Back in August, an in-ring interview with Renee Young about how snakes become worms when you punch them made a lot of people say, “Roman Reigns, sweetie, no.” A guy who’d been the (relatively) silent powerhouse of WWE’s coolest and most protected faction was suddenly on his own, naked to the world, stuck somewhere between John Cena and The Rock. The next few months were an ultimate mashup of bad timing and written-by-the-elderly promos, including such hits as “sufferin’ succotash son” and *forgets lines.* He won the Royal Rumble and wrestling fans were mad, but I guess we’re always mad so nobody cared.
Roman recently did an interview with the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast and his comments on the last few months can be taken one of two ways:
1. Roman has gotten the “how to be a famous person” talk and knows that detached celebrity can create a dense layer of protection, or
2. WWE’s all-in on a Roman Reigns heel turn.
“I see all of my criticism. I’m in a position now that I get a ton of love which is great and a ton of criticism, which is great. As long as I’m in peoples’ mouths that’s all that matters to me. As long as people are talking about me. The majority of the time … the people that are critiquing and bashing me, they’re making me more relevant, I would think. If you didn’t want me around then just don’t talk about me and try and make it silent out there. That’s not the case [because] they make it even more overwhelming. You know, noise is noise. That’s the thing.”
The difficult thing about being a WWE fan is that they tell you the WWE Universe is the only thing that matters, then work diligently to discredit them. If you stay quiet and don’t “create noise,” WWE moves forward unfettered. If you speak up and voice your displeasure, you’re bashing them and “getting worked.” It’s so bizarre. There’s literally no way to affect change.
Regardless, what does Roman think about the people handing him that great criticism?
“To be honest I really don’t care. I can only do my thing and do the best that I can. The majority of critics, I would say, are people who have no clue what they’re talking about and have never been in a wrestling ring. They’ve never been a public speaker. They wouldn’t even know how to lock up with me if I allowed them to. If I gave them the opportunity to lock up and tangle with me in the ring, they would have no clue what to do so for them to critique or ever say anything about any performer is asinine and just blows my mind.”
People who’ve never been in the ring and wouldn’t know how to lock up like Stone Cold Steve Austin, who went into a very “smark”-like detail on why Roman currently doesn’t and wouldn’t work as a top star as a face or a heel. That’s just another deflection tactic, though. The majority is a bunch of nerds and jerks, which means you can pick and choose who you listen to. And why would you do that?
“The fans have to realize that as opinionated as y’all are in the way you want it, the company is the same way and they’re gonna do what they wanna do, at the end of the day I’m just a guy getting rich.”
If Roman shows up to WrestleMania to tell Gennifer Flowers about his $500 shirt, I’m on board. If he’s just a shoot rich guy who has convinced himself that he’s fine and doesn’t need to get any better because the company he works for is what it is? Probably not. If you’ll excuse me, I need to sit silently for a few months while Roman Reigns pins Brock Lesnar and wins the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania.
