Roman Reigns' New Arrogant Persona Is WWE's Ticket to Seamless Heel Turn

The calls to turn Roman Reigns heel from WWE fans have been deafening for quite some time, but if the events of this past Monday's Raw are anything to go by, perhaps the company has been on the right track with his booking all along.

Turning someone heel straight off the bat is a big call that takes careful planning and meticulous timing, and with Reigns always likely to go over and win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 32, we should have known all along that he would never turn heel during the biggest night of the year.

But now that he has ascended to the summit and finally overthrown The Authority, there is an obvious character trait Reigns can inherit that will start the slow-burn approach to a full heel turn: arrogance.

Reigns was heckled to the extreme on Raw this past week by a traditionally vociferous post-WrestleMania crowd, but his response was arrogance in the extreme, and it was enjoyable to hear. "I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a good guy—I'm the guy," said Reigns. It's been a long time since Roman was refreshing on the microphone, and you could almost hear the initial boos start to trail off toward the back end of his promo.

When he came out and told the WWE fans he effectively doesn't care what they think of him because he's the man, it worked a treat. But it wasn't just what Reigns was saying that was doing the job, but how he was saying it.

He looked smarmy, cocky and downright confident about it—and there was no babyface charisma or more failed attempts to try to endear himself to the WWE audience. He was supremely confident in himself, which would have certainly made fans hate him even more. 

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Will be interesting longer term to see if we really are seeing a slow burn Reigns heel turn, or just him being an arrogant kinda babyface.

— Bonkers Booking (@bonkersbooking) April 5, 2016"

He continued to say that he'd take down anyone who wanted to challenge him before he was confronted by AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Chris Jericho. By then, Reigns' best work on the mic for quite some time was done—and his new arrogant persona had kicked in. He even had time to disregard Zayn by waving him away when he pointed at Reigns' title. If that isn't the start of a heel turn, what is?

The way he acted and the way he was booked was impressive, and it's exactly the way the company needs to continue booking him as he heads down the road toward a heel turn.

WWE should make Reigns think he's untouchable from here. If he picks up relatively straightforward wins or even begins to avoid competing, it's only going to increase the hatred fans have for him.

But the big difference between the boos he'll get now and the ones he was being hit with a month or so ago is that the previous heckling was because he was unaccepted by WWE fans as their top babyface. There will be some who will still feel the same about him, but more and more people will just hate the cockiness and the way Reigns goes about his business, which will become genuine heat, not cheap heat.

As Bleacher Report's lead WWE writer Ryan Dilbert said on Twitter earlier this week:

What is crucial now, though, is that WWE must resist any temptation to turn AJ Styles heel in this rivalry that has been set up for the coming months. He's the true babyface here; he's the one fans want to see win the gold.

You have to trust that WWE will not make such a huge error, especially with Styles so genuinely over with fans. How Reigns interacts with AJ will be interesting, but if Raw was anything to go by, he should be referencing Styles' past, portraying his career as nothing but time in the minor leagues and saying he can't compete with the champion.

Reigns isn't a heel just yet, nor is he being booed for completely the right reasons. But more booking like this, and the company will find itself backed into a corner with its new champion. As he continues to act like an idiot and a smug, arrogant champion, he'll naturally morph into an effective and dominating heel.

And that's the best way to turn him in the long run.