Jimmy Jacobs: Roman Reigns Was Tough To Write For In 2015-16, He Was A Babyface Who Lacked A Defined Voice

Jimmy Jacobs served as a writer in WWE from March 2015 to November 2017. At the time of his tenure, the ascent of Roman Reigns as the face of the company was coming to fruition.

Jacobs worked with a number of top superstars during his time as a writer, including John Cena and Chris Jericho.

Speaking to Ishan Chavan of SportsShadow, Jacobs was asked who the toughest superstar to write for was.

“The toughest wrestler to write for was Roman Reigns during the 2015–2016 period. Although I worked with him only minimally, he was a babyface who lacked a strong, defined character voice at the time. We were still trying to find his specific identity. This difficulty was compounded by the fact that Vince McMahon was incredibly hands-on with Roman.

“Vince had decided that Roman was the “next guy,” so all eyes remained constantly on everything Roman did. Roman had not yet found the strong voice that eventually emerged with the “Bloodline” storyline. My critique is not a slight against Roman himself; rather, it is an observation that writing for a top babyface without a strong voice is inherently difficult.

“Heels have more creative freedom; you can be ridiculous or go “off the wall” with a heel character. However, the creative path for a babyface is much narrower, especially when you reach the top of the card where so much is riding on the performance. An undercard babyface can get away with saying something generic, like “I’m going to kick your ass,” but when you are at the top, the expectations are higher.

“Finding a voice that the audience will genuinely like within that narrow path proved to be very difficult.”

Roman and his booking was often criticized during his rise from 2015 to 2020 as fans didn’t fully get behind his babyface character.