Examining Bret Hart, Vince Russo Criticism of WWE's Booking of Roman Reigns

Both Bret Hart and Vince Russo skewered WWE's handling of Roman Reigns, blaming faulty storytelling for holding the world champion back. Each man shared on-the-mark points, but their validity is poised to fade as WWE teases a metamorphosis on the way for Reigns.

The story of Reigns' rise has been marked with fan resistance and head-scratching choices from WWE Creative.

So when a Hall of Famer and a former WWE writer poke holes at what the company has done with him, the appropriate response is to nod one's head. Hart's and Russo's recent comments were right on in many ways. But for how long?

Signs point to Reigns undergoing the change he has so desperately needed. Now the audience is left to wonder if WWE can get it right with The Big Dog for longer than just flashes.

"Really Lousy Booking" 

The Hitman has developed a reputation for being a curmudgeon, often criticizing today's WWE product, from its use of part-timers at WrestleMania to sticking with Charlotte as champion. But amid some of his "get off my lawn" rhetoric lie nuggets of wisdom.

That's the case with his thoughts on Reigns. In an interview with Iain Chambers of Notts TV, Hart said of the world titleholder:

"

I think Roman Reigns is actually a hard working, decent wrestler, and he's got potential. Whether he's got the potential to carry the company, I don't know. It doesn't seem like the fans are embracing him too much. But I think a lot of it is bad booking; just really lousy booking. When I look at WrestleMania and look at how they built him in the Royal Rumble, they booed him all the way in it for the short time he was in there.

"

The Hitman also commented that Reigns' storyline has been "too manufactured."

Booking has certainly been an albatross for Reigns. At the 2015 Royal Rumble, WWE underestimated how badly fans wanted to see Daniel Bryan triumph. So when Bryan went out early and Reigns went to claim victory, The Big Dog became the scapegoat for the audience's frustration with the company.

The next year's edition was much improved, but WWE was still trying to sell fans on an against-the-odds narrative. It seemed to try to squeeze Reigns in both a Steve Austin antihero and Bryan-like underdog role. Neither fit him.

He's a big Samoan badass, and but he's not portrayed that way often enough.

For one, WWE has tried and tried to make him a babyface in the vein of John Cena. As the boos get louder, though, the company has to realize that he has so much potential as a monstrous bad guy who despises the crowd.

But as David Shoemaker wrote for ESPN, "The problem is, WWE seems determined to ignore the reaction entirely, choosing instead to mute the crowd mics than to embrace its new despicable star."

The booking issues go further than that, too. While Reigns' former partners in The Shield have evolved since that faction split, his growth has been minimal. 

Seth Rollins morphed into a slimy opportunist and a braggart. Cementing his status as a supervillain of the squared circle, Rollins threatened to break Edge's neck and crushed Dean Ambrose's head on a stack of cinder blocks. 

Ambrose, on the other hand, has been made to look gutsy, unhinged, like a lit stick of dynamite.

WWE has presented him as someone who learned to fight and survive in the streets of Cincinnati. Where is Reigns' vignette? And besides attacking Triple H and Vince McMahon at the end of last year, he has had too few defining moments.

"What Are You Doing? This is Not the Character"

Character issues have been at the heart of Reigns' problems from the beginning. He hasn't clicked with fans largely because he's been made to be someone he's not. 

Russo is among those who have seen that at work. Speaking with Al Castle on The PWI Podcast, the former WWE writer said that Vince McMahon has had his top wrestlers cut "white-bread babyface promos" be it Diesel or The Rock or Shawn Michaels. When McMahon wanted to have the monstrous Diesel start grinning on the cover of magazines, Russo said he told McMahon, "What are you doing? This is not the character."

Russo believes that is happening again. 

"Here we are with Roman Reigns 25, 30 years later. He's doing the exact same thing because Vince, at 70 years old, really believes that the 1970s philosophy is going to work today. It's all he knows. He's repeating it over and over again," he explained.

WWE has definitely tried to have Reigns be like Cena, the smiling, straight-laced, kid-friendly hero. But using baby steps, it seems to be moving away from that.

Compare his mic work today to what he was doing last year. In January of 2015, he clashed with Rollins on SmackDown and came off as a wisecracking cartoon character.

He used the phrase "suffering succotash" for some reason. He told Rollins that he has "donkey dung for brains." That kind of promo won't work for anyone, but Reigns isn't nearly charismatic enough to combat the juvenile nature of those lines.

A shift away from that version of Reign is underway, although it has been a slow one.

Watch him in a faceoff with AJ Styles on SmackDown from early April. His mic work was more succinct. He had more of an edge to him overall.

He needs to stop repeating the "I'm the guy" line so much, but he is moving in the right direction. A heel turn looks to be on its way. A darker, snarling Reigns looks ready to burst out.

That's what WWE has to let happen.

Fans caught a glimpse of that more ideal character before WrestleMania, when cameras followed Reigns as he entered the building. This Reigns was cocky, indignant, compelling. 

If WWE can have Reigns become that guy every night and stop trying to insert him into stories better suited for dark horses like Bryan, he will reach his potential. He will quiet his detractors.

Eventually, Russo, Hart and everyone's criticisms would seem dated.