Turning Heel Would Help Roman Reigns Become A Better Performer

In a recent interview, Daniel Bryan expressed the idea that at the Fast Lane PPV on Feb. 22, the crowd will be split between himself and his opponent Roman Reigns. Being that WWE‘s new pay-per-view event is being held in Memphis, there is indeed a good chance he is correct. The reaction will likely be closer to 60-40 for Bryan, but the home of The King (Elvis Presley or Jerry Lawler, you decide) is not known for being a “smark” town like Chicago, New York City or the Royal Rumble‘s location Philadelphia. In any of those venues, the crowd would be at least 90-10 for Bryan, but luckily for Vince McMahon, his chosen one isn’t going to be booed out of the building when he beats the crowd’s sentimental favorite.

I wonder if it might be better, though, if they were in one of those cities. Chicago, for example, would eat Reigns alive during the match, and seeing Bryan lose when they have been given a glimmer of hope (especially since last year set a precedent that the fans can change the plans if they complain loud enough for long enough) would cause a riotous response — the perfect setting for them to milk a heel turn. Flip off the crowd (not in some kind of PG version so they can censor it on TV and make it look even worse) and throw in a spear on Bryan after the match to rub it in. That would still work in Memphis, but it wouldn’t have the atmosphere that an angrier crowd would create.

That all being said, I don’t think it’s very likely to happen, even though the crowd is always primed and ready to cheer for Brock Lesnar, because it’s fun to root for the guy who can beat up on anybody he pleases whenever he pleases. Monsters are cool. On top of that, Reigns winning the title as only the third to walk out of WrestleMania with the gold as a heel — if they follow up better than they did in 2011 with The Miz — would give them a shot at creating a new monster heel. It wouldn’t produce an immediate top-tier good guy, but they still have Bryan, John Cena, Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose as strong baby faces, all of whom are perfect guys to give Roman on-the-job training.

The heel is supposed to be the guy who controls the match, and with the aforementioned great wrestlers in there with him to help him learn pacing and how to make the most out of a fairly limited set of moves, Reigns will be ready as a performer to have his big baby face run, and the crowd will be ready to cheer him.

Nicholas A. Marsico is a pro wrestling writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter!