At the beginning of 2014, WWE attempted to establish Roman Reigns as the face of the company. This was after he made his debut on the WWE main roster in November 2012, as part of The Shield, having performed in its developmental system since 2010.

However, Kurt Angle believes that the current WWE champion should have been made a WWE heel much earlier.

The Shield, which consisted of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns, originally served as a mercenary group for CM Punk and was very well-received by critics. However, the group split up in 2014, and Roman Reigns began wrestling as a heroic main event singles act, which was widely panned by critics and audiences alike.

In response to this, WWE changed his role into heel in 2020, giving him the 'Tribal Chief' persona and making him the leader of the villainous group The Bloodline, which consists of his real-life cousins Jey and Jimmy Uso, Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn, and Paul Heyman.