When Roman Reigns pulled out of a planned match against Goldberg at WrestleMania 36, no one could have predicted what would come next.
Reigns elected to miss the event which was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as he was immunocompromised from his leukemia. At the time, fans had long claimed that his character had become stale, and they were frustrated at a serious lack of development since he left The Shield. However, the Roman Reigns that returned to WWE on August 23rd at SummerSlam was a completely different man.
Upon returning he attacked Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt and days later on SmackDown, he aligned with Paul Heyman. At Payback, on August 30th, 2020 he won the Universal Title, and he hasn’t let go of the gold since.
Reigns’ run of dominance has seen him defeat the likes of Edge, Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Drew McIntyre, Logan Paul, and more. To hammer home his complete and utter destruction of the roster, the Tribal Chief added the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 38 and has been known as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion ever since.
As of May 27th, 2023, The Head of the Table has now spent 1000 days as Universal Champion, and 419 days as Undisputed Champion.
Only four men have held WWE World Championship gold longer than Reigns, with the star sitting behind Hulk Hogan, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, and Bruno Sammartino.
Why Has Roman Reigns’ Title Run Been So Long?
It was reported in April that WWE is attempting to update the history books with names that will be more recognisable to younger fans. It has been claimed this is the reason why Bianca Belair has racked up the longest-reigning Women’s Champion of the modern era, and Roman Reigns has stood tall over the roster.