There can be no denying that Roman Reigns’ 1,166+ day reign as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion has been nothing short of epic. It may very well be the greatest title reign in professional wrestling history. Yes, Hulk Hogan had one, and Bruno Sammartino had two reigns longer than the one the Tribal Chief is currently in the midst of. But as a certain Voice of the Voiceless once said, “Wrestling at Madison Square Garden once a month is easy.”
Indeed, you never saw Hulk Hogan go one-on-one with a superstar like Brock Lesnar in a Last Man Standing match. But Reigns has done exactly that and more since dethroning the late Bray Wyatt in a triple-threat match back at Payback in August 2020. Back then, Donald Trump was still president of the United States, WWE events were still taking place behind closed doors and the UEFA Euro 2020 football tournament had been postponed until the summer of 2021.
Indeed the world was a much different place back then. But one thing that has remained constant to this day is Roman Reigns. He remains the Universal Champion and he added the WWE Championship to his collection at last year’s WrestleMania when he defeated Brock Lesnar in a winner-take-all unification matchup.
But what have been the best title defenses throughout this scintillating 3+ year reign? Let’s take a look.
Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar – SummerSlam 2022
Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar had met countless times before. One of them far surpassed expectations – namely their first-ever encounter in the main event of WrestleMania 31. The rest had been duds, to say the least.
Lesnar has been no stranger to being the betting underdog. He was made a +230 underdog by a popular UFC MMA sportsbook for his clash against Mark Hunt at UFC 200. He was once again the underdog on this night, but when he brought a forklift – yes, you read that right – to the ring for this Last Man Standing match, it gave fans the opportunity to forget that the former UFC Heavyweight Champion was almost certainly losing at the end of the night.
The Beast Incarnate battered the Undisputed Champion from pillar to post. He smashed him with suplexes, chairs, stars, F5s and just about anything else he could get his hands on inside Nashville’s Nissan Stadium. But he was unable to put Reigns down for the count of 10.
With all the chaos ensuing, both the fans in attendance and those at home had almost forgotten the no-disqualification rules. Naturally, interference from Reigns’ Bloodline possie should have been expected, and it duly arrived. The Usos were flattened by Lesnar, as was Paul Heyman and strangely Austin Theory.
But that gave Reigns the distraction he needed and he proceeded to Spear his challenger through a barricade. Then, repeated title shots to the skull were enough to get the job done, and Reigns’ reign of terror had no end in sight. 18 months on, it still doesn’t.
Roman Reigns def. Cody Rhodes – WrestleMania 39
The stars had aligned, hadn’t they? The prodigal son had returned home, won the Royal Rumble match, and embarked on a mission to finish his story—the story of winning the WWE Championship, the one title that his legendary father had never won. The fans certainly seemed to think the reign of terror was over, as did the experts, as did the bookmakers. When Cody Rhodes made his way to the ring to main event his first-ever WrestleMania at the awe-inspiring SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, he would surely be ending the night as the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Wouldn’t he?
Well, unfortunately for the American Nightmare, no he would not. With a 1,000-day title reign on the horizon, Triple H and the powers that be within the writing room decided that the Head of the Table’s title reign was simply raking in too much cash and ultimately opted not to pull the trigger on crowning a new champion. Whether that decision was the right one or not differs depending on who you ask. However, one thing that isn’t up for debate is the fact that the match itself was the greatest of Roman’s title reign and one of the greatest WrestleMania main events of all time.
The 83,000 fans in attendance were all certain that the night would end with a new champion and that added an interesting subplot to the contest. Throughout the reign, it was rare for fans to actually believe that Reigns may well lose. That wasn’t the case on this night, but the writing was on the wall.
Interference from the Usos and Solo Sikoa couldn’t keep the challenger down. Interference from Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens couldn’t keep the champ down. Something had to give. Unfortunately for Rhodes, one final distraction from Paul Heyman, a Samoan Spike from Solo, and a second devastating Spear was enough for the 1, 2, 3. The fans at SoFi’s collective jaws dropped but once more, Roman Reigns had successfully retained his championship. And he had done so following one of the few matches that actually lived up to expectations.
