On 23rd August 2020, Roman Reigns return at SummerSlam and everything changed, this was a very different Roman Reigns who was not the face that we knew all along and he had a different mentality and he in just 7 days won the Universal Championship and since then it has been almost 730 days that he has been the champion and this is the longest reign in 35 years by a World Champion. We will talk about these 2 years of Roman Reigns and how it not only helped him get over with the crowd but also WWE as a whole.
I have loved every day of this new person of Roman Reigns and it has come to the point where he can be counted as one of the greatest of this time and one of the all time greats as well. The dominance he has shown in these 2 years is remarkable and he has beaten every opponent that came after him. So, let’s look at these 2 years of our Tribal Chief Roman Reigns.
The night it all changed and winning the title
As I said before he returned on 23rd August 2020 after the match between Braun Strowman and The Fiend for the Universal Championship in which The Fiend retained his title and then Roman out of nowhere attached him and Braun and he left them laying and all had changed for Roman Reigns in that night at SummerSlam. One week later was the Payback PPV event which was only there to crown Roman Reigns as the champion and in the main event he came out late in the match and got the pin and the Universal Championship.
Also Read | The Rise of The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns
The Blood Feud with Jey Uso
Roman Reigns’ first feud after he won the title was against his cousin Jey Uso who at that time was not happy with the change in attitude of Roman Reigns and till that time Paul Heyman had been unveiled as the special counsel for Roman Reigns as well. This was such a masterful piece of storytelling as Roman broke down Jey mentally more than physically and he made him a main eventer and they had some incredible Matches including the Hell in a Cell match which is what solidified his reign. This was the perfect start to this historic reign.
Beating World class opponents
After beating Jey Uso and making him join him., Roman Reigns started beating top class WWE superstars who all wanted his title. He first beat Kevin Owens not once but twice and at the Royal Rumble as well then at WrestleMania he beat both Edge and Daniel Bryan in a triple Threat main event match which was outstanding. Then he beat Cesaro in a hell of a match at a PPV and more and more talented wrestlers came up and he beat them all. Then Edge came back to feud with him again for Money in the bank and he hated Edge. Nobody looked like beating him.
The rivalry with John Cena
After Roman Reigns beat Edge , a certain John Cena returned and gave fans a shock and they feuded for a month till SummerSlam 2021 and it was a great promo battle this time as Roman Reigns had gotten much better with his promo skills and John Cena is one of the best of all time. They gave the fans a compelling story where they would insult each other and sell the match to the point where it became one of the biggest matches of all time. And at SummerSlam they had a great match to cap it all off.
Also Read | 20 Years of John Cena in WWE
Roman vs Cowboy Brock Lesnar
Then we come to the defining feud of this reign for Roman Reigns and it was against a familiar rival but with a different touch because after his match against John Cena, Brock Lesnar returned and this time as a face and Everyone loved him from the start and he was himself wearing a flannel and a cowboy hat. They had their first match at Crown Jewel In 2021 and they feuded all the way until WrestleMania and there Roman Reigns beat Brock Lesnar and thought that this chapter was over. He also faced Riddle a few months ago and that was an incredible match. Again Brock Lesnar came back and at SummerSlam 2022 they had the best Last Man Standing Match of all time and it was a fitting close to a great rivalry.
The future
He faces Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle and the rumors are he will lose the WWE championship but keep the Universal Championship as Raw needs a World Championship and at next year’s WrestleMania The Rock will have the dream feud. Hopefully that happens. It has been an amazing 2 years for him and the WWE.
Also Read: Who are the best wrestlers in WWE Today?
