Roman Reigns Needs to Stop Using the Spear as His Finishing Move

Roman Reigns has the worst finisher in WWE right now. If they want people to start cheering him, that’s the first thing he’ll have to change.

Roman Reigns is supposed to be WWE’s next big cash cow. To fill that role, Reigns needs look as good as possible in his matches. While WWE has tried time and again to get the crowd to cheer for him, their attempts have led to even more boos from the audience. One reporter even called Reigns, “the most despised WWE wrestler in over 25 years”. Ouch.

It doesn’t help Reigns’ cause that WWE has positioned him as a juggernaut that’s supposed to run through his opponents like a hot knife through butter. Literally, that’s how they’ve booked him to win his matches: by running up to his opponents and Spearing them. The problem with this approach is that the Spear is the worst finisher to give to anyone, much less the guy positioned as the next John Cena.

The problem with the Spear is its overexposure. The Spear might very well be the single most over-used finishing move in all of wrestling. It isn’t hard to see why: it’s both easy to execute and relatively safe for all involved, yet looks devastating on TV. It also looks like a more ‘legit’ move because it’s based to an extent on real shoulder tackles that you might find in other sports. Sadly, because of this move’s illusion of legitimacy, WWE have saddled a myriad of wrestlers with this move over the years.

Here’s a (somewhat) short list of WWE Superstars that have used the Spear, either as a signature move or finisher:

Which brings us to Roman Reigns.

Reigns’ version of the Spear it hit-or-miss. Sometimes, he does the same ‘running hug attack’ that Edge did, in that he’ll be facing a running opponent, but both stop running and collide in mid-air, resulting in a poor Spear that stops his opponent instead of Reigns pushing that person forward (as one would expect of a Juggernaut). He has executed a good Spear on a few occasions, but often, he’s being compared unfavorably to other wrestlers that have done the move better.

As an example, Goldberg delivered two spears onto Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. Goldberg hadn’t wrestled full time since 2004. Both of his Spears were far better and more well-received than any spear Reigns has used in his career. That speaks volumes to both Reigns’ ability to execute the move, and his popularity with the crowd.

WWE wants Reigns to be established as a powerhouse on the show. The guy’s strong, so why not give him a finisher that compliments his strength, instead of putting him in the same category of wrestlers as Goldberg, to whom he will always be compared negatively? Reigns already does a lot of other moves that get a far better reaction than his Spear. Even his Superman Punch, easily one of the most overly-theatric and unrealistic moves in wrestling, is more popular than his Spear.

All WWE should do is listen to their audience. If they did, they’d realize that Reigns’ Spear is one of the major reasons the fans don’t like him. Let him evolve and try something else as his finisher. Because if Reigns continues to pretend he’s a Goldberg with long hair, he’ll still be hated.