MVP questions Roman Reigns' crossover appeal in wrestling debate

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About a month-and-a-half after pro wrestling podcast and mortgage tycoon* Conrad Thompson caused teed up a debate by calling Roman Reigns “the most overrated main eventer in WWE history”, Montell Vontavious Porter may have given us another Reigns-related take to chew on. It happened on the latest edition of Porter’s Marking Out podcast with Dwayne Swayze. First, he dismissed Thompson’s critique of WWE’s reigning World Heavyweight champ, with MVP summed up as Conrad calling Roman an “industry plant”: “So I disagree very strongly with Conrad. The industry plant — I think that’s absolutely ridiculous. Is that for being pushed by the office? Every star is pushed by the office. Every star is, as they like to say, crammed down your throat. That’s how you become a star. “Perhaps maybe it took a little longer for him to catch on, but I don’t think you can deny now his star power in wrestling.” That “in wrestling” part is key to MVP’s own question about Reigns in the pantheon of WWE’s “top guys”. I think it’s a fair question too, and one that may not have much to the OTC. MVP doesn’t think Roman is currently as well known as names like Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and John Cena. Specifically, he said that if you stopped ten people on the street, six or seven would know those names I just listed, while Reigns’ would be recognized a lot less. “I can maybe see what [Thompson]’s talking about only insofar as traditionally the biggest stars that we’ve had in wrestling have had, like, a mainstream crossover appeal. John Cena. Like, you don’t have to watch wrestling to know John Cena. The Rock, Stone Cold. These were the guys, the man. And their fame transcended beyond pro wrestling. “I don’t necessarily see Roman Reigns being the same, having the same level of popularity outside of wrestling. But the numbers say different in terms of his star power, his drawing power within wrestling.” MVP stresses that Reigns is a ticket-moving, difference-making star — within pro wrestling. And he thinks he’ll become a television and movie star like his cousin Dwayne Johnson and old rival John Cena. ”…at some point Roman is going to go the way of The Rock and become a movie star. He’s got the presence, the good looks, the charisma. Like Roman Reigns will be an actor. I know he will be a television star. He is that dude.“ But we want to know what you think, Cagesiders. I agree that while Reigns does have crossover appeal, I’m not sure it’s quite what Cena had around 2010, or what Rock and Austin had a decade earlier. But is that even possible in the fractured world we live in today? If so, will Roman get there eventually? Or end up at the still-massively-famous level of guys who stayed in wrestling their whole careers The Undertaker or Dusty Rhodes? The floor (via the comments, and The Feed) are yours. * This is SUCH a deeply weird business, y’all. I seriously love that about it.