WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin has his thoughts of where Roman Reigns' path should be headed to in order for him to succeed.

While competing as a member of The Shield, Roman Reigns was actually heavily lauded by the WWE Universe. His explosive in-ring arsenal captured the attention of the fans, and he started to become the fan's choice of someone to push. However, WWE intercepted this plan and began to give him a noticeable push as a singles competitor. This is when the fans started to turn on him.

Bruce Prichard, a Roman Reigns supporter, believes that the 2015 Royal Rumble in Philadelphia is the pivotal moment when the fans turned on Reigns and have not changed their minds since. This is due to the desire of the WWE Universe for Daniel Bryan to win, but they were disappointed when that did not happen. Unfortunately for Reigns, even an appearance from The Rock could not get the fans on his side.

For Austin, and many others, it is inevitable for WWE Creative to swallow their pride and turn Reigns heel. While still relatively early in his career, Reigns can potentially mirror The Rock regarding a heel turn setting up to eventually becoming a stronger, more liked babyface.

"With Roman, for him to have the biggest run possible - and there's still work to do on his end to make it work - they have to turn him heel and let him just let loose," said Austin on his recent The Steve Austin Show podcast (h/t Sky Sports). "They want him to be aggressive. To say 'this is what you wanted, this is what you're going to get' and people are going to pay now. When I start thinking about it I get fired up. I think he will have his greatest run if he turns heel."

For Austin, Reigns should embark on a mean streak and hone his craft as a heel, just like the Rock. While Reigns' promos have slightly improved, and his in-ring work has substantially improved, playing the role of a heel forces a competitor to tap into creating a distinguished personality for the fans to jeer. Similar to The Rock, if Reigns hones in that personality as a heel, he could turn babyface while retaining shades of his heel character and become a crowd favorite.

"[The Rock] turned up that charisma and that magic that he had [as a heel] and [became] one of the most over babyfaces in the history of the business," said Austin. "Can Roman do that? I don't know. He's below The Rock's ceiling at the moment but give him that heel run and then when it's time to turn him, turn him."