The evolution-devolution-evolution of Roman Reigns
The evolution-devolution-evolution of Roman Reigns has been widely analyzed during the past year, in which one of the most promising stars saw his future in danger during the back and forth between executives and fans regarding his viability as the new face of the company.
The always controversial Vince Russo spoke about it in the most recent edition of his Nuclear Heat podcast, of Wrestling Inc., ensuring that internet fans took WWE hostage:
"By the time of the Royal Rumble 2015, Vince McMahon had in mind Roman Reigns as the chosen one. 'Roman Reigns is the man. Roman Reigns is my next Cena. I'm going to push him to the moon'. But the melee was set up in such a way that practically guaranteed that Roman Reigns would be booed by the entire arena in Philadelphia, and that's exactly what happened."
See also Fans create Twitter to boo Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble.
"They brought in The Rock, did everything they could do, and in the end, the audience booed Roman Reigns with everything they had. At that moment--and I say this as someone who has written about this for twenty years--I sat and watched. It could be seen that the plan had changed. Vince let, at that moment, the internet community dictate the creative part. And you can imagine Vince's mind: 'Reigns is my boy, he's the good guy of the story and that's not going to change. They're going to like him, even if it takes me the next two years to make them like him!'. That's what was going through Vince McMahon's mind, and from there the changes in creative direction came. They took a step back with Reigns with the goal of rebuilding him, making him liked by people and making an impact on the audience. All that was determined by the fans in Philadelphia that night."
About whether Reigns is the best option:
"It could be said that Vince is in love with Roman Reigns, and to be honest, I agree with that decision. I like Roman Reigns. I like how he looks, the intensity he projects. That's what casual fans like. He has wrestling in his blood, he knows and understands the business, so I think it's a good choice, I've never had a problem with it...
"The problem was how badly the Royal Rumble was booked. They didn't give the fans any other option but to boo Roman Reigns. First of all they included Daniel Bryan and he was eliminated, and he was the guy everyone wanted to see win. They should have thought about that: 'Obviously, if we include Bryan and he's eliminated, people are going to get upset'. Then, the last four wrestlers in the ring were Reigns, Kane, Big Show and... whoever it was (Rusev), with those four you knew Reigns was going to win. It was the most horribly booked match I may have ever seen in my life.
About giving in to internet fans:
"Never, not in my wildest dreams, never, never--and I put my life on it, my reputation on it, my kids on it--would I have thought that Vince McMahon and WWE would start bowing down to the internet wrestling community. Never, not even in the wildest imagination would I have thought that the internet wrestling community would ever have influence over Vince McMahon and the creative decisions of his company. I never would have thought it, because when I was there, that wasn't the philosophy. The thousands of internet fans don't matter, it's the millions and millions and millions of viewers at home that matter to WWE, because Vince knows that the internet community, regardless of whether the show is good or bad, is still going to tune in to watch the show every week."