Is Roman Reigns really the future?

So after witnessing a meteoric rise to the higher echelons of the 'E where do you all view Roman Reigns as a talent for the future?

He certainly has charisma and 'the look' but as a wrestler he could be found out at this level, due in part to his inexperience but also the limited moveset that makes John Cena look like Dean Malenko. Personally I do like him as a powerhouse of a group, but as a singles star he lacks in the ring and on the mic. Personally I dont care for a moveset that consists of

• punch
  punch
  punch
  clothesline
  punch
  jump kick
  punch
  punch
  samoan drop
  punch
  punch
  REALLY BIG PUNCH
  Spear

do you feel fans will soon turn on him (the reactions have certainly dropped off in recent weeks) or will he need to just find his feet before continuing his climb?

I think he needs a really good upper-mid card feud.  Orton was the one who came out of their SummerSlam match looking better, not Reigns.  Give him the US or IC belt and feud him with The Miz, Sheamus, Cesaro, Ziggler and the like.  He can learn alot from those guys and give him experience as a champion.

He shouldnt have went straight into the WWE title picture after The Shield broke up.  Maybe should have went straight into a feud with Orton/Kane.

Is he the future? Definitely. Is the future now? No.

The thing is I can totally understand him going straight into the title picture because he was red hot with the crowd, put him lower down the card and a lot of that momentum would have been lost. The problem was that they only half pulled the trigger as they were going to go down the Brock route, so now it's hard to see where he really is in WWE, whether he is considered a top guy or not.

I feel like he is being limited for whatever reason in the ring, while he was protected in The Shield and his impact moves used less I do think his move-set being so small is being deliberately done by WWE to make him more recognisable as a singles star, but it's being really overdone and if he doesn't start to expand his move set then I fear the worst with the crowd being as fickle as it is, in turning on me.

As it is I'm still finding him reasonably entertaining and think he gets an unfair amount of flack because he's come out of The Shield and Ambrose/Rollins aren't getting the same exposure or backing as he is. I think he'll come good as he already improved massively from his debut to now and I think that will continue. For me Orton was a poor choice of an opening feud, even if I can understand it because Orton is far too slow and boring which made Reigns look too slow, he needed to be in a feud with a much faster person but I understand that getting a big win was necessary and Orton was a big win.

I'm hoping a feud with Rollins is on the card as I feel Rollins can get a better match out of Reigns than Orton can because of his style and their chemistry.

Also I actually think one of the worst things you can do is give him one of the mid-card championships or have him in feuds with Ziggler, Miz or Sheamus. While in an ideal world that would be a place for stars to find their feet and have interesting and meaningful feuds, what it actually is a graveyard for popular stars who WWE can't think of stories for. I think putting Reigns there would kill any and all momentum he has and actually set him back months. He needs to remain in high exposure feuds while allowing him to expand his move set. I don't think it's limitations are due to Reigns' limitations, but rather they're trying to make him more recognisable by giving him the standard moves. The problem is with 6-7 hours of WWE TV a week that message is being hammered home repetitively.

He seemed like the future a month or two ago when he was fresh from the shield but people get bored of seeing the same thing each week. Him standing tall most weeks quickly gets tedious and he's quite boring in the ring. Without really making any stand out mistakes you can see he's uncomfortable on the Mic too.

He seems to get an hammering on other forums with people not willing to accept him as the new Cena and fair enough I suppose. I think a Rollins feud would be good for him.

Just want to add that Ambrose has really impressed me and he's got a really bright future, not to state the obvious. One of a select few currently that I actually want to watch.

I actually think he's not bad on the microphone, I think he's naturally charismatic but is not really given anything interesting to say. He's also ad-libbed a couple of times to great effect for example:

Crowd: Cena sucks! Cena sucks!
Roman Reigns: Damn right he does when I'm in the house.

Reigns is good. His moveset works. Ambrose is about as limited but people are dickheads about "chosen ones". Honestly, I think anyone who doesnt like him is just immature

All wrestlers are limited in WWE, they have a moveset to abide by for the most part so that the fans identify with them.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Reigns is good. His moveset works. Ambrose is about as limited but people are dickheads about "chosen ones". Honestly, I think anyone who doesnt like him is just immature

WOW - immature? Get a grip, who are you to say what people should or shouldn't like? And what credentials do you have to base your theory on peoples maturity? Wrestling fans don't like being force fed something, they like to make their minds up on the merits of something or someone and often feel they have seen enough of whats on offer to make a fair and accurate judgement, that in itself is the very essence of maturity! To blindly label fans immature simply for not believing in someone the WWE want ro push isn't just inaccurate its plain stupid!

Kay Fabe wrote:

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Reigns is good. His moveset works. Ambrose is about as limited but people are dickheads about "chosen ones". Honestly, I think anyone who doesnt like him is just immature

WOW - immature? Get a grip, who are you to say what people should or shouldn't like? And what credentials do you have to base your theory on peoples maturity? Wrestling fans don't like being force fed something, they like to make their minds up on the merits of something or someone and often feel they have seen enough of whats on offer to make a fair and accurate judgement, that in itself is the very essence of maturity! To blindly label fans immature simply for not believing in someone the WWE want ro push isn't just inaccurate its plain stupid!

Now I am not sure but I think dolphin was being ironic or sarcastic. Or just a dick!

I was actually pretty drunk, but I stand by it to some extent. There is a real immaturity with a lot of wrestling fans about "chosen ones".

I won't agree that wrestling fans are so pure of thought and that they make picks based around the "essence of maturity". There is a very basic and flawed judgement in many fans view of Reigns. I agree with Hero, WWE do limit their wrestlers movesets, but it is something thrown at the likes of Reigns because he is getting a big push, whereas Ambrose too has found his moveset reduced in a WWE ring. In the same way that Reigns double footed dropkick on the apron is less exciting now, so is Dean's ludicrous fall through the rope spring back up clothesline.

Personally, I like Reigns, and I like everything they have done in their push of him. It's being built slowly with decent opponents to nurture his skills and they have kept his character reasonably "cool" rather than rainbow t-shirts of merchandise. I also think Ambrose and Rollins have been positioned by WWE equally as good, with Ambrose in particular being given a very well managed push that has highlighted his strengths brilliantly and quite purposefully.

He's the future because he is awesome. Deal with it.

Good podcast discussion I think - the difference between wrestlers being chosen by the fans or thrust upon the audience by the promotion.

Ambrose does have a limited moveset tbf at the moment but he also sells an lot better and his mannerisms and style in the ring are rather unique on the roster right now. He is also a lot better on promos, combined with a better defined persona and gimmick. Reigns' character seems to be little more than typical strong badass excpet this time one that doesnt talk as much (as opposed to Cena who talks too much-damn his promos are long these days)

We had a great debate about this on the podcast last night

crippledtart wrote:We had a great debate about this on the podcast last night

Are you going to share that with the rest of us this time