Arn Anderson shares why WWE fans didn’t back face Roman Reigns
Speaking on the ARN Podcast (h/t WrestleTalk), WWE legend Arn Anderson has revealed why fans never got behind superstar Roman Reigns when he was booked as a face.
Prior to his huge heel turn last year, Reigns was booked as a babyface, that fans never really backed. The way he was vociferously booed on his WWE Royal Rumble win in 2015 can never be forgotten.
However, since he turned heel and unleashed his “Tribal Chief” character, Reigns has been doing some of his best work, with the fans also getting behind the whole act – something that was never the case when he was booked as a face.
Arn Anderson, who is now aligned with WWE’s rival promotion, AEW, has revealed why he thought Reigns as face never got popular. He believes that WWE stopped listening to what fans wanted and added that Reigns’ wins didn’t feel earned because of the way WWE booked him.
“They (fans) don’t want him to be a nice guy, they don’t want him to be clever, they don’t want him to be entertaining and they certainly don’t want to see him spear five or six heels in a given time. One of the things I did learn from Vince early on is, don’t shove a baby face down the peoples necks if they’re not going to accept it because they’ll regurgitate it.
“The fact that Roman goes out there and spears five guys does not make Roman more of a baby face. It makes him a God, and he’s not earning his position or push. He’s just out there running through guys and the audience smells it and they don’t like it.”
Reigns, after going off screen when the pandemic struck last year, returned on SummerSlam as a heel. He has since been slaying it, be it in his character work or in-ring performance. WWE surely took their own sweet time to come around on his one.
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