ROMAN REIGNS CAN’T SHIELD HIMSELF FROM HISTORY!

IF HISTORY IS the best predictor of the future, Roman Reigns has a lot to worry about. The WWE Universe has resisted Reigns’ push for over four years, from the moment The Shield disbanded, to his ill-received Royal Rumble victory in 2015, to his three often-delayed, always-brief WWE championship runs.

Fans aren’t accepting Reigns as WWE’s top fan favorite. They barely bought into the notion of Reigns as Universal champion, until Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose rejoined him immediately following SummerSlam.

Much of the criticism on social media shares the same theme: All of WWE has been turned topsyturvy just to make Reigns viable as Universal champion. Brock Lesnar was depicted as an absentee titleholder to make Reigns seem valiant in comparison. The careers of Rollins and Ambrose were going fine without Reigns; The Shield’s reunion was an obvious effort to boost Reigns’ standing. Braun Strowman, the biggest breakout star of 2018, formed an inexplicable alliance with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre—again, WWE sacrificing Strowman’s popularity for Reigns’ benefit.

The result? Reigns is reasonably popular as part of The Shield. But countless numbers of fans have come to