and a parting Dave Bautista), Rollins betrayed his associates, hitting Reigns within the again with a chair and taking his place at Triple H’s facet.

Dean Ambrose was within the ring, however Reigns took the primary knife in his again. With one swing of a metal chair, Rollins positioned himself as the long run chief antagonist of WWE. It was a foregone conclusion that his rival could be Reigns, that he could be The Man, their feud destined to outline an period.

The issue is that WWE followers haven’t a lot appreciated being advised who The Man is since Shawn Michaels’ first “aw shucks” reign via the WWF Championship in 1996, which featured some unbelievable matches, however ended with Michaels’ hometown crowd in San Antonio cheering for and fistbumping Sid Vicious en path to his win on the 1997 Royal Rumble. For the reason that finish of the Hulkamania period, WWE audiences have been considerably predisposed to like the villain: “Stone Chilly” Steve Austin, The Rock, and John Cena, the WWE’s three largest post-Hulk Hogan stars, had been ushered into babyface roles as a result of followers wouldn’t cease cheering for them regardless of being heels.

Roman Reigns has not been so lucky. Whereas he held up his finish of the deal as a 3rd member of The Defend, when the steady broke up in 2014, Rollins was written because the turncoat, Ambrose was the loopy one, and Reigns was the man you knew was going to win the title. Apart from one factor: Vince McMahon forgot to provide Reigns one thing to chew on past information of his future success. Tagging Reigns as The Man was an invite for the corporate’s loudest followers to align themselves towards him, and why not? He nonetheless had The Defend’s music, he was nonetheless sporting his Defend gear, and after profitable the 2015 Royal Rumble, The Rock, Reigns’ cousin, got here out and anointed him in Philadelphia, one among wrestling’s most judgmental crowds. But it surely didn’t work out.

The dissolution of The Defend started an extended stretch of Reigns’ profession the place because the chosen one who McMahon might by no means select. The profession limbo was akin to the lengthy, unhappy decline of Lex Luger’s prospects in WWF 20 years earlier, solely there was no clear choice to take Reigns’ place, as Bret Hart finally did for Luger in 1994. Reigns misplaced in the principle occasion of WrestleMania 31 in 2015, when Seth Rollins cashed in his Cash within the Financial institution briefcase in the midst of his predestined conquest of Brock Lesnar, then had his first WWE Championship tenure finish after 5 minutes when Sheamus cashed in his briefcase later within the 12 months.

WWE’s reserving was within the wilderness at this level — Cena was transitioning to Hollywood, Daniel Bryan was injured, and Reigns was in a state of perpetual rebuild. None of this was helped by the corporate’s overreliance on part-timers like Brock Lesnar and Triple H. Cash within the Financial institution 2016 marked Reigns’ first clear loss since his 2013 call-up to the principle roster, however when it comes to momentum, he had little to point out for that on-paper dominance. The night time after WrestleMania 33 in 2017, by which he beat The Undertaker in the principle occasion, Reigns opened Uncooked by standing within the ring for a complete phase, getting booed each time he raised the microphone to his lips and receiving chants of “GO AWAY.” He took all of this, stated, “That is my yard now,” and left.

There may be truly no mould for what makes a high babyface in WWE. Appears, charisma, in-ring capacity — these items matter, however the reality of being The Man in WWE is that it’s all about its kingmaker capitalizing on a second. It has been a sluggish climb for Reigns as a result of his story doesn’t have the identical appeal as these of his scrappy Defend brethren, as a result of his insertion into the principle occasion was as inorganic because it was tenuous. The thought of Roman Reigns changing Cena or The Rock was at all times doomed to fail, regardless of his having the chops to take action.

However Reigns was placed on the trail to being the highest babyface at a time when the corporate’s crossover successes might come again to their outdated stomping grounds at will and suck the air out of the sector for a number of months. Round 2012, as The Defend was getting off the bottom, WWE reached a type of mainstream acceptance. CM Punk’s pipebomb promo made it cool for sports activities and popular culture web sites to cowl wrestling. But Punk didn’t cross over into broader tradition the best way Cena and The Rock did; past his UFC run, his profession hewed nearer to wrestlers like “Stone Chilly” Steve Austin and Edge, main him to work in direct-to-video motion motion pictures, comedian books, and tv exhibits. Roman Reigns, for his half, inched towards such success, nabbing a small function in Quick & Livid spinoff Hobbs & Shaw starring his cousin.

This isn’t a mark towards Reigns. It’s unfair to anticipate everyone to smash via the divide between area of interest curiosity and one thing larger. The Rock and Cena are anomalies, to say nothing of Dave Bautista, and two of these three had been broadly resented by a big chunk of their viewers sooner or later of their wrestling careers. It’s straightforward to neglect, since we’re 20 years into John Cena’s run as a product of WWE’s ceaseless advertising and marketing machine, however he confronted the identical type of resentment Reigns did, to the extent that one may name the followers’ response to Reigns’ ascension an try at stopping one other “SuperCena”-esque determine.

The fan-backed revolt labored. It took 5 years, from the rejection of Reigns on the 2015 Royal Rumble to his departure in 2018 as a consequence of leukemia remedy, then his return in 2020, however the WWE Universe lastly noticed what they had been at all times denied throughout Cena’s run: a heel flip. It’s a disgrace that this occurred to a lockdown-friendly model of WWE matches, with canned boos and a stay viewers of gigantic tv screens, as a result of Reigns instantly grew to become a must-watch persona. One of the best work in his profession was as a person wounded by the truth that WWE went on with out him; although his leukemia was in remission by 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic pressured Reigns to remain at dwelling as a consequence of immunocompromisation. When he returned later in 2020, his armor of justified bitterness turned out to be the gasoline for the perfect type of wrestling heel.

Photograph: WWE

Reigns’ run of near-unquestioned dominance might finish this weekend at WrestleMania 39. In that case, the wrestler will fall to Cody Rhodes, a person who was additionally left behind by WWE at one level in his life. Taking over a nickname reverse his father’s American Dream, Rhodes leaned into the bitterness throughout his WWE stint, becoming a member of the globe-spanning heel steady Bullet Membership, then ultimately left to assist discovered All Elite Wrestling. He refused, out and in of kayfabe, to stray from the sunshine, irrespective of how loud the boos bought. All he wanted was the fitting viewers to get behind him.

In WWE, he discovered it. From the second his music hit at 2022’s WrestleMania 38, it was apparent that Rhodes constructed to the second. Even his most skeptical critics must admit that he has been embraced in a approach that means he stands out as the generational babyface WWE was on the lookout for since 2015, when Reigns was getting booed out of arenas and Rhodes was spinning his wheels as a goofy tackle his brother Dustin’s Goldust persona.

Why has this anointing labored for Rhodes the place it didn’t for his opponent? I think it has to do with the truth that he’s earned his place in wrestling regardless of WWE squandering his early potential. Lineage apart, he gambled on himself for six years and saved profitable, changing into one of many Florida-based Ring of Honor’s high attracts, one of many faces of New Japan Professional-Wrestling’s push into America, and a cornerstone of an organization that has stood as a viable competitor to WWE since its founding. Then he gambled on himself once more, gave up his govt vp stake in AEW and the perks of primary cable celeb (RIP Go-Large Present), and gained even larger than earlier than.

In contrast, Reigns’ battle to cement himself on the high of wrestling has occurred fully inside WWE, underneath the brightest lights his occupation has to supply. But it surely largely didn’t matter, as a result of WWE was larger than anybody wrestler, negotiating large offers with Fox, Comcast, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The product was mediocre at finest, but it surely has been many years since WWE actually wanted good artistic to generate income, and Reigns was The Man via these doldrums, a spotlight group-approved shade of beige in an organization that lived for shades of beige.

And so he was hated for it, to the extent that absolutely the worst components of wrestling fandom speculated that WWE engineered Reigns’ 2019 leukemia remission as a ploy to get followers again on his facet. John Cena by no means confronted that type of hostility, even when dissent towards him was at its loudest, however Reigns soldiered on, placing WWE on his broad shoulders when requested to, till 2020, when doing so would have meant risking his life.

In 2015, the Mountain Goats launched Beat the Champ, that includes a tune known as “Heel Flip 2,” the place a long-standing babyface, lengthy the topic of abuse, lastly snaps, turning his again on everybody, even the president of his fan membership. The wrestler justifies his heel flip with the chorus “I don’t wish to die in right here,” framing it as an act of survival, however when he says “Keep good underneath strain for years and years and years,” it’s apparent that his animus towards different wrestlers and the followers has been constructing for for much longer.

In struggling to outline himself, all Roman Reigns might do was flip heel, to float down into the brand new, darkish mild. What number of instances can a babyface choose themselves up from rejection earlier than realizing that their energy just isn’t derived from the followers? It took 5 years for Roman Reigns to search out his breaking level, and WWE has been higher for it, having fun with its hottest streak since WrestleMania XXX almost a decade in the past. Having an overt babyface helps, however wrestling is a medium that thrives when that babyface has an actual bastard to chase. In wrestling, there isn’t a higher bastard than a person who is aware of he can’t be beat.

That’s Roman Reigns, and the trail he took to get there’s his personal. He’s a novel entity in WWE historical past, a long-reigning heel champion in an organization that was constructed on generational babyfaces. He’s arguably on the peak of his powers heading into probably the most consequential WWE matches of the last decade, and essentially the most fascinating chapter of his profession, the one the place he’s now not cloaked within the status of his championships, may be on the horizon. That’s not dangerous for the man who didn’t turn out to be The Man.