Credit: WWE.com
Recently, there has been talk about how the people making DC movies have no clue how to make Superman a hero people like and want to pay to see. Instantly I thought about how WWE has no idea how to make a real babyface. People see Superman as someone who can't lose and therefore he isn't that interesting. It's deeper than that, though because you don't go into any comic book story expecting the protagonist to come up short. Wrestling fans hate to see someone get the push once it's happening. I remember when people wanted Seth Rollins to be the guy. Then he showed why Roman is better suited to the role. For better or worse, Roman is Superman.
People think Superman is all smiles and bright and silly and Idk why. This is an alien whose planet blew up when he was a baby. Then, during his teen years when regular humans go through the growing pains of finding out who they are and where they fit in... He learned that his truth is that he is the only one like him anywhere. This would change over time. For the most part though, being Superman is lonely. Every day he wakes he knows everyone around him is weaker than him and cannot relate. All of this is sad.
Roman Reigns looks like a rich man's Jason Momoa. You are never going to get the fans to sympathize with a guy that looks like that. He's big and strong and handsome. Look at his wife. He comes from a famous family. Many fans resent him because for some reason they attribute his push to his being related to The Rock... Which seemingly every 3 wrestlers for the last 20+ years have been, but whatever. It's a testament to his talent that WWE hasn't killed him off completely yet but pussyfooting his push.
To properly build a top wrestling star, they need to win a lot. Roman is perceived as winning all the time but he does NOT win the biggest matches. He is kind of like an upper midcard guy who will beat most part timers and the other midcard guys but not consistently beat pushed talent. He didn't win the Shield triple threat. He has never beaten Seth Rollins. He has a losing record against Brock Lesnar. WWE followed up him retiring Taker by having him lose a feud to Braun Strowman who hasn't done ANYTHING since... And Taker isn't retired so... He didn't even get that. WWE has booked him this way for reasons I will never understand.
A lot of people didn't like Henry Cavill's portrayal of Superman because he seemed all moody and brooding and not Christopher Reeves smiling all the time. Because again, people don't seem to get just how dark having your literal world destroyed should make you. Until they want to argue Roman should have been pushed as a heel first. I actually agree with that. Roman doesn't work as the smiling babyface with cartoonish dialogue. The best reactions he's ever gotten were for doing violent and dark things to people.
I'm getting tired of typing that WWE can't push a babyface unless fans think WWE doesn't want to push that babyface. I'm really tired of it being true. We enjoy the chase but not seeing our fave kick everyone else down the side of the mountain after they reach the summit. Fans are going to hate Roman so much when he beats Bray Wyatt at Mania I'm assuming. I hope all it takes is one... Superman punch.