SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE star Roman Reigns dove into several key subjects leading into WrestleMania in a new interview with Brian Fritz of the Orlando Sentinel.
– Reigns, the former college football star, framed boos from the typically vocal males and cheers from the typically family-oriented fans as “away” and “home” crowds. In a comment that points to a lot of vocal males’s frustration with the current WWE product, Reigns said he’s not worried about the “away” fans because WWE is a “kids show.”
“Typically if you hear the boos, it generally is grown men my age and I’m not really in this business for the grown men,” Reigns said. “I’m in this business for the families. That’s what we are; we’re a PG product. We’re a family-based product. We’re here to entertain families and give them enjoyment. If you’re a 30-year-old man and you want to flip me off at a kids show, then, hey, like I said, you paid your money but just be careful because you could get kicked out.”
Asked what he thinks about the vocal males booing his character, Reigns replied, “I think there’s a few different reasons why. You could name a bunch of them. I don’t think we could actually put a finger on one and say this is the reason why.”
Reigns said the only thing that bothers him is when vocal males “set a bad example” for kids in the crowd, trying to turn outspoken concern with the product on the vocal dissenters.
“A lot of times, these pay-per-views and Monday Night Raws, they’re on school nights so it is a lot more of a grown-up feel. I think if you pick and choose and just think with logic, everything will be all right. That’s just one thing, you have to be concerned with the example we’re setting. At a show, I’m not the only role model. These kids are sitting next to these other grown-ups and they’re seeing how these people act. That’s just a reflection of what they see and they probably act the same way,” Reigns said.
– Reigns updated his nasal condition after taking a few weeks away from WWE to correct a lingering issue with his breathing.
“I pretty much couldn’t breathe out of one nostril at that point and then it would close up the other one so I pretty much had half a nostril to breathe out of. So we needed to get that fixed. They went in and fixed the deviated septum. The outer part of my nose had been crooked and hit so many times over the past six months that it bowed on me so they went ahead and straightened that out for me. That way we wouldn’t have to do this all over again and take another two weeks or three weeks off. It was something I just needed to get done, that way I could breathe and continue to perform,” Reigns said.
“The timing wasn’t great by any means, but it was one of those necessary things. That was the toughest part. When is the best time to do this? Well, it definitely ain’t before Mania but it’s not like this thing turns off.”
– As part of his comments on there not being a good time to miss 2-3 weeks to fix a lingering health issue, Reigns drew attention to the lack of an off-season in WWE, unlike his background in football.
“That’s the problem we have is there’s no time to rest because we have no offseason. We have a lot of content to fill. It makes for a lot of workdays,” Reigns said. “For me, I just tried to fit it in (nasal surgery) when it was going to be the best time for me. I think we were able to nail that because we were able to do some cool stuff storyline-wise which allowed me enough time to get it fixed and to recharge my battery. I’ve been running for a solid year and a half now and that can add up when you don’t have an offseason.”
– Reigns said the plan going forward is not to walk through the crowd anymore. Reigns noted one big reason why is how long it takes him to walk down to the ring and that his entrance can feel low-energy because he’s slowly walking down steps for 30-45 seconds.
“I think we’re getting to a point now where it’s full gas pedal down, no b.s., trying to get to that ring as fast as possible. That’s where the business is going to go down so I think that’s going to be the best bet, that straight shot to get in there,” Reigns said.
“I think there’s a few different reasons why. You could name a bunch of them. I don’t think we could actually put a finger on one and say this is the reason why.”
Yes you can. It’s because you’re being booked as a smiling, jokey character and you don’t have the charisma of John Cena or The Rock. If you were being booked as a mega-badass who takes no crap with few words, or given a decent manager like Paul Heyman, people would have loved you. They liked you when you were in The Shield. Ambrose and Rollins have charisma, and it covered your poor mic skills perfectly. You were the muscle. Look at 911 in ECW. Guy made pretty good money for awhile, despite having all the charisma of a wet sock. Same with Big Dick Dudley. It’s like Heyman once said about those guys: Sometimes you just need a big dude to come out and clear the ring. That could be you.
But no. Instead we get tater tots. That’s why people don’t like you. You’re never going to get over with the “grown up” fans by having 20 minute arguments with Stephanie McMahon. The Rock did. Jericho did. The Miz could. You know who couldn’t when they first started? Kane. The Undertaker. Ever watch their early stuff? There’s a reason they had Paul Bearer with them. But they got over by being big, working really well, paying their dues, and knowing how to play their character.
You need to be intimidating, not “everybody’s best pal Romey.” Yeah, I know you’ll never read this, and I know in the grand scheme of things, who cares what I think? I’m just a middle-aged fan that stopped watching for eleven years and came back last year. I’m not your target demographic. Thing is, I want you to succeed. Most of the people that boo you, WANT you to succeed. And we know you can’t help how you’re being booked. But we’re not going to sit there and cheer bad booking, either. Do yourself a favor, if you ever read this. Have HHH or yourself talk to Vince and get the writers to do something different with you. Play to your strengths, not your weaknesses. Because “tater tots” isn’t working.
Couldn’t agree with Kuribo anymore.
@Benny that isn’t true. Unlike Cena, Roman is kinda a failure. Cena was the original family pleaser and half the people dint like it hence the split crowd. With Roman, everyone knows where this is going.. Cena 2.0 and hence we all hate him from the start. He won’t be able to replicate Cenas split crowd success. Book him heel at mania and then he will become and instant success.
Kuribo , the problem with Reigns and other things with WWE is that they don’t care what you think.
Reigns said it best: “I’m in this business for the families. That’s what we are; we’re a PG product. We’re a family-based product. We’re here to entertain families and give them enjoyment. If you’re a 30-year-old man and you want to flip me off at a kids show, then, hey, like I said, you paid your money but just be careful because you could get kicked out.”
Basically, WWE is out to entertain families with young children and could care less about the young male demographic, as they want to put on a show for all age groups and genders as opposed to just wrestling & sports fans, who are typically male.
Not sure he is over with the families either? Instead of looking for excuses why it’s not working, perhaps he should analyse his own performance, and see what he can do to improve.
Also incredible of him to come out and slaughter fans who buy tickets, pay for the network and pay his wages week after week. Would be interested to see the demographics of the Network, pretty sure 70-80% would be fans over 18.
Stuff like this makes me miss WCW so much. Not because WCW was better (though in its NWO heyday it was), but because we had an option, same with ECW. Now all we have is this company that doesent care about their fan base (not as if we are going to leave en masse for TNA) and we get a bland show. Oh well…
Reigns was rumored to become the head of Raw, while John Cena would take the same position on Smackdown, but now it’s safe to assume that scenario is up in the air because it’s going to be damn near impossible for him to come back and continue the quasi babyface character he was playing. The boos are going to pour down even harder than before and he might even face the dreaded steroid chant.