PWP Nation’s Zak Fellows explains why the Roman Reigns suspension won’t change a thing about the way Vince McMahon and WWE feels about him.
In what was originally going to become a hotly anticipated month of building towards the long awaited triple threat between the former Shield members has turned into something else entirely. The big story of former WWE World Champion, and challenger to the same title at the upcoming Battleground event, Roman Reigns’ suspension due to his first violation of the WWE Wellness Policy has become the story surrounding the title match, once again making Reigns a hot topic among the fans that hate him so much that they love to make every wrestling topic about him (look no further than WWE’s YouTube channel).
Fans and critics have generally reacted in the mix of usual emotions: dismission, joking, acceptance but one of the more frequent subjects, as always relates to Reigns, is turning a seeming negative into a positive. Since the 2015 Royal Rumble originally brought it to attention and has since been compounded by time, Roman Reigns turning heel and taking advantage of the majority negative reaction has been THE anticipated topic of discussion with many looking towards how it could would and should do so.
I know that myself, personally, believes that Reigns would benefit from taking the visceral instinct of fans to dislike and playing around with it in a troll like manner but, as far as reasons why he would turn heel, I highly doubt that this suspension will be the point where WWE’s hand will be forced and they have to turn him. Don’t get me wrong: He needs to turn heel at some point but doing so by bringing up something that has happened to about 5o other people and not many fans really, truly think or care about in the long term?
Not a chance.
For the benefit of those who may not be entirely familiar with the function of the WWE Wellness Policy here’s a quick refresher: In a nutshell, after Eddie Guerrero’s untimely and unexpected death in November of 2005, WWE implemented random drug testing to weed out abuse of prescription medication, performance enhancers and illegal recreational drugs in February 2006.
Since then, they have gone on to include cardiovascular testing as well as the banning of muscle relaxers with suspensions for violations becoming more public knowledge due to the Chris Benoit murders. From low carders such as Adam Rose and Heath Slater to mid carders Dolph Ziggler and Umaga to main eventers such as Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy the wellness policy has claimed wrestlers from across the hierarchy.
Roman Reigns is nothing new in that regard, he’s the first main eventer to be suspended in a while which most likely impacts upon the level of attention he receives for this violation, aside from again…obsessed haters. To be blunt though, and while I can somewhat understand the level of animosity that arises from a situation such as this because of his positioning compared to other wrestlers and how it is being handled, the wellness policy has never really meant a damn thing when it comes to pushes and how writing WWE’s product is influenced.
This is especially noticeable with those we consider main event talent: Randy Orton was suspended on two different occasions and returned in, essentially, the same position he was in when he left off, Rey Mysterio was suspended as Intercontinental Champion and within a few weeks of his return was challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship, Jeff Hardy? Suspended when he was going to win Money in the Bank and still returned to be a number 1 contender and later WWE champion by the end of the year anyway… noticeable again in TNA.
This is not to say that the WWE Wellness policy CAN’T be a reason for a demotion in booking and perception of the audience it’s just that, historically, it hasn’t been or interfered with the way wrestling promotions generally book their talent…which ultimately comes down to do they want to push this guy or not?
To me, it’s also easy for fans to compare Reigns situation to other suspensions such Konnor of the Ascension, who just recently served 60 days for his second wellness policy violation, just on the surface when they are two different wrestlers of two different tiers in two different circumstances with two different histories. It’s like wondering why Heath Slater isn’t paid the same amount of money as John Cena just on the surface isn’t it?
Perhaps, as was mentioned, it ultimately comes down to one factor that has caused this news to become as noteworthy and open to interpretations as it has ultimately become: Roman Reigns himself. The guy (get it?) is just such a point of contention that everything that he is involved with is placed under the most scrutiny simply because of the situations he has been placed in and how people perceive him. The majority of the audience that boo Reigns has so many different and opposing reasons as to why they react to him that this suspension is more a footnote in that list before it ultimately becomes diluted into affectionate heel heat ala John Cena.
I suppose the ultimate point I am trying to add to this whole predicament is that Roman Reigns being suspended is just another big name added to a list consisting of a dozen other people including names bigger than he is. We don’t know what he was suspended for, how behind the scenes it is being reacted as and the interpersonal circumstances that arise from something such as this.
This suspension won’t change his push because the Wellness policy has rarely had an effect on that, it won’t change how people perceive him because they have already made up their mind on that and don’t care about backstage issues like that (otherwise Titus O’Neil wouldn’t be in the exact same place he was where he left off in the eyes of the audience) and if Reigns does turn heel at Battleground or beyond, it’s not going to be sorely because of this drug suspension.
As far as wrestlers getting suspended for drug related reasons this isn’t even the worst one…not unless I forget about Rob Van Dam smoking away two world titles.
[Zak Fellows doesn’t forget and neither should you.]
Tune into the “Don’t Try This At Home” and “The Bottom Line” to hear some other thoughts on the suspension.