Steve Austin On Roman Reigns Needing To Turn Heel, Vince's Goal, Randy Orton "Out-Babyfacing" Him

Diplomacy be damned: Outspoken Hall of Famer Steve Austin has never been shy to express his opinions about the state of the WWE product – and the retired wrestler shared his views on current performer Roman Reigns and the star's current career struggles on his most recent podcast. Talking to guest Sam Roberts about Reigns' well-documented inability to fully connect with wrestling audiences right now, Austin criticized some of the cosmetic decisions WWE had made with the former Shield star.

"He's a good-looking guy, successful guy and a football guy? so no one's going to question how tough this guy is," Austin said. "So he's a good-looking guy, but all of a sudden, you gotta throw these contacts on him and he's got blue eyes now? What's the deal with that? You don't need blue eyes. He's got brown eyes!"

Austin also gave his opinion about how to turn Reigns' fortunes around.

"I stand by the fact that no matter what they do with him, he's going to have to be heel first?.and they're trying to keep him babyface," Austin stated. "I think Vince McMahon's goal is 'He's going to work as a babyface?or he ain't going to work at all.' And he's going to flop bigger as a babyface, especially when they put him in there with other babyfaces. Like last week with Randy Orton?Orton blew him out of the water."

Austin insisted to Roberts the former Shield star could be huge, if booked correctly.

"I see money in Roman?if he stays the course and continues to develop and continues to get better. But he's going to be hated before he's universally loved and embraced by the audience."