Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt and More from the Good Guy-Bad Guy Mailbag

Roman Reigns didn't drown in a sea of boos this past WrestleMania weekend—he swam in them. And so begins the next evolution of a top babyface, one who rejects the usual tropes of a good guy while refusing to patronize fans with bad-guy bona fides.

I don't think anybody realizes it yet, but Reigns' brief, yet powerful "I'm not a bad guy..." promo could eventually prove to be as poetic as anything said in the modern era.

Better Bray than Never?  

It's never too late for somebody as talented as Bray Wyatt. The apparent Wyatt Family face turn seems like a reboot of some sorts, and there's no better time for a reboot than the night after WrestleMania. Still, the Wyatts skew heel. There is nothing heroic about a deranged demagogue who attracts blind followers.

I don't think turning babyface will have that much of an impact on these characters. The Wyatt Family continues to go about its business per usual, except now there will be more cheers against a different set of opponents.

It's hardly a coincidence that The Wyatts attacked the antagonistic League of Nations the night after The Rock pointed out all the reasons some fans love them. As Rock was putting the faction over, fans cheered and applauded. If WWE commits to booking the Wyatts as a strong unit that rarely loses, it won't matter whether they're heel or face.  

Silence of the Fans?

"

Now that it's over, should WWE continue ignoring the hardcore fans? https://t.co/SM9rN4ptSS

— Kareem Mathias (@KareemMathias1) April 7, 2016"

The notion that WWE ignores hardcore fans is laughable. I don't know how many times I've had to remind people that WWE spent the last two WrestleManias putting over Ring of Honor alumni in the main event. In both instances, the alums had to forfeit the world championship due to injury.

Throughout much of Seth Rollins' recent run as world champion, Raw consistently churned in record-low ratings per ShowBuzzDaily.com (h/t WrestlingInc.com). And while it's unfair to put all the blame on Rollins, if this were true about Roman Reigns, many hardcore fans—and in-the-tank journalists—would refuse to shut up about it.

Monday's Raw saw a main event filled with some of the Internet Wrestling Community's finest, and it was all built around the return of perennial midcarder Cesaro.

The fact that some hardcore fans feel like WWE is ignoring them speaks to a spoiled attitude. It actually justifies WWE ignoring them, because even when they do get their way it's on to the next complaint.

The fact that Roman Reigns is world champion is WWE simply moving forward with its best-laid plans after its attempt to win the hipster vote ended in injury. Call me crazy, but I'm confident in the over-50-year experience of a global juggernaut.

Question of the Week: When will the Reign go Away?

After WWE finally pulled the trigger on Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, he needs a proper world championship run. His previous two world championship reigns were brief, and if he has yet another short run as world champion, the walls will close in on him as a top star.

Part of what makes Reigns such an intriguing character, especially as a hybrid babyface, is that many fans are just waiting for him to fail. The rocky relationship between Reigns and hardcore fans will crystallize into one of respect if Reigns puts together a series of good matches against the independent wrestlers the IWC blindly roots for.

Reigns-Styles in Chicago is going to be a very fun, raucous environment, and I think it should begin a pattern. Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Cesaro and Ambrose should all be on deck for the first few months of the Roman Empire.

There's a good chance Reigns finally drops his title to a returning Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. Still, would four months be enough to establish a credible title reign? In the perfect world, Reigns holds the championship for at least six months with all of his wins coming clean.  

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.