How far can Roman Reigns get on his own currently?

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Meh. Hella popular with all types of fans during his prime. Let's not try to pretend Batista is as big as Lesnar, Undertaker, Hunter, HBK, etc. They're on a similar level.

Rey doesn't have nearly the resume of Batista

which Mania did Rey have a marquee match in?

 

[Action Jackson]

If it were a decade earlier and this was 2004/2005 instead of 2013, you'd be asking the same question about Batista. Instead of The Shield's eventual breakup, it'd be Evolution's, and you'd be wondering how far someone like Batista could go on his own without guys like Triple H, Ric Flair and even Randy Orton there to speak for him any longer. But I'd have to say he did pretty well for himself. He became the biggest star other than Cena that the company has seen since the Attitude Era, and now we're already at the point where we're mostly excited at the prospect of him returning for a short stint at Wrestlemania this year.

Roman Reigns can go just as far, arguably further considering he's getting the proverbial rocket strapped to his back at a younger age than Batista did, and will thus have more longevity on his side.

As for his mic skills, that won't hurt him really at all since he has other tangible qualities to make up for it, like immense strength, look, presence, charisma. There's been guys before who became big stars despite not being the strongest on the mic - Jeff Hardy, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Batista, Goldberg... Plus, he doesn't really seem that bad to me and there's always time for improvement.

The dude has serious mic skills. They don't let him cut loose on the mic because it would make him a babyface much sooner

 

[Action Jackson]

I love Rey, but he never got the rocket strapped to his ass that Big Dave had.

 

[leojay]

If it were a decade earlier and this was 2004/2005 instead of 2013, you'd be asking the same question about Batista. Instead of The Shield's eventual breakup, it'd be Evolution's, and you'd be wondering how far someone like Batista could go on his own without guys like Triple H, Ric Flair and even Randy Orton there to speak for him any longer. But I'd have to say he did pretty well for himself. He became the biggest star other than Cena that the company has seen since the Attitude Era, and now we're already at the point where we're mostly excited at the prospect of him returning for a short stint at Wrestlemania this year.

Roman Reigns can go just as far, arguably further considering he's getting the proverbial rocket strapped to his back at a younger age than Batista did, and will thus have more longevity on his side.

As for his mic skills, that won't hurt him really at all since he has other tangible qualities to make up for it, like immense strength, look, presence, charisma. There's been guys before who became big stars despite not being the strongest on the mic - Jeff Hardy, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Batista, Goldberg... Plus, he doesn't really seem that bad to me and there's always time for improvement.

It really is just speculation at this point, as I believe it's fairly subjective to predict someones future based on others successes. I will agree, though, that the guy has a long time to improve on his flaws and already has mass amounts of potential.

At this point, though, the guy has had one televised singles match and has been extremely protected by his tag partners in his tag matches. Plus, he hasn't really showed much in the terms of mic skills other than screaming into one whilst yelling "Believe in the shield". There must be a reason for this, and I'd bet money on the fact it isn't him holding back on it so he doesn't outshine Ambrose and Rollins. I personally think people will sour on him fairly quickly if he doesn't make up for his shortcomings, but stranger things have happened.

 

[leojay]

The dude has serious mic skills. They don't let him cut loose on the mic because it would make him a babyface much sooner

If you have a good example, I'd love to see it.

 

[Action Jackson]

It really is just speculation at this point, as I believe it's fairly subjective to predict someones future based on others successes. I will agree, though, that the guy has a long time to improve on his flaws and already has mass amounts of potential.

At this point, though, the guy has had one televised singles match and has been extremely protected by his tag partners in his tag matches. Plus, he hasn't really showed much in the terms of mic skills other than screaming into one whilst yelling "Believe in the shield". There must be a reason for this, and I'd bet money on the fact it isn't him holding back on it so he doesn't outshine Ambrose and Rollins. I personally think people will sour on him fairly quickly if he doesn't make up for his shortcomings, but stranger things have happened.

It amuses me how you carry on about his shortcomings, without having seen his entire career before this character. Educate yourself a bit.

 

[Action Jackson]

If you have a good example, I'd love to see it.

I do, but I'm not going to dig through YouTube for your benefit. Your opinion is made up, I don't care to attempt to change it.

 

[Lockard 23]

Really? Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about Batista's return, but in a few years time, he won't be seen as one of the biggest stars since the AE. Orton, Mysterio and CM Punk are all bigger stars than Batista and they're careers aren't over yet.

Punk and Mysterio have never had a peak in popularity or momentum as big as Batista. The Summer Of Punk had no noticeable effect on ratings or buyrates (as much as most of us enjoyed it) and Mysterio had three title reigns and all of them were a joke. I know he's popular with all demos but he's just never been on Big Dave's level as far as being a potential face of the company is concerned. Batista had a feud with Triple H (who was the top heel at the time) that was super hot and helped Wrestlemania 21 hit over a million buys back then. I also recall Raw doing it's best ratings ever since the end of the AE when that feud was happening.

Orton was always #3 to Batista back then, too. Just look at how organic Batista's rise to the main event was compared to Orton's in 2004/2005. They wanted Orton as the hero babyface against HHH at WM21 (that was always the long term plan) but the fans refused to accept him as one and cheered Batista instead, which is why Orton was changed back into a heel immediately after the program with HHH ended. I guess you can argue that they were on the same level more or less around the 2007-2010 period, but I still rank Batista a little higher because he had a stronger surge in popularity at one time than Orton ever did.

 

[leojay]

It amuses me how you carry on about his shortcomings, without having seen his entire career before this character. Educate yourself a bit.

Hey, maybe you're right. But from what I have seen on a mainstream level, he seems to have been extremely protected both in-ring and on the mic. Surely he wouldn't need to be this much if he had sufficient skills on a developmental level. This is just an educated assumption though, so feel free to prove me wrong by posting some things.

 

[Bort]

He's gonna fail miserably.

 

[leojay]

I do, but I'm not going to dig through YouTube for your benefit. Your opinion is made up, I don't care to attempt to change it.

My opinion is definitely not made up. If there's something I'm missing I'd definitely like to see it, I really like the guy and would like nothing but for him to succeed.

By the way usually when someone makes a point and doesn't prove it with a source or reference because of an excuse unrelated to the situation it's more often than not baseless banter, not that I'm saying yours is though~

 

[Action Jackson]

Hey, maybe you're right. But from what I have seen on a mainstream level, he seems to have been extremely protected both in-ring and on the mic. Surely he wouldn't need to be this much if he had sufficient skills on a developmental level. This is just an educated assumption though, so feel free to prove me wrong by posting some things.

Fair enough dude. I was a bit harsh admittedly. My bad. I am arguing that he's protected because giving him too much mic time would expose how great he is. He can talk. They limit him because Shield are still these cunt heels and every time he screams some shit and spears a motherfucker the crowd goes electric. More mic time would only speed the face turn up and they're clearly working on a specific timetable for this angle.

 

[Lockard 23]

Hey, maybe you're right. But from what I have seen on a mainstream level, he seems to have been extremely protected both in-ring and on the mic. Surely he wouldn't need to be this much if he had sufficient skills on a developmental level. This is just an educated assumption though, so feel free to prove me wrong by posting some things.

I'm not sure if it's done by design to hide any flaws that management notices, it just makes sense for the type of role he's playing. He's playing the typical enforcer/muscle of the group and the whole "say very little and let actions speak much louder than words" works perfectly for his type as it gives him a silent aura that big men like him possess better than anyone else. He's been handled by far stronger than the other two and we're only gonna see more of that come the Royal Rumble (he'll probably break Kane's record for the most eliminations in a single Rumble match... then again, I thought the same of Ryback this year and that didn't happen, but we'll see.)

 

[leojay]

I'm not sure if it's done by design to hide any flaws that management notices, it just makes sense for the type of role he's playing. He's playing the typical enforcer/muscle of the group and the whole "say very little and let actions speak much louder than words" works perfectly for his type as it gives him a silent aura that big men like him possess better than anyone else. He's been handled by far stronger than the other two and we're only gonna see more of that come the Royal Rumble (he'll probably break Kane's record for the most eliminations in a single Rumble match... then again, I thought the same of Ryback this year and that didn't happen, but we'll see.)

Definitely not going to argue they've handled him tremendously. Of all the shitty handling of wrestlers over the last few years the way they handle Reigns and The Shield in general is great. He's a great "secret weapon" utility for The Shield, plays the role well. But I still have to wonder if they've chosen to use him that way for character reasons or because of his skill level, him only having one singles match makes me wonder more. Especially when Ambrose and Rollins have had mass amounts of singles matches.

 

[Action Jackson]

Leo look up "Leakee FCW" on YouTube to see his early shit