A lot of vocal wrestling fans obviously hate Roman Reigns. Looking around, a lot of these fans don't even think Roman Reigns should be allowed to wrestle at Battleground for the title after his suspension. They are groaning at the idea of him possibly winning the title back at Battleground.
I don't really have a big problem over him wrestling at the event. But I may be a little tougher than these fans. I think Roman Reigns should no longer be the centerpiece of the company at all. Regardless of whether or not he wrestles at Battleground, the WWE will likely still push him as the centerpiece. Regardless of whether or not he wins the title at Battleground, he will likely still be the centerpiece. But as far as him wrestling at this event, I do not think it is so terrible to let him wrestle. He would have already served his time. You can say the he doesn't deserve it because he wasn't around to help further the feud, but there have been feuds in the past where one person pretty much had to carry the feud because his opponent was a part-timer or was recovering from an injury. Not only does the person that was not around still get the match, you might often see them win the match.
Overall, the popular opinion with a lot of these fans is that Roman Reigns deserves more than a suspension. Whether they want to see him not get a rematch so soon after his suspension, not get the title back, or whatever, they seem to want him to get a punishment that goes beyond what someone breaking the wellness policy usually gets. I even saw one person say that Roman Reigns should have just been fired years ago to avoid all this.
Looking at how a lot of these fans were reacting to the Reigns controversy made me think back to how these same fans reacted during another controversy. Remember AJ Lee? There was a controversy there, as well.
AJ was pushed better than any female wrestler since Lita. She became the longest-reigning Diva's Champion, is addition to holding the title two more times after that. The WWE allowed her to remain undefeated at Wrestlemania, including one win in which she retained the title against everyone else in the division. I am not even going to mention all the big angles she got in the periphery. The WWE definitely pushed her very well.
AJ Lee did have issues, however. She did things here and there that left people speculating that she might lose her big push and not be allowed to have all the things the WWE was giving her. One of the things she did was calling out Stephanie McMahon on Twitter during #GiveDivasAChance. The WWE still allowed her to return from her hiatus, get booked in a Wrestlemania match, and even win that match. The WWE also seemed to be developing some kind of storyline for her beyond that. But she retired soon after Wrestlemania.
What did the WWE do? They eventually had Nikki Bella break AJ's record as the longest-reigning Diva's Champion. I remember how a lot of fans reacted to that. They acted like the WWE was being petty towards AJ. Some treated it like Nikki Bella getting the record because of her relationship with John Cena. The popular belief was not that AJ Lee deserved to have her record broken after everything she got away with in the WWE.
If I believe Roman Reigns should lose his centerpiece spot given all his issues, I think I would be a hypocrite to say AJ Lee did not deserve some kind of punishment for what she did. If nothing else, Roman Reigns has handled his suspension professionally and isn't showing signs like he wants to leave. AJ Lee was unprofessional, still got treated pretty well, and then just walked out. She didn't do it exactly like CM Punk, but the abruptness by which she retired is pretty much the same as walking out. The WWE couldn't really punish AJ Lee directly once she retired. Should a worker that did the things she did still be rewarded by being allowed to hold a record? I don't think so.
Both Roman Reigns and AJ Lee are similar. Both were pushed to be top stars. This isn't Zack Ryder getting over on his own out of nowhere and the WWE not wanting to give him even a proper midcard push. This isn't Mickie James getting over off of filler and jobber pushes and the WWE rewarding her with more filler and jobber push. Bother Roman Reigns and AJ Lee got big pushes to be stars. AJ Lee obviously worked out better than Reigns. But both had issues that should make you wonder if they deserved what they were getting. Roman Reigns has issues connecting with the fans. I have brought up that he does not seem like the best representative of the new era the WWE seemed to be heading toward. And now this suspension pretty much adds another reason why he should not be centerpiece. AJ Lee was unprofessional at times. I have brought up before that I do not believe she was connecting with fans as well as someone pushed at her level should be, although she isn't as bad as Roman Reigns. And then she just ends up leaving the company. The WWE never depushed her, even though reasons arose that could have led to at least a depush, if no other punishment. There are just some situations where you might feel someone is biting the hand that feeds them.
From the standpoint of how fans reacted to these two controversies, there seems to be some hypocrisy here. Roman Reigns suffers a suspension for doing something that numerous people have been suspended for and still went on to be pushed relatively well, but a lot of fans think he should be punished more. AJ Lee does things that might result in her losing her push, continues to be pushed well, ends up pulling the rug out from under the WWE to some degree by retiring suddenly, and most people think her losing her record is a tragedy. It comes down to favoritism. But if you look at things a little more objectively, the two situations aren't really that different. A top star has issues and is giving you a reason to depush them and possibly punish them more than that. But those vocal wrestling fans didn't seem to react the same way to these two situations.
I believe the WWE should have put their foot down in both situations. Suspending Roman Reigns was obviously necessary. But I would also stop pushing him as centerpiece. He isn't right for the job. Keep him in the main-event rotation or as an upper-midcarder, but he should not be the top guy. As for AJ Lee, I would have made the same decision to have her lose the record. Had she not retired, I would have depushed her a a few months. No need to fire her. She is very good at playing a character. She can be a great asset, but the WWE needed to let her know she can't do some of the things she was doing and still expect to be pushed at a high level.
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