The language of pro wrestling is one of the many fascinating peripheral avenues within industry. Once heavily protected by those inside the business, today fans and journalists alike regularly incorporate words like babyface, heel, heat, powder, schmoz or swerve into their respective vocabularies without thinking twice.

Perhaps the simplest word in the entire pro wrestling dictionary is the word, over.

The Undertaker is over.

The New Day is over.

Brock Lesnar, boy is he over.

The act of getting over (and staying over) is unquestionably the most important aspect of a wrestler’s entire career. Being over creates a priceless physical bond between a wrestler and his or her audience. Once established, that bond promotes an emotional investment bookers manipulate to create compelling stories. Put more plainly, the wrestling industry runs on the energy created by wrestlers getting over.

On the surface, getting over appears to be somewhat of an obvious endeavor. If your character is a babyface, endear yourself to the audience by being likable or cool, stand up for justice, speak truth to power and, of course, kick ass in the ring. If your character is a heel, be despicable, cheat, steal, lie, be arrogant and condescending, in essence, you must exist without the presence of a single redeemable quality whatsoever.

Bad guys go after good guys and the audience boos. Good guys overcome bad guys and the audience cheers.

Who says booking aint easy?

Of course we all know it isn’t that simple.

Undertaker is the gatekeeper of the dark side, a concept associated with villains, yet he will go down as one of the most beloved babyfaces in the history of pro wrestling. New Day makes the audience laugh and chant ‘New Day Sucks’ in the same breath. Lesnar was a dangerous heel who transformed into a respected babyface without changing a single aspect of his character.

When you’re over, you’re over.

Roman Reigns is not over. Vince McMahon and his talented staff of creative writers have been working vigorously to change that undeniable fact for the better part of a year. Plans to elevate the former member of The Shield to the top spot on the roster have been thoroughly documented. The manner in which those plans have been executed, however, has hardly done Reigns any favors.

Since the split up of The Shield both Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose have been repackaged to allow their new individual characters the chance to shine through their original personas-Rollins the smarmy heel handpicked by The Authority and Ambrose as the lunatic fringe. Reigns, however, is largely the exact same character. His music is the same, his gear is the same, his entrance is the same and his personality is the same. While Rollins and Ambrose presented fresh characters for the audience to embrace (or despise) Reigns was inexplicably presented as the guy unwilling to end the party even after everyone else went home for the night. Combine that with the fact that his character has been grossly overexposed on television and it isn’t difficult to understand why he failed hit the ground running.

And so, the fact remains, Reigns is not over.

This is not the first time a lack of synergy has existed between a wrestler earmarked for greatness and the WWE audience. Lex Luger appeared to have all the tools required to replace Hulk Hogan as WWE’s top star in the early 1990s. In the summer of 1993 Luger was transitioned from a heel to a patriotic babyface in grandiose fashion, arriving on the deck of the USS Intrepid on July 4th via helicopter to bodyslam the foreign menace champion, Yokozuna. An extravagant promotional bus tour, tagged The Lex Express, sent Luger across the country for the remainder of the summer before culminating in a championship confrontation at Summer Slam.

But something just wasn’t right.

Sure, fans cheered for Luger as he proudly waved old glory in one arena after another, but something was still missing. The passion that kept Hulk-a-Mania alive for so long was nowhere to be found. A countout victory at Summer Slam protected Luger from defeat while allowing the title to stay in Yokozuna’s possession, giving Luger more time to get over.

That never happened.

After another four months of expensive plans and mixed results, McMahon hedged his bet by booking both Luger and Bret Hart as co-winners of the 1994 Royal Rumble, allowing both men a chance to fight for the title at WrestleMania X. Given a clear choice between the two, the audience made the decision for McMahon and Hart was presented as the face of the New Generation movement. Luger, on the other hand, was relegated to the mid card soon after WrestleMania and eventually fizzled out before ultimately returning to WCW.

To call Reigns the next Luger at this point in his career would be unfair, but the striking similarities between the two are worth pointing out. Reigns, like Luger, has a great look, is incredibly athletic, has displayed an ability to connect on some level with the audience but has thus far failed to achieve the required task of being over just as Luger failed to do.

This is where it get’s interesting.

As it stands, there is no Bret Hart available to swoop in and save the day. John Cena has been written off television until December and has already been slated to enter a program with Alberto Del Rio upon his return. Randy Orton is out of action for the foreseeable future with a shoulder injury. Lesnar has fulfilled all the dates he is contractually obligated to work in 2015. Daniel Bryan’s status continues to be unclear as a third party physician reviews his medical records to decide whether or not it is safe for him to return to action. And, of course, Rollins was forced to vacate the WWE title last week after tearing several ligaments in his knee, sidelining him for up to nine months.

All indications point to Reigns being crowned the next WWE champion at Survivor Series, placing him in the unique position of having to get over as the top man…as the actual top man. No precedent in WWE history exists that could assist in predicting how this situation will play out. It’s unlikely fans will suddenly forget the reasons they haven’t fully embraced Reigns upon seeing the WWE Championship around his waist, if anything that visual will do more harm than good, at least in the short term.

At the same time, it’s difficult to argue against the full steam ahead approach at this point. Using the ongoing tournament to crown a new champion as a device to skyrocket the likes of Cesaro, Kevin Owens or even Ambrose carries a certain appeal, for sure. Such a choice would also almost most certainly cause irreparable harm to Reins’ character.

Reigns received his first title shot in a Fatal Four match at Battleground 2014. His second shot at the title was thwarted by the Rollins at WrestleMania 31. His chance to virtually guarantee winning the championship by winning the Money in the Bank match was upset by Bray Wyatt. His unsteady footing on the top of the mountain notwithstanding, Reigns is still relatively young and has the benefit of time on his side. There’s no telling what kind of opportunity the ever blowing winds of change could present down the line. Protecting Reigns’ character for such an opportunity is vital. History has proven once the audience identifies a character as a proverbial loser, they are unlikely to relinquish that opinion. Failing to win the championship a fourth time in such a short period of time could create such a scenario ala Luger.

As it stands we are just 11 days away from finding out how this curious case of Roman Reigns will play out. Accurately predicting a conclusion with the facts currently as they are is nothing short of an exercise in futility. Like the act of getting over itself, only time and the response of the audience will make the final judgment…you can believe that.