Notes

Roman Reigns took a few weeks off TV before Payback to sell an injury angle to help put over Braun Strowman, a popular big monster heel. Then he comes back at Payback to be roundly booed, for reasons that don't really hold much water anymore, put on one hell of a main event with Braun, sold like he was near death (it really was an all time sell job), and LOST CLEAN to once again put Braun over. He has basically given the fans what they seemingly wanted.

What do they do? They thank Braun for beating him up even more after the match and chant "You deserve it" as Roman is barely able go backstage to get medical help. What else is there for him to do in a situation like this? Answer: Nothing.

Roman Reigns is one of the best in the world and no amount of hate is going to change that. It's also painfully clear that no matter how good he gets, those who hate him will continue to do so, whatever the circumstances may be. Roman is essentially a tweener/heel pretending to be face by now, and actually turning him full heel would not only lessen the boos he gets currently, but will drive off fans who actually do like him as a face. It's time to stop caring even one bit about how anyone reacts to him and focus on the incredible work he continues to put in, show after show.

And I'm not even talking about Payback. He's not only put on a good match with Braun before at Fastlane, a brutal No DQ match with KO, a Hell in a Cell with Rusev, PUT OVER FINN BALOR CLEAN ON RAW, ate the clean pin to Seth Rollins (MITB) and Dean Ambrose (Battleground), but he's managed to have classic matches and keep up in the ring with AJ STYLES not once, but twice. I mean, while AJ IS the best in the world, it takes two to have a great dance.

Plus, let's stop this narrative of Roman only having the Spear, Superman Punch, and Drive-By Dropkick (which he executes really well almost each and every time he hits them), because he has done a bunch of other moves in his matches like the uppercut, Sit-Out Powerbomb, a Black Tiger Bomb, Tilt-a-whirl Slam, Samoan Drop, Back Suplex Side Slam, and more. He only needs those 3 moves in particular to pop the crowd, which is his main job. Besides, other people *cough*Ambrose*cough* only really use a few moves in their arsenal during most matches and they don't get as much flack as Roman does.