Vince Russo Details the Biggest Mistake WWE Made With Roman Reigns in 2015

In 2015, Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble to book a ticket to WrestleMania. Despite this incredible achievement, and the fact that he was a babyface, the Philadelphia crowd booed Reigns out of the building. Former WWE head writer Vince Russo believes that was the right moment to turn Reigns heel.

Vince Russo gives his take on Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns has been WWE’s most hated wrestler for half a decade. WWE touted him as the next John Cena, but the WWE Universe rejected him soundly. Despite that, WWE has pushed Reigns to the moon, and he’s achieved some incredible feats.

After being a rejected babyface for years, WWE pulled the trigger and turned Reigns heel. The y had many opportunities to turn him heel in the past, but the 2020 heel turn yielded the best results. However, former WWE head writer Vince Russo believes WWE is a couple of years behind, which he explains on It’s My House podcast.

“Bro, we’d have to back it up, and I said it when it happened, bro. And I don’t even know what year we’re talking about. We’re talking about a couple of years back, but remember when Roman Reigns- I think it was in Philly- and he won the Royal Rumble, and the people booed him out of the building.”

“Whatever year that was, bro, I said that night if I was writing the show and they were booing Roman out of the building; if I was Roman, I would have stepped up to the second rope and I would have flipped off that entire Philly crowd.”

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Should Reigns have turned heel earlier?

As previously mentioned, WWE had various opportunities to turn Roman Reigns heel. He could’ve turned heel after losing to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. Reigns could’ve turned heel after WrestleMania 33 where he beat Undertaker and cut the best promo of the modern era.

However, Russo claims the 2015 Rumble was the perfect opportunity to turn him heel. “That was the perfect, perfect, perfect situation. Bro, it always seems with these things Chris that WWE, whether he be Vince McMahon or whoever. Bro, they’re always a couple of years behind. If they would’ve done that with Roman back then, they would have been off to the races.”

Had WWE turned Reigns heel earlier, we would’ve missed out on his outstanding work in 2020 and 2021. However, we’ll never know what could’ve been in store for us if WWE pulled the trigger earlier.

Read more: Here’s Why Roman Reigns’ Royal Rumble Win was Criticized by the WWE Universe