WWE: WWE considering turning Reigns or Ambrose heel; Reigns is #2 merch seller

[M.C.G. 31]

There’s never a good time for a WWE World Heavyweight Champion to go down, but the knee injury to Seth Rollins last Thursday at a WWE live event in Dublin, Ireland exposed just how little depth the company has on top.

With Daniel Bryan out due to concussion issues, Randy Orton out due to shoulder surgery and John Cena on sabbatical — he is believed to be hosting a network reality television show — WWE, on one of its biggest house show tours of the year, was left with two star babyfaces — Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, and with Kevin Owens as the closest thing to a main star heel.

...

While Vince McMahon has been adamant about not turning Reigns since his goal was to establish the 30-year-old as WWE’s premiere Superstar at WrestleMania 32, the injury to Rollins has complicated things for the immediate future. Since Rollins is out for six to nine months, the company is now in desperate need of a heel with star power. The face side will be getting Cena back next month, and has Lesnar likely working more dates in early 2016. Therefore, McMahon is giving serious consideration to turning a top face heel soon, and the names being discussed are Reigns and Ambrose.

The idea of a Reigns heel turn and aligning himself with The Authority, particularly since Reigns shot it down on Raw this past week, makes sense on one hand. There is a feeling within WWE that if Reigns were to become a hot heel, that when he turns back, there won’t be the crowd resistance to him that there was before WrestleMania 31, and, at some televised events, continues to be. Ambrose could also turn, since it’s unlikely he’ll ever be the top face in WWE, but he can be positioned as the lead heel.

Reigns turning heel comes down to the fact that he’s just starting to gain momentum as a face and is currently the No. 2 merchandise seller in WWE, behind Cena. But if he or Ambrose doesn’t turn, that means, almost by default, Owens would be the top heel and have little backup, since the other top heels would be Del Rio, who the audience has been largely apathetic towards, Bray Wyatt, who has already worked a program with Reigns, and Big Show, who fans are very tired of seeing. At Monday’s Raw in Manchester, England, fans chanted “Please retire” and “You fat *******” at Show during his match against Reigns.

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

If Reigns is the #2 merch seller, goodbye to any hope of him turning heel, despite him being the logical choice to turn heel. Money > logic to Vince.

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[Cor]

Turning Reigns heel needs to happen.

It would do so much for him moving forward.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Well we want to keep Cena at #1, so turning Reigns makes complete sense. Can't have anyone else on top, then we'd have to change all of our displays at house shows.

/vincelogic.

 

[Sarcastic]

They'll both go heel eventually when they feud with Cena.

 

[Paris in Flames]

At a glance I thought the article was implying that fans were sick of Bray Wyatt. I was about to...well...I'll let one of my favourite (and relevant) gifs speak for me.

 

[The Shockmaster]

I'd be so much more interested in a heel Reigns. An Ambrose turn? Not so much.

 

[Reality Check]

Those hoping for an upcoming Reigns heel turn will just be disappointed. Similar to all those times they hoped Cena would turn heel.

WWE is going full steam ahead with the plan that was derailed last year by fans and that's pushing Reigns as the new guy.

Furthermore, with all their high profile faces on the shelf, who exactly slots into that role if it isn't Reigns?

Ambrose? The guy who has been reduced to being Roman's cheerleader recently?
Another half-hearted push for Ziggler and Cesaro?

To be fair, I haven't been paying that much attention to WWE for the past few months. But I don't see any other option and after seeing the tournament brackets, I can predict two likely outcomes:

- Reigns/Ambrose final, Reigns wins...Ambrose turns heel and annihilates him immediately after the match or shortly after on Raw and Sheamus does the traditional cheap cash-in.

- Reigns/Ambrose final, Ambrose wins after turning heel and aligns himself with the authority. Otherwise known as the angle that will never die.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I'm ready for both Amrose and Reigns to go heel. However I think Reigns needs to go first. I'd have Ambrose turn on a reunited Shield group when Rollins gets back.

Babyface Ambrose is poorly written and needs a change but trying to turn him on Reigns is asking for trouble right now.

 

[SladeWilson23]

Reigns has higher potential.

 

[Emperoreddy]

It boggles my mind that the major players in creative don't see the major flaws in Roman.

I don't mean to **** on him to much. He is a nice guy and is a good worker that has improved and with the right pairing can put on great matches.

That said no one would be fooled into thinking he is a great worker right now. Plus his mic skills are just awful. And his gimmick is awful too. It's just his sheild stuff with his family legacy and "I earned everything" angle thrown in which only works when done exactly right (it worked for DB because we actually watched Bryan earn it after being buried kayfabe and reality).

No can buy Roman as an underdog when it's clear he has a rocket strapped to his back. There is no "overcoming the odds" with him.

The clear and obvious thing for his development is a heel turn to let him get better on the mic, tweak his gimmick, and just overall get better

He is going to be Diseal bad right now as top baby face.

 

[The Gongshow]

Their stuck in a position of not knowing what to do for a month or two until Cena comes back. You either make Reigns heel, which will help get him over since he is in need of a change, or you turn Ambrose, who the fans will side with anyways. But with Reigns being #2 in march Vince won't change that so Ambrose it is.

 

[quoipourquoi]

I think some subtle cheating from Dean Ambrose to beat Roman Reigns followed by a full-blown stabbing in the back a few months later would be a fascinating story leading into a WrestleMania rematch between the two.

But I fear that anyone turning into a bad guy is just going to by an "Authority" champion. Because they're in a creative lull and think it's 1998.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

It will never happen but their is a potential opportunity to do to Reigns what TNA did with Bobby Roode.

Building him up as a babyface and have him lose the title decider to Ambrose (Like Roode v Storm 1).

Then Reigns turns on Ambrose in the re-match and starts a long reign as heel champ who wins by any means neccessity.

 

[Loosie]

Is he the #2 merchandise seller the way Cena is #1? Availability and new stuff?

 

[Kimi]

Is he the #2 merchandise seller the way Cena is #1? Availability and new stuff?

Partially. He has lots of shirts 'cos lots of people buy them. It's a self fulfilling positive feedback loop, kinda.

In reality (or non-internet nerd fandom), Reigns is actually very over. Go to any house show and he'll get good cheers. The demographic he's over in is also the one that buys a lot of shirts at shows; kids that go to watch and get a shirt to go home with. Cena too is like that, but even more so.

It's the same deal with the Bella twins. They're also very over in the casual side of things, and their sales are the highest by far for the women (except Bayley's Hugger shirt being the highest single item, but the twins have so many more options).


But the top of the sellers list is always going to be very skewed toward the top few. It doesn't make any sense to drag about a ton of inventory to shows when you know it'll be slow to move a lot of it. So you go with what you know you can move. Cena and Reigns stuff being top of the list. It sucks for the lesser guys, but that's just how it is.


Other guys that sell well are Ambrose and Orton. Owens ranks high too. And despite being only in NXT, Bálor has strong sales as well.


One random thing I want to actually see from the WWE shop is how many people have ordered both a Kevin Owens shirt and a Bayley shirt.

 

[UnrealMachine]

I want to see Ambrose as a heel. It's the only way we can see him really delve into his character and become the next Pillman/Piper.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

I want to see Ambrose as a heel. It's the only way we can see him really delve into his character and become the next Pillman/Piper.

Thing is, if that happens, he will be cheered like crazy.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I want to see Ambrose as a heel. It's the only way we can see him really delve into his character and become the next Pillman/Piper.

I think Dean could have a great heel run, but right now it makes more sense for Roman to turn.

Turn Dean after Seth comes back and make him a heel or a tweener in the Shield triple threat build up.

 

[ColePens]

If it's about crowd pop.... Ambrose was getting insane pops and has defiently out popped reigns in terms of being a face. Check mark for Reigns turn.

If it's about merch, ambrose has proven he can sell gear, too. His hoodie was on back order recently and his stuff does sell. Reigns sells, too. Nobody loses here.

Who needs it more? Reigns. His character is stale and people booed him out of the stadium multiple times.


How do all signs not point to roman.... Oh wait. Vince likes roman. I see.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

Need Mark "Ratingzzzz" Henry as the top heel.

And no I'm not joking.

 

[Sammy225]

Thing is, if that happens, he will be cheered like crazy.

This x1000. If he turns Heel he will still have just as many fans cheering him as Roman likely.

So this leaves Vince with 1 choice and that is to turn Roman and have a white hot heel champ who i think would get more heat than Rollins because a lot of the fans want to boo him already. Too bad there is about a 1% chance of Vince seeing this and try to figure out why ratings are still plummeting with their new top baby face as champ.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

reigns going heel is the best long term move it's a chance for him to find himself on the mic, and say screw you to all the fans resisting him, but WWE has time after time shown no long term vision over the last few years, so i suspect it'll be ambrose who the fans actually like.

also meltzer offers no perspective on reigns merch sales, is it this month, this quarter, this year? also factor in no babyface has been pushed nearly as hard as him, he has no competition other than cena and i suppose lesnar

 

[Natey]

Hope it's Ambrose. Would rather see him at the top of the card.

 

[BonMorrison]

Hope it's Ambrose. Would rather see him at the top of the card.

Whoa - this didn't even occur to me. If Ambrose goes heel, he will probably be in the main event but if Reigns goes heel, he probably would not be and regulated to Ziggler like status. Reigns going heel is the smarter move but I really don't want to see Ambrose hurt by it.

Knowing Ambrose's luck though, he's going to be a midcarder no matter if he stays face or goes heel.

 

[S A W F T*]

I'd be happy with either. I think for long term booking, it needs to be Reigns.

But I think Ambrose would be an amazing singles heel. Especially with his already loose cannon character as a face.