WWE
Tommy Dreamer has questioned the closing segment on last night’s episode of WWE Raw with Jacob Fatu attacking Roman Reigns.
The segment saw Fatu debut the Tongan Death Grip hold previously used by legendary members of the family to lay Reigns out, before Reigns accepted Fatu’s challenge for a World Heavyweight Championship match at WWE Backlash.
Fatu was booed when he attacked Reigns and was on the receiving end of ‘what’ chants during the verbal exchange, showing that the crowd was firmly on Reigns’ side.
Former WWE star Tommy Dreamer has questioned how the segment played out and the wider trend of WWE’s top babyfaces becoming “twisted” in recent times.
Speaking on Busted Open, he said:
“This isn’t a Punk vs Roman battle on the mic where Punk’s trying to get in somebody’s head and Roman’s trying to get in Punk’s head.
“This is two family members – Jacob’s on the rise, Jacob’s not there yet, and Roman is Roman, has been Roman for a long time.
“How does this help… it helps Jacob get to that main event match, but I just don’t know, by doing this, do they just take away from Jacob ascending as a babyface, to take on a fellow babyface?
“It’s weird to me. I sometimes have to let things go, but as of right now, after all this, I’m like, there’s no way Jacob’s winning at Backlash. There’s absolutely, 100% no way.
“Because Roman just won the title. I would have believed it more if Jacob would have remained babyface.
“And who the hell knows what’s gonna happen on SmackDown. I’m a little bit taken back by all this, because you hear this guy, and it wasn’t like a turn, he’s just basically telling him, ‘Hey, I’ve gotta do this.’
“His ‘why’ is not the most babyface-esque, and we now know why. He’s like, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take what’s yours because I need it.’ That’s not really babyface-esque. It’s like, ‘Hey, I’ve got a nice house, you wanna come and try to take it from me? I’m gonna do everything in my power to stop you.’
“So it just threw me off. I always try to listen to that crowd, and I was like, ‘I can see how they’re gonna turn Roman,’ but then everyone just cheered for Roman and felt bad for him when he got attacked.
“I thought it was going one way and it completely went a whole other way. I’m just going by reactions and all that stuff but I don’t know. I always look at, there’s good and there’s evil, and that’s kind of the basis of professional wrestling.
“And for this, again, I have my top guys twisted. Jey has been twisted for a long time. At first he was the perfect babyface and then he gets twisted. Punk is twisted. Seth Rollins was the perfect babyface until he became twisted.”

Jacob Fatu defeated Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 42
Dreamer did acknowledge that the formula is working overall with the success of WWE currently, but continued to point out that he was confused about Fatu playing the heel role.
He continued:
“It’s obviously working because WrestleMania drew a lot of money. But for this particular segment, they took me on a rollercoaster of a ride, and I was all in on it, but then I’m like, ‘Now what?’
“The match is already made, everything’s going down, but who am I gonna cheer for and/or who really has the chance of walking away – what jeopardy will my heel put Roman in with this brand new hold (the Tongan Death Grip)?
“After Backlash, I’m so looking forward to Jacob getting this over. This is also a lot better on Jacob instead of his triple jump moonsault because he’s gotta do it every night, because a man’s got something called knees, you wanna save them.
“I love Jacob, I’ve wrestled with him, he’s awesome. I’m happy he’s getting this spot. Just the way he talks, the way he moves, the way he works, I’m like, ‘This is your top babyface…’ until he attacks Roman and everyone boos.”
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WWE Has A Problem With A Lack Of Top Heels
There really is a lack of top heels in WWE at the moment across both the Raw and SmackDown brands.
Both main event matches at WrestleMania were really babyface vs babyface matches, because despite Pat McAfee getting heat from the fans in the lead up to Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton, that hostility didn’t carry over to Orton.

Brock Lesnar seemingly retired at WrestleMania 42 after his loss to Oba Femi
With Brock Lesnar seemingly out of the equation, the only real outright top heels in WWE right now are GUNTHER and Drew McIntyre, and even McIntyre has the fans behind him on occasion.
Bron Breakker has just returned and could fill a spot, but fans will likely come around to supporting him in the long run as well.
So, the decision to turn Jacob Fatu heel might not seem like the ideal thing for Fatu right now, but it at least balances out the roster with another top name on the heel side for the time being.
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