Might the WWE Universe finally be on board and ready to cheer Roman Reigns on?
It’s been a whirlwind ride for Roman Reigns since the day The Shield broke up. Touted as the future, WWE had him on a fast-track to the top. That move was met with constant backlash from the WWE Universe and despite the criticism, it all culminated with Roman Reigns winning the WWE Title from Triple H at WrestleMania 32.
The Roman Empire was set to take off.
And then one mistake by Roman Reigns put those plans on hold.
After losing the title at Money in the Bank, Reigns would go on to serve a 30-day suspension for a violation of the Wellness Policy. His suspension would end in time for him to wrestle at Battleground. He would go on to lose cleanly to WWE Champion Dean Ambrose in the triple threat main event.
Reigns’ fall from the top would continue on the first live episode of Smackdown in the WWE Draft where he slipped to the 2nd round.
Roman Reigns would hit rock bottom the next week on Raw where he would go on to lose a #1 contenders match for the WWE Universal title to Finn Balor.
For the first time since October 2015, Roman Reigns was not in the main-event of a WWE pay-per-view.
And for the first time since his days with The Shield, the WWE Universe might be ready to cheer “The Guy.”
Out of the main-even picture, a program with the United States Champion Rusev is exactly the type of feud that can help build Reigns back up.
You can argue the current relevance and importance of the U.S. Title but with the recent brand split, the championship should have enough on-screen time to push it back to prominence.
Rusev is a good enough heel that fans won’t turn on Reigns and start cheering the Bulgarian Brute.
And while Roman Reigns didn’t capture the title at SummerSlam (match ended in a no-contest), his quest for U.S. gold could be the first step to rebuilding the Roman Empire and the first step to getting the fans to cheer Roman Reigns on.
Believe that.