Report: WWE Wants to Protect 'Top Priority' Roman Reigns At All Costs

WWE is determined not to book Roman Reigns as a traditional 'cowardly heel' with Vince McMahon reportedly seeing the Universal Champion as his top priority in the promotion.

Reigns has done the work of his career in the last 12 months on Friday Night SmackDown as 'The Tribal Chief', working as a bad guy alongside special counsel Paul Heyman. His switch was welcomed by fans, with the large majority becoming frustrated with WWE's repeated attempts to establish Reigns as the top babyface in the company.

Despite being a heel, Reigns hasn't acted in a traditional WWE heel manner, but a new report from WrestleNews.co suggests that the decision for that came from WWE Chairman Vince McMahon himself.

The report indicates that WWE still see Reigns as the guy to carry the company forward in the years to come and, as such, don't want him losing or getting beaten up. As such, McMahon wants to protect Reigns and book him in a dominant fashion.

The report quotes a WWE source, who says: "Vince doesn’t want to portray Roman as a cowardly heel who gets his ass kicked 50 percent of the time. He’s the guy who will carry the company for the next few years and Vince sees him as his top priority. Protect Roman at all costs."

Furthermore, the report goes on to say that WWE feel they will need to book Reigns in this manner should a potential match with The Rock become a reality.