Bret Hart blames WWE booking for Roman Reigns fan backlash

WWE legend Bret "The Hitman" Hart has blamed the company for not getting Roman Reigns over. Reigns defeated Triple H at Wrestlemania 32 to become the current heavyweight champion. The five-time WWE heavyweight title holder praised Reigns' potential, but says fans turning against him is a definite negative for wrestling as a whole.

"I think Roman Reigns is actually a hard working, decent wrestler and he [has] got potential. Whether he [has] got the potential to carry the company, I don't know," Hitman told Notts TV News, according to Inquisitr.

"It doesn't seem like the fans are into that too much, but I think a lot of it is bad booking, just really lousy booking. When I look at WrestleMania and look at how they built him in the Royal Rumble, they booed him all the way in it for the short time he was in there," he said.

"And then they had him get hurt by The Authority where 10 guys beat him on the floor, which was so contrived. And then he went back to the dressing room and then he came out at the very end. He still didn't win."

"He got dumped out by Triple H, but it was like just too manufactured and too set up [for] people to digest it. And they kind of left it back up and it kind of ruined the making of him again as it led into WrestleMania. I thought it was just bad booking, bad story booking."

Hart also passed comment on the late Chyna, real name Joanie Laurer. He said she would presumably never be in the WWE Hall of Fame due to her past relationship with Triple H. Hart will be appearing at Payback on 1 May to be in the corner for his niece, Natalya Neidhart.