Roman Reigns is totally turning heel at WWE WrestleMania 33…maybe

There’s no way that WWE would give up on Roman Reigns: Babyface at WrestleMania 33, right?

By now, smark wrestling fans pining for a John Cena heel turn is basically a trope that others poke fun at. No matter how sensible it would be for a number of reasons, Cena is the most marketable face in the company, works too closely with the Make a Wish Foundation and moves too much merchandise for it to ever happen. WWE is a business first and foremost and, as a business move, that wouldn’t be a prudent decision. Roman Reigns, on the other hand, is a different situation entirely.

Any fan that’s watched WWE programming over the past few years has seen the relentless babyface push given to Reigns. More importantly, fans have also seen (and been a part of) largely rejecting that push. At best, it’s a divided crowd reaction every time out for The Big Dog (calling him The Big Dog probably doesn’t help make him more likable, for what it’s worth).

Sure, Cena divides the crowd in a similar manner, though arguably with less vitriol from his detractors. The important distinction there is that fans are reacting to the malaise of a decade-long face run for Cena as opposed to a rocket-up-his-rear shot up the card with Reigns. Harkening back to when he initially turned face following his Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick, the crowd wasn’t nearly as divided about Cena initially as they have been about Reigns.

It should be said that this has nothing to do with Reigns’ ability, at least at this point. The development of his in-ring work has been noticeable and, despite what some may say, he’s capable of putting on a main-event caliber match. And even his work on the microphone gets a bad rap to a certain degree. There’s an obvious difference in quality of his promos when it’s Reigns ad-libbing as his character and when he’s been fed lines that someone backstage thinks sound cool.

Much like with Cena, though, there have been proponents of a Roman Reigns heel turn for quite some time. To a substantial portion of the crowd and WWE fanbase, he’s already ostensibly a heel—but in kayfabe or storylines, he’s remained an unabashed face. At WWE WrestleMania 33 in three weeks, however, that’s looking like it might finally change.

On the March 13 episode of RAW, Roman Reigns faced Jinder Mahal and dispatched him quickly besides a brief distraction when the gong of The Undertaker, his opponent at WrestleMania 33, hit once in Joe Louis arena. Reigns then called out Taker after the victory, but his call was instead met by Shawn Michaels.

Michaels warned Reigns about The Undertaker and letting the Deadman get in his head. Moreover, HBK likened Roman’s plight to his own in WWE, thinking he was the man while everyone was secretly against him. To that point, it seemed like a way to prop Reigns up using one of WWE’s greatest of all-time. Things changed, however, when Roman responded by bringing up the fact that Undertaker retired The Heartbreak Kid…and that he would retire Taker at Mania 33:

Just a week prior, there was an inkling of heelish behavior from Reigns when he first confronted The Undertaker. After Taker answered Braun Strowman’s call for Roman and caused Strowman to walk away, Reigns came to the ring and challengingly tried to belittle the Deadman, proclaiming, “Braun wasn’t calling you out here, Deadman; he was calling me. So with all due respect, this is my yard now.” Of course, he ate a chokeslam for his poor attitude and choice of words.

Following that, though, the seemingly far-fetched notion of that foreshadowing a heel turn could be dismissed as that segment just trying to make Reigns look tough and confident. However, when coupled with how he reacted towards Michaels, another babyface legend, that logic is getting harder to buy.

WWE booking The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33 in each character’s current form presents a substantial issue. With the streak gone and no one clamoring for the match itself, a win for Taker would likely not elicit the fan-reaction WWE desires. Contrarily, Reigns going over still as a babyface is going to bring out flocks of boo-birds by the thousands. So if WWE were to book a finish that keeps things at the status quo, there is no desirable outcome. Even for a company as stubborn as this, that can’t be unrecognized leading up to WrestleMania 33.

Therefore, WWE is essentially left with the unwieldy task of finding a way around that predicament. While they could ultimately opt for some sort of schmoz finish with interference and whatever else, they’ve at least cracked the door that leads to a Roman Reigns heel turn in Orlando.

Roughly 99 percent of the time, WWE books their Legends as undeniable faces when on the screen, including The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. So for Reigns to address each of them in subsequent weeks in such a confrontational manner is eye-opening. That’s not a babyface move and it’s not the work of a “cool” face or even ‘tweener—it’s the work of a heel. There’s now an existing path that Reigns could take at WrestleMania 33 where, overcome by his need to prove he’s “The Guy” and that this is indeed “his yard,” he opts to win by nefarious means. On the biggest stage in the biggest event against an all-time great babyface, that’s a heel turn my friend.

Braun Strowman complicates this narrative, of course. Him bodying Reigns after his in-ring meeting with HBK also sets the stage for furthering a Reigns-Strowman feud in a face-heel dynamic. As mentioned, the prospect of Strowman interfering at WrestleMania 33 and simply taking out both Reigns and Taker is well in play. However, it’s also the outcome that accomplishes far less than turning The Big Dog heel.

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Call it wishful thinking or a pipe-dream, but there is more plausibility to a Roman Reigns heel turn than ever before leading into WrestleMania 33. There’s no better way to create a moment, manufacture a reaction from the crowd and fans and potentially to save Reigns’ future within the company than doing so. We’ve said this before with both Reigns and Cena, though, and nothing’s changed. But this time around, on April 2 in Orlando, it’s totally going to happen—maybe, hopefully.