Did You See Improvement in Roman Reigns' SS Promo?

[OYDK]

The current rumors circulating around Roman Reigns was that he had taken some acting classes to better help improve his promos and connect to the fans. Reigns' promo at Survivor Series started out a little shaky, but after a few seconds I definitely saw some improvement in his facial expressions and his confidence when speaking. I may be reaching here and I understand that it's just one taped promo so far, but I think if Reigns can continue to improve his promo game, he's one step closer to becoming what WWE wants him to become, the next "face" of the WWE.

The questions simple, did you notice any improvement in Roman Reigns at SS?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I thought he did. He seemed far less stiff than what we've seen out of him in the past when it comes to him cutting promos on his own. He seemed more comfortable, more at ease with his persona and what he intended to say. He didn't seem like he was trying too hard to be such a stoic, no nonsense tough guy with his "make it "Reign" up in this bitch" comment.

However, the real test will be when he cuts a promo in front of a live crowd. If he's genuinely improved in cutting promos, which is possible if reports of him taking acting classes are accurate, then it'll be a major step towards him becoming a big league player in the long run.

 

[Navi]

Reigns biggest problem is here you have this huge tough guy, but his personality is totally different. He's soft spoken, and has a real problem showing that his is a big tough guy when in front of the camera.

That said, he did a much better job this weekend. The last couple of times, he looked like he really didn't want to be there, this time, he looked good and ready to go. I believe him when he says he's dying to get back, and I think we'll see a new confident Roman Reigns when he does.

 

[Darkshadow1234]

He hasn't improved to me. He still seems forced and stiff on the mic.
He is trying too hard.

Roman needs to stay in mid card for a while before going to main event

 

[WarroBODFan]

It came off a little more natural to me, definitely. I liked the almost casual look, leather jacket, cool cat vibe, seemed better, but not "great" by any means. Still, I'm glad he's doing the acting classes. Must be one of those things where you need to swallow some pride and do what you have to do to improve and succeed. I could imagine some other people in his position refuse to try it out of pride/ridicule.

I feel bad for the guy in all honesty. Rarely seen anyone's promo work be so heavily scrutinized like Reigns' work is. Yes, it falls on WWE to give a guy a bit rough around the edges so much mic time and whether that's the right thing to do, but I don't think he's nearly as terrible as some people make him out to be. Thrust into the role and expectation of "next top guy" doesn't help him at this point, and some fans seemingly want him to fail, which I think is mightily unfair. I think some fans will just hate him or take exception to his push regardless of what he does anyway, so he's damned either way by some. But I truly hope he succeeds and proves people wrong.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

I dont know how long he has been taking acting classes, but I saw great improvements in Reigns's promo at SS. The biggest improvement I saw was his promo wasn't filled with Ughs and Umms every 5 or 6 seconds like the one he had on Raw. He also wasn't as stiff, and didn't feel like he was trying to rush through the segment like the last one. To my knowledge, him saying he would "make it "Reign"....." if he was there, was something different that he hadnt said before, so that was a nice new addiction also.
People need to stop criticizing Reigns so much, the guy has only been wrestling for FOUR years now. Two years in FCW he was mostly in tag teams, and by time he got a singles push FCW was changed to NXT and couple months later the Shield was debutting. He hasn't had the chances guys like Rollins and Ambrose had to learn what to say to make the fans respond or what to do to make a feud feel more personal. Reigns knows that people are billing him as the next top face and him taking acting classes shows to me that he wants to improve and be the best.

 

[WimpyKid4Life]

What's with all the Roman Reigns hate? Roman Reigns is a BEAST! The Superman Punch is a great signature move and the spear is a deadly finisher. He called Randy Orton "the ass of the company", Kane "Triple H's Lap Dog", and Evolution "creampuffs". Seems like a bad-ass to me. Not only that, but who could forget memorable lines like "Triple H, the King of Kings, how about we go one on one and have our own game of thrones" and " When Roman Reigns is in the building you're damn right Cena sucks!". One of the highlights that everyone in the WWE Universe was talking about from the Survivor Series fallout was the Roman Reigns quote "Make it reign in that bench!". It was a strong cool delivery and I like it when he makes his "bench please" expression. 'I threw a cinderblock at his head. The whole world should know how I feel about Seth Rollins'. I can't wait for Roman Reigns comeback. The atmosphere will be like Triple H-Madison Square Garden when he returns! #RomanEmpire

 

[mike1215]

After hearing in advance that Reigns would be appearing, I was hoping he would speak and that we'd see the improvement he made on the mic. I was very disappointed. His promo was terrible and his mic work overall has not improved at all. His lines are unnatural/forced and very elementary. I'd almost think it'd be better if they didn't have him talk at all, and he just communicated through his actions. He has the PERFECT look, a kick ass name and they can go a number of different directions with his character. It's just when he talks--I almost feel embarrassed for him when he talks. It also almost makes me 2nd guess whether he should be the heir apparent to the WWE belt like he is right now.

 

[L@RISANO]

Saw a much more confident Roman Reigns at Survivor Series, not sure if it taped or it was "LIVE" as claimed, but regardless, he seemed to be in control of what he was saying and got his point across rather well(especially when he replied to JBL's question).



He even made sure to get a reaction from the crowd when he asked,"Do you know what I'm gonna do?" twice for emphasis, it was clear the crowd got excited from there on.

Hopefully, he can translate that to when he returns in front of the crowd and those acting classes results will be seen by then.


With the likes of Ryback and Ziggler getting pushed; Reigns, Rollins, Ambrose, Wyatt, Rusev and possibly Cesaro as well at some point .... the future seems to be looking up and I, for one, am looking forward to it!

 

[nikkisixx41]

Very true I respect your post. I wish people would just give him a fair shot

 

[MeisterMan]

Yes. Speaking as a Reigns fan, and I have had my worries about his promo skills as he does indeed come off as forced and stoic; he appeared confident and natural. The classes has been paying off despite what all his skeptics want to believe. Either way, the universe will turn on him once he gets back....cause you know the same people who bitch and whine about seeing the same people at the top wants to shit over WWE's rare case of making a new star

 

[Terry Silver]

I prefer roman reigns stiff on the stick.
its real at least, acting classes make it more fake.

 

[kadroan]

He's improved to me. It's just he reminds me of The Rock a lot in his promo, which makes sense to me since they had the same acting coach.

I can see it being natural. The less words the better for him. I don't ever expect him to cut 20 minute promos like HHH and Cena.

I like stuff he do like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9QT_3DxJno

 

[Navi]

What's with all the Roman Reigns hate? Roman Reigns is a BEAST! The Superman Punch is a great signature move and the spear is a deadly finisher. He called Randy Orton "the ass of the company", Kane "Triple H's Lap Dog", and Evolution "creampuffs". Seems like a bad-ass to me. Not only that, but who could forget memorable lines like "Triple H, the King of Kings, how about we go one on one and have our own game of thrones" and " When Roman Reigns is in the building you're damn right Cena sucks!". One of the highlights that everyone in the WWE Universe was talking about from the Survivor Series fallout was the Roman Reigns quote "Make it reign in that bench!". It was a strong cool delivery and I like it when he makes his "bench please" expression. 'I threw a cinderblock at his head. The whole world should know how I feel about Seth Rollins'. I can't wait for Roman Reigns comeback. The atmosphere will be like Triple H-Madison Square Garden when he returns! #RomanEmpire

Oh I wouldn't go that far. He is really quite horrible on the mic. I'm a huge Reigns fan, but I can see his shortcomings, which by the way aren't all that many.

If he had really wanted to be bad ass he would have stood up, pointed his finger at JBL and said "Listen you half baked fuckwad, ask me another question like that and I'll superman punch you so hard, Google search won't be able to find you", or words to that effect. That would have got their attention.

Don't forget all of his promo's are scripted for him, so he's really saying someone else's words, and that might be part of it. He should take what they give him and add his own twist too it. Just like I did.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I'll say I noticed a slight improvement in his promo, but that could have been a one-time thing. I'm going to wait until his return to see if he's made real progress. I've always said Roman Reigns has the most potential out of the former Shield members, but he still has a long way to go before he's main event material, as do Ambrose and Rollins.

 

[Zycho32]

People who tend to be on the negative side of Roman Reigns are really suffering from what I like to call 'Rock Syndrome'. Mostly it's looking at Roman's mic work- really no better than a 2 or a 2.5 out of 5- and thinking 'I want my Top Guy to be SO much better on the mic than that'. And they usually have the Rock in mind as an example, or maybe Stone Cold, or for the new guys maybe CM Punk. Of course, those are the three most extreme examples of competence on the mic, something that probably 90-to-95-percent of both past and present wrestlers cannot approach. (To those that argue that Punk shouldn't belong on this list- the guy could carry entertaining dialogue and he's capable of ad-libbing. He can't carry a jobbing segment but hell, who can?)

You'd be amazed how easily wrestlers can be forgiven for having a small and basic moveset as long as their other attributes make up for it. Reigns has sufficient athleticism and looks, but the mic work makes them pause.

 

[capnwillie]

No. The more they give Roman mic time, the more I cringe. You can take all the acting classes in the world but there are a lot of intangibles that just can't be taught. Timing is one of the most important and Roman Reigns has absolutely zero concept of timing.

Unfortunately, a lot of fans still react to cliché phrases like "up in this bitch" and "make it reign" like it's the first time The Rock ever asked 'em if they can smell what he's cooking.

Maybe it's just the "via satellite" style interviews they're having him do, but if you ask me, the best idea for Reigns is to turn him into a Diesel or give him a manager who can handle all the heavy lifting on the microphone.

 

[TheVolFan52]

He seemed more relaxed I will say. Honestly, I hope he gets better on the mic. The "make it reign in that bitch" comment just felt forced to me. I like his in ring work and comes off in the ring as a legit badass but he has to work on his mic skills for me to really look at him as the next face of the company.

 

[enviousdominous]

I did notice improvement, but the man still comes off as goofy to me. Just... hear me out. I'm not trying to be a negative nancy and bash him needlessly.

When he held up his forearm and said "When I cock this fist!" I had a laugh attack that almost sent me to the ER. Roman, cocking your fist sounds more like a porn reference than what I assume was meant to be a gun reference. Either way, not very intimidating.

I think he would have gotten more out of that promo if it was in direct response to something like a heel promo from Rollins. Have Rollins go on about how Reigns was good but he couldn't handle the pressure so now he's on the shelf, or something. His motivation could have been more like "Are you gonna' take that big man?" and less like "Just read these lines in a serious manner and promote your return for its own sake."

 

[Navi]

They say the hardest thing in the world to do is believe it or not public speaking. Some people just freeze up when in front of a crowd and blabber likes idiots, or in the case of someone like Reigns look forced or stiff, because he doesn't feel natural.

I used to work with special needs kids, and in the beginning I would freeze up in front of the class, it's something you have to work through and get used too. Now I can stand in front of any amount of people and speak and it doesn't bother me. Reigns will in time become more natural on the mic, and start inserting bits and pieces of his own personality into his promo's. Right now he's just reading what's been written for him.

One thing he has to stop doing is trying so hard, that's why it sounds forced. Just let it flow naturally, and for God's sake stop putting the emphasis on the wrong words. That just makes the whole thing sound weird. If you notice when he was part of the Shield, he would sort of stand in the background with his head down and let the other two do the talking. That shows that he's not comfortable in front of the camera's. At a live show he comes off as much more in tune with the crowd.

He will get better or he'll get a manager. He has the look, talent, intensity to go all the way to the top. If the only thing that's wrong is he's uncomfortable on the mic, that's not the worst problem to have really.

 

[TNPunk]

I still think he's terrible. Just another john cena.

 

[ColeMc]

I think he isn't chewing his dialogue anymore, which annoyed me. Seriously watch his earlier work and tell me he isn't trying to chew something larger than his head when he talks.