Brock Lesnar's Final Task in WWE: Getting Fans to Cheer for Roman Reigns

WWE has finally found the recipe for overcoming the biggest hurdle it faces: getting fans to cheer for Roman Reigns.

Naturally, Brock Lesnar is the main ingredient. Moving the needle to sheer hatred for The Beast Incarnate wasn't easy to do, but it's the only way fans were going to embrace Reigns' long-awaited Universal Championship triumph and end a longer-than-necessary chase after a few solid missed opportunities.

This needle moved to the red on the latest edition of Raw, where Lesnar finally showed up, cut a few superb heel backstage segments and confirmed the writing on the wall by attacking a defenseless Paul Heyman:

Betraying Heyman is the straw that breaks the back of fans pushing back against Reigns.

Nothing else was going to work. Lesnar's disrespect for the title he holds didn't. Fans were shrugging their shoulders over the fact he only shows up to big events—makes sense, why boo the guy doing it when other part-timers only work two shows a year? Dropping Raw general manager Kurt Angle, the guy who walks out to "you suck" chants every night, with an F5 was cheered more than booed.

Then he put his hands on Heyman. For those who missed the broadcast, the crowd started chanting for Reigns, an incredibly rare feat given the chorus of boos he's usually greeted with. So much so he has to hit social media with passive-aggressive poems about crowd reactions:

Jokes aside, the experiment worked. There is something so downright despicable about attacking a man such as Heyman (who isn't exactly a good guy) that pity kicks in and you can't help but root for the good guy to come out and save him.

Translation: Expect more as soon as possible. Whether Lesnar sticks around or not after his deal is up, this newfound hatred for him and cheering for Reigns accomplishes two major goals for WWE.

One is milking the cash cow for all it's worth. Lesnar is dabbling in the UFC Octagon again, bringing more exposure than ever to WWE programming. Combine it with his rare Raw showing and actions there, and the show itself topped cable TV ratings for the first time in nearly a year, per ShowBuzz Daily (h/t Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc).

What's more, the attack on Heyman has more than 9 million views on YouTube. For context, WWE's top best-viewed video has 89 million views, is from six years ago and—get this—also features Lesnar. We're talking about more than 9 million views in a handful of days.

Reigns also gets to play the hero by slaying The Beast. That or he gets cheered while going down as the lovable loser should WWE have plans to back up the Brink's truck and keep Lesnar around while he moonlights as a champion of two companies.

Either way, it goes down as mission accomplished. WWE has tried for years to get Reigns over but hasn't come close to selling a story similar to something as organically over as Daniel Bryan's run a few years back. While The Big Dog is more popular than the internet will lead you to believe, a vocal segment of the fanbase has felt like he's been shoved down their throats, creating hostility instead of the desired reactions.

This is a big no-no, Dikembe Mutombo finger-wag style. WWE can get away with ramming an A.J. Styles down your throat because he's done it all since arriving. He's played the heel, face and even dropped matches to James Ellsworth, winning over all segments of the fanbase in the process. Ditto for someone such as Alexa Bliss, a brilliant talker and character who has done it all.

That isn't meant to discredit Reigns, one of WWE's best workers. But when you carry over a guy from a group like The Shield, don't let him change attire or theme music and cause frustration because fans see what a good heel he would be—and then refuse to pull the trigger on his winning the title and just getting it over with—it creates a backlash.

Said response is only conquered by breaking the emergency glass. In this case, it's Lesnar's move from a swashbuckling mercenary who doesn't have to play by the rules to a sheer evil monster infatuated with his own position of power.

Caught in the middle of this necessary crossfire is Heyman. Knowing him, he will find a way to wiggle out of this and seek another meal ticket, creating some interesting possibilities for the future if he wants to stick around in the business.

Either way, WWE gets what it wants here should it finally pull the trigger on crowning a new champ. Reigns, for a brief moment in time, will have universal praise from fans in taking down Lesnar. It doesn't matter whether The Beast re-ups with WWE thereafter. Nor does it matter whether he reunites with Heyman or takes a gamble and rides solo—he's now seemingly a pawn in the Reigns game.

With SummerSlam on August 19 quickly approaching, WWE is approaching a critical crossroads. But the pieces are in place to pull off a long-awaited move, in large part because Lesnar is so terrifyingly good at what he does.