WWE fans love what Roman Reigns did in his first appearance as a heel at Payback
At the climax of SmackDown, we saw Roman Reigns align with Paul Heyman in a move most of us never thought we would see.
The heel turn has finally come and WWE have played it perfectly in the opening exchanges.
At WWE Payback, the Big Dog won the Universal title that he never lost and he did it the Paul Heyman way.
Braun Strowman and The Fiend beat the living daylights out of each other for a good ten minutes before Reigns finally made his way to the top of the stage.
Flanked by Heyman, Reigns finally signed the contract and entered the match with both men laying prone having broken the ring with a superplex.
He attempted a pair of pins but to no avail, so he started wearing out each man with a steel chair. After beating down Strowman, Reigns went for the pin and told the referee "count it, b****."
That's a total departure from the cookie-cutter Roman Reigns we've all come to know and love/hate.
Then The Fiend would come back to life - as he always does - and try to get the Mandible Claw on Reigns, but the returning Big Dog gave The Fiend a swift low blow straight out of the heel textbook.
That's not a shortcut that Reigns would usually take, but fans are absolutely loving his new attitude.
After the match, Reigns took his belt and celebrated on the stage with Heyman by his side and it looks like a new era of terror - similar to Brock Lesnar after defeating John Cena at SummerSlam 2014 - is upon us.
WWE have totally revamped Reigns' character and as he recently said on Twitter, he's been waiting a long time for this.
Besides bringing CM Punk back in a major way, turning Roman Reigns heel is probably the biggest trick WWE had left up their sleeve and the early execution appears to be paying dividends with the fans.
Reigns of course had to relinquish the Universal title back in 2018 as he battled with leukemia for the second time in his life and he hadn't had a shot at it again since before Payback.
