WWE’s Mistakes With Roman Reigns’ Babyface Run: Dax Harwood Weighs In

The drastic change in character of Roman Reigns over the years has been well documented. He went from being an utterly dull babyface to one of the most compelling heels in WWE. In fact, Dax Harwood recently explained how WWE ended up botching Reigns’ babyface run.

Roman Reigns was an eyesore for many when he was a babyface and fans and pro wrestlers alike agreed with this notion. This is in spite of the fact that Reigns competed in high profile matches against the very best.

Although Roman Reigns was initially presented as WWE’s main star, his booking as a clean-cut, unbeatable hero at the beginning of his singles career led to significant rejection from a considerable portion of the fanbase.

Despite being handpicked as the company’s future, Roman’s image as a smiling, invincible good guy for almost five years made it difficult for him to gain acceptance from fans.

While speaking on his FTR podcast, Dax Harwood talked about Roman Reigns’ babyface run from a few years ago. Harwood stated that In the words of Dax Harwood, Roman Reigns’ booking in 2018-2019 was not received well by fans. Roman was always portrayed as unbeatable and fans didn’t feel any sense of worry or concern for him, except when he faced Brock Lesnar.

However, working with Brock Lesnar is always challenging, and fans felt that Roman was too powerful and there was nothing left for them to cheer about. This created a “Superman effect,” where Roman became too invincible and lacked any real weakness for fans to relate to.

“Look at how Roman was booked in 2018-2019. Always on top. No one ever felt worried for him, except for with Brock. But everybody feels worried when you’re working with Brock (laughs). But that’s kind of why the fans turned on him at the time. Nothing to (sic) his fault, they just had nothing to cheer. It’s kind of like the Superman effect. Superman does have kryptonite, but other than that, man, he’s bulletproof. He can beat the sh*t out of everybody.”

Reigns’ transformation into a heel has been a breath of fresh air, and it’s clear that his heel run is much more suited to his character. Roman Reigns is now one of the most captivating performers on WWE programming, and fans always took notice of whatever he does. Are you a Roman Reigns fan? Sound off in the comments!