During a recent edition of his "Steve Austin Show" podcast with special guest Vince Russo, WWE Hall Of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin explained why he feels Roman Reigns should follow a similar career trajectory as his cousin, The Rock, who debuted in WWE as Rocky Maivia in 1996.
"When Rocky Maivia came in, he was a white meat babyface with the streamers and got over bad and dude got booed out of the building, 'Die Rocky Die' chants. Put him in the Nation [of Domination and] boom! He ousted Faarooq. He became the focal piece of that faction. Then, all of a sudden, we know the rest. He had one of the greatest runs in the history of the [professional wrestling] business. But he had to be hated first before he was universally loved. And I keep saying that Roman's going to have to go through a heel run before he is going to be universally loved."
Austin also spoke about his feeling that Reigns should learn to emote more as a performer.
"With respect to Roman Reigns, dude, you just got to go for it. I think you just throw caution to the wind and say, 'what the f-?', and just go for it." Austin added, "there's not enough fire and it's not just within his promo. I would dare say it's also within his work, so, dude, just channel it out. And be offensive with it. That means, like [Vince Russo] said, be on offense. Don't be on defense. Don't be afraid. Just go out and do it."
