Roman Reigns' Failure to Evolve Is Affecting His Role as Top Babyface

Given how much conjecture there was surrounding the eventual split of The Shield—which finally happened in June last year—there was always going to be speculation surrounding the directions Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins went in.

Naturally, at least one of the group would become a heel. After Rollins effectively disbanded the group by joining The Authority, he was the man who assumed that role.

It's fair to argue that all three men have taken increasingly different paths since the split of the group, but that doesn't mean they have all been necessarily successful.

While Ambrose has broken away as an unhinged, incredibly erratic babyface, Reigns' face run just doesn't seem to be clicking as well as it should be. After all, this is the guy who quickly established a reputation as the shining light of The Shield, yet he is now arguably the one who has the least interest surrounding him.

The question must therefore be asked: Is Reigns' failure to evolve the thing that is truly holding him back as a top babyface in WWE?

It could perhaps be argued that Reigns has evolved, not least because he's rapidly heading to a—likely—WWE World Heavyweight Championship win at WrestleMania 31. He's now a certified solo star in his own right, but in terms of getting the audience to buy into him, it just doesn't seem to be happening.

Compare that with Seth Rollins—the man who, ironically, was the quieter, distant member of The Shield, but is now perhaps in the top two or three draws on the WWE roster.

Rollins quickly moved away from his gimmick in The Shield and has now become the man many people desire to become the next major champion in WWE.

The clothing has been dropped, as has any mention of his time in The Shield. He's become much more menacing on the microphone, which has enabled him to develop and evolve—something which was perfectly evident in the scene in which he convinced John Cena to bring back The Authority.

Rollins was clever, crafty and ludicrously wicked throughout that particular edition of Raw, and he capped it off with a wonderful line when referring to Edge: "You should know me better than that John, I'm going to kill him anyway."

It was one of those lines that only a top heel could get away with and look impressive in the process, and Rollins certainly pulled it off.

Ambrose has evolved equally, even if not managing to pull off the same success as Rollins. His whole dress sense and general actions are unlike anything we saw in The Shield—Ambrose is now his own man.

Then you have Reigns. You wonder whether the WWE has been too wary to completely put The Shield to bed, thus leaving Reigns as the sole survivor of that group.

It's incredible to think that the writers didn't consider changing his entrance music—when you add that to the way he dresses, this is essentially the same Roman Reigns who burst onto the scene with The Shield 18 months ago.

Perhaps that's why the WWE fans who roundly booed him out of the building at the Royal Rumble aren't exactly happy. Wrestlers should always be evolving and growing as their careers go on, but we're simply not seeing it with Reigns.

If he gradually turns heel as the months go on, it might not be as much of a problem as it currently is. However, while he's being groomed as the top babyface in WWE, Reigns just isn't evolving how he should.