Roman Reigns (born Joe Anoaʻi) is a professional wrestler who has been the subject of extensive media coverage and varying public perception throughout his career.
Reigns made his WWE main roster debut in November 2012 as part of the popular faction The Shield, after performing in the company's developmental system since 2010. Initially well-received, he faced increasing criticism following his 2014 transition to a heroic main event role, with fans reacting negatively to what was perceived as a heavily manufactured push, with his 2015 Royal Rumble victory receiving notable backlash. This culminated in Reigns headlining four consecutive WrestleMania events (2015–2018), each met with significant crowd rejection.
During his early years as a top star, fan backlash stemmed from various factors, including perceptions of favoritism, his wrestling style, promo ability, and overall character presentation. Media reactions varied, with Pro Wrestling Torch editor Wade Keller describing WWE's handling of Reigns as a "war on fans", while David Shoemaker of Grantland wrote that Reigns was the company's "most despised wrestler" in over 25 years, and Yahoo! Sports questioned whether he was "the biggest failure in professional wrestling history". WWE wrestler and WWE Hall of Fame member Bret Hart blamed WWE’s creative direction, arguing that Reigns' potential was undermined by poor storytelling. In 2016, Reigns was voted Most Overrated by Wrestling Observer Newsletter readers, as well as the Most Hated Wrestler of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated readers, with Reigns being the first heroic ("babyface") character to receive the latter since the award's inception in 1972. In response, Reigns attributed the criticism to jealousy, dismissing outside critiques, and asserting that he would not change to satisfy detractors.
Reception shifted dramatically in 2020 when Reigns adopted a villainous persona as the "Tribal Chief" and led the Bloodline faction. This reinvention drew widespread critical acclaim, particularly during his multi-year reign as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion which received numerous awards from publications such as Wrestling Observer Newsletter and Pro Wrestling Illustrated. In 2024, following a return to a heroic role as the "Original Tribal Chief", Reigns again began receiving positive crowd reactions. Sports Illustrated remarked that WWE had "finally made Roman Reigns the monster babyface they always believed he could be."
Wrestling persona The Shield and initial reception (2012–2014)
While in NXT (the new developmental system) during 2012, Roman Reigns' character was described as a "businessman" who was "always dressed to impress" and viewed himself as "the most valuable commodity in WWE".
Reigns debuted to the main roster as part of The Shield on November 18, 2012, at Survivor Series. After transferring to WWE's main roster, his character was changed to the "powerhouse" and "heavy hitter" of The Shield, as well as an "exceptional athlete". Noted as the least talkative of The Shield members, Reigns' character was tweaked from "the quiet muscle" to being an "ultra-confident" source of leadership with "quiet strength" in mid-2013. CM Punk alleged in an interview that he was constantly reminded to make Reigns look "really, really strong" despite The Shield being booked to lose to Punk at the 2013 TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event. In 2013, Reigns was voted the Most Improved by Wrestling Observer Newsletter readers.
During the 2014 Royal Rumble match on January 26, the live crowd cheered for Reigns over eventual winner Batista despite Reigns being a villain. Anoaʻi later acknowledged the reaction as "a cool situation". In mid-2014, Stone Cold Steve Austin said he saw great potential in Reigns, while David Shoemaker of Grantland wrote that Reigns had "mystery and intensity" as well as "superstar written all over him".
Controversial rise to main event status (2014–2016) After The Shield disbanded for the first time, Reigns, unlike the other former Shield members, retained much of The Shield's aesthetic, including ring attire, a very slightly remixed version of the group's theme music, and ring entrance. From December 2014 to January 2015, Reigns' positive crowd reactions were diminishing. Reigns' win of WWE's 2014 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award garnered surprise to the point of accusations of vote-rigging, although both Dave Meltzer and Pro Wrestling Insider alleged the fan vote was legitimate. Writers from the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter criticized Reigns in 2014 and 2015, for a "very limited" in-ring moveset, "forced promo delivery", and a "petulant and annoyed" attitude ill-befitting of a top face character. Fellow professional wrestler Mikey Whipwreck said Reigns was "trying to be like John Cena", who was "very polarizing".
At the 2015 Royal Rumble on January 25, Reigns was booed heavily after his victory despite portraying a heroic character. In February on WWE Raw, Paul Heyman praised Reigns as better than "any other guy in history", which garnered negative reactions as Heyman implied esteemed wrestling figures, including Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and John Cena, were inferior to Reigns. By March, Anoaʻi altered his character's physical appearance by wearing contact lenses in order to have blue eyes. From late 2014 to early 2015, various critics raised concerns that Reigns, despite being "not fully ready", was "being pushed too hard, too soon", while WWE tried to make him their next "flagship star", "no matter how fans reacted". Anoaʻi reacted by saying that he only entertained criticism of his wrestling by people that were involved with wrestling, discounting negative opinion by critics that "weren't wrestlers" and who wouldn't understand how to "lock up".
Going into WrestleMania in 2015, Dave Meltzer said that Reigns was the least over WrestleMania main eventer ever. At WrestleMania 31 on March 29, Pro Wrestling Torch described Reigns as needing security for his entrance while receiving "universal boos" and middle fingers. Reigns was unable to defeat Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and pinned Reigns to win the world title. Rollins received positive reactions for his victory despite being a villain. Despite the fan backlash in early 2015, critics praised Reigns' performances at Fastlane, WrestleMania 31 and Extreme Rules as exceeding expectations while the negative reactions continued at Money in the Bank and SummerSlam.
In late 2015, critics described WWE presenting Reigns' character as a "hard-luck underdog" chasing the world title, with WWE having "spent an overwhelming amount of time" on Reigns, "bending over backwards to create new obstacles for him to overcome ... at the expense of almost everyone else on the roster". In November 2015, Reigns received a "mixed, at best" reaction upon winning and losing his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the 2015 Survivor Series event after Sheamus, another villainous character, cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to defeat Reigns, a move made to try and get Reigns over with the crowd, and a positive reaction on winning his second world title at the Raw after TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 14, although a WrestleView writer reflected that "it's been downhill ever since" for Reigns from then until March 2016. Reigns received a negative reaction when he won his third world title at WrestleMania 32. In 2015 and 2016, WWE has reportedly taken several measures to hide fans' disapproval of Reigns, including confiscating anti-Reigns fan signs, editing out anti-Reigns fan signs for photos on their website, muting hostile crowds (including at WrestleMania 32) and piping in canned cheers during Reigns' appearances.
In 2016, Reigns main evented the first seven WWE pay-per-view events (before the brand split started) and was booed in all of them: Royal Rumble, Fastlane, WrestleMania 32 (which ended with a chorus of boos when Reigns won his third world title), Payback, Extreme Rules, Money in the Bank and Battleground. CNET described a "fan rebellion" against WWE "moving heaven and earth" to make Reigns "the face of the company ... for the next decade"; while "many fans are aware" that former Shield member Dean Ambrose "is the true dark horse, both on camera and behind the scenes". ESPN described that "WWE started building Roman Reigns as the next great hero of the company about 18 months ago", but Reigns instead became "the most despised wrestler WWE has had since it turned Sgt. Slaughter into an Iraq-sympathizing traitor in 1990".
Leading up to WrestleMania 32, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rikishi and Hulk Hogan have encouraged WWE to turn him into a villain. Meanwhile, during interviews promoting WrestleMania 32, Anoa'i acknowledged the fan backlash, but declared that WWE is a "kids show" and that he was not wrestling to impress "grown men" who boo him. He defiantly told his critics that he would not believe any of their negative opinions of him. As for his detractors, Anoa'i told them to "continue to be ready to boo. You're going to be mad a long time. I'm not going away".
WWE World Heavyweight Champion and suspension (2016–2017) On the Raw after WrestleMania 32, Reigns declared that he was now not a "bad guy" nor a "good guy", but "The Guy", which supposedly indicated a morally ambiguous character turn, but this went nowhere. In April, Pro Wrestling Dot Net reported that WWE "went out of their way to use [the charity] Make A Wish in hopes of getting [Reigns] over as a good guy". As soon as broadcasting for Payback on May 1 stopped, Reigns reportedly turned on the crowd, yelling angrily at them. Also in May, Dave Meltzer said WWE wanted Reigns as "the guy who does the charity work, so he has to be positioned as a babyface" (the heroic character), adding that WWE's "new gimmick" was positioning that people actually "really like" Reigns and only boo because "it's fun to boo him", which Meltzer said was "absolutely not true" in reality. Critics wondered if WWE was "leaving money on the table" by not slotting former Shield teammate Seth Rollins as a fan favorite and Reigns as a villain, as fans were cheering Rollins and booing Reigns. In June, Reigns wrestled against Rollins at both Money in the Bank and the next night on Raw, where Reigns played a villain in the first match and a fan favorite in the second, while on the next night on Raw during his promo he told the fans who were booing him to "shut their mouths". Reigns' wellness policy suspension on June 21 resulted in Yahoo! TV urging WWE to "quit pretending he's some kind of lovable underdog" with a villain turn for Reigns, after wasting a "dozen" chances "since the boos first reigned" at the 2015 Royal Rumble.