WWE superstar Roman Reigns was recently forced to pull out of his high profile match with Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36. As a two-time leukemia survivor in real life, Reigns is considered immunocompromised and at high risk for complications should he become infected with the Covid-19 virus. He made the difficult decision to self-quarantine rather than risk his health by continuing on with the match, opening up a spot for a new challenger -- rumored to be Braun Strowman -- stepping up to contend for the title.
While Reigns is understandably disappointed at having to miss out on such a high profile spot at WrestleMania, it might actually be better for his career to skip this match than to wrestle in it. Reigns has been a polarizing figure for much of his career, and it's only within the last year or so that he's started consistently receiving a positive reaction from the crowd. Win or lose, his match against Goldberg appeared destined to draw substantial heat from a large segment of the WWE universe. Getting to miss out on the match -- and the negative reaction it seemed likely to draw -- should do more to protect Reigns' status as Smackdown's top babyface than even winning the Universal Championship would have.
The heart of the negative audience reactions that seem to swirl perpetually around anything Reigns does lies in the perception that WWE remains determined to push him as the post-John Cena face of the company whether the audience accepts him or not. Reigns has been criticized at times for everything from his in-ring skill set to the opinions he's voiced in shoot interviews, and he's been dogged by critics throughout his career who believe that he's been given special treatment by WWE to try to protect him from criticism. Whether there's some truth to that perception or not, a significant segment of WWE's audience perceives Roman Reigns as having been shoved down their throats by company management, and they remain determined to reject him on those grounds alone.
Despite winning multiple championships between 2014 and 2018, Reigns also spent that period being booed heavily by fans, picking up such dubious accolades as Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Most Hated and Most Overrated wrestler of 2016 -- all while theoretically serving as the company's top babyface. He only started to generate more positive fan reactions when he broke kayfabe to let the audience know what he was battling with in his real life.
On the October 22, 2018 episode of RAW, Reigns walked out to the ring, introduced himself by his real name -- Joe Anoa'i -- and announced that 11 years after beating leukemia, his cancer had returned. After taking an indefinite leave of absence to receive treatment, Reigns miraculously returned only a few months later, in February 2019, to announce that he was in remission.
In the year since then, Reigns has received a much warmer reaction from the crowd -- and only a small portion of that can be chalked up to wrestling fans being reluctant to boo a cancer survivor too quickly. Though his first big comeback match against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 35 didn't set the world on fire, Reigns has quietly strung together a solid collection of feuds in the months since. He had a pretty good program with Shane McMahon sparked by a Superman Punch to Shane's father, Vince. His mystery storyline "Who Tried to Kill Roman Reigns" was a goofy bit of fun that featured great matches with Buddy Murphy, Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan. His most recent feud with King Corbin may have ran a little too long, but was a solid placeholder feud while Reigns waited to embark on his build to WrestleMania.
The problems began more recently, when Reigns' critics began to sense that Reigns was once again getting ticketed right to the top of the card for WrestleMania. In the lead up to the Royal Rumble, Reigns was rumored to be slated for a match against fan favorite Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 36, with Reigns believed likely to walk away with Wyatt's Universal Championship. He was widely expected to win the Royal Rumble, and heard boos for the first time since his cancer diagnosis upon entering late in the match. When Drew McIntyre eliminated him with a Claymore kick to claim the upset victory, the raucous crowd reaction seemed as if it was generated as much by relief at Roman's loss as it was excitement at McIntyre's win.
Reigns still seemed set on a collision course with Bray Wyatt for WrestleMania until Goldberg defeated Wyatt at Super Showdown with a botched jackhammer. The match was heavily criticized for its poor quality, but it also drew heat because many believed that the popular Wyatt dropped the title to Goldberg so that Reigns could eventually win the belt without having to face The Fiend directly. True or not, the speculation fed the perception that Reigns was being protected at Wyatt's expense -- a perception made even stronger when Reigns strolled out to challenge Goldberg on Smackdown the next night without having to earn a title shot in the ring, while the audience booed both men heavily. In his last live appearance on Smackdown before quarantining, Reigns delivered a promo which inadvertently fed into every accusation that his character receives special treatment, arguing that he didn't need to earn a title shot based on his career accomplishments to date.
While WWE was wise to save the rumored matchup between Roman and Bray Wyatt for some later date, his Universal Championship match against Goldberg was setting up to be a disaster. Reigns has headlined four WrestleManias -- and he's been booed at every one. If he had gone forward to headline this one as well, the only thing keeping a fifth crowd from booing him would've been the fact that it was taped in an empty arena without an audience. Win or lose, the match against Goldberg would have drawn significant heat for The Big Dog. By sitting out the match and taking some time away from competition, Reigns can preserve his babyface status and ensure that when he is medically cleared to return to the ring, he'll be welcomed back with cheers, not boos.