How Roman Reigns forged WWE’s current success — and what’s still left for him to accomplish

Cody Rhodes is the face of WWE’s new era, but Roman Reigns built the foundation for it.

WWE has recently gone out of its way to let the world know that WrestleMania weekend was the dawn of a new age for the company.

By virtue of his win in the main event of WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes will lead the charge.

But even in defeat, Roman Reigns was not completely overlooked, as fans flooded social media not only to congratulate Rhodes, but to thank Reigns for his historic run as champion.

For 1,316 days, Reigns held a championship in WWE, and while he didn’t appear on every episode of Smackdown nor did defend his title at every premium live event, he made every last one of them count.

During his time as champion, Reigns led WWE to unprecedented success, rivaling only the revered “Attitude Era” in terms of its impact. 

And it all started with Reigns, who sat at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and re-evaluated his career to that point. Upon some reflection, Reigns realized he wasn’t happy with where his career had been and where it appeared to be going. Let’s not forget that Reigns was slotted as the Royal Rumble runner-up in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

“I was ready to retire,” Reigns said during his episode of  A&E’s “Biography: WWE Legends.” 

“And once I fully removed myself by choice, not due to circumstances, that’s when I was able to be truthful with myself. That’s when I could really take an authentic, genuine eye and look at what I had been doing, look at what I had done. And that’s when I knew I wasn’t happy with it.”

“I still felt like I didn’t achieve what I had set out to do,” he added. “That I didn’t reach my potential. I was still under that ceiling … and it was time to break it.”

Given all of WWE’s recent success, the ceiling has been broken.

Just look at WrestleMania weekend in Philadelphia, where WWE announced it sold more than 200,000 tickets to its five wrestling shows and broke attendance and gate records for Raw, Smackdown and NXT. I personally saw some lengthy lines at WWE World, especially at the WrestleMania Superstore.

WWE came into WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia on a hot streak and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. This new era of success for WWE would not exist if it wasn’t for Reigns’ dominant run as champion.

Reigns’ dominance is only one aspect of his run that is fascinating, but it is the most obvious. He is the fourth-longest reigning champion in WWE history, behind only Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan. Yet unlike those legendary figures, Reigns spent his entire run as a heel.

WWE has traditionally been what some of our elder members of the wrestling community would call a “babyface territory.” Going back to the days when the company was known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation, WWE has traditionally built itself around one heroic babyface. Sammartino, Hogan, Steve Austin and John Cena are a few examples.

Although other promotions found success promoting a heel as the face of the company  (Jim Crockett Promotions with Ric Flair and World Championship Wrestling Hulk Hogan are two examples), WWE has largely followed the formula of having a babyface as the centerpiece of the storytelling.

What has made Reigns so compelling is his authenticity. You can tell that he is living within the Tribal Chief character. You can tell that there are pieces of Joe Anoa’i sprinkled throughout the character that simply weren’t there when he was portraying the “Big Dog.”

“Roman Reigns is the most cinematic portrayal of what a champion is in the history of sports entertainment,” said Paul Heyman during “Biography.” 

I couldn’t agree more.

But for me, the most fascinating aspect of Reigns’ time as champion is how he helped create new stars while only being pinned a total of two times in almost four years. 

According to Reigns, that was intentional.

“If it was just about me, I could have been done a good bit ago. For this to be what it’s supposed to be, to max out the potential of it, I can’t be the only one that benefits from this.

“That’s all I want. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

From Jimmy and Jey Uso developing their own identities, to Sami Zayn becoming one of the most sympathetic babyfaces ever, to Rhodes finishing his story in grand fashion, all of it happened because Reigns was doing his part.

However, there is still one more babyface to create, in my opinion. And that is the Tribal Chief himself, Roman Reigns. Every time Reigns makes an entrance, thousands of people hold their index fingers in the air in solidarity and acknowledgement of their Tribal Chief.

That happens despite Reigns being firmly entrenched as the villain in every story. Imagine what could happen if Reigns became … the hero? 

Whatever name you want to slap on this current era of WWE, with Reigns as its centerpiece, it has the potential to be a lot of fun.

[lawrence-related id=48542,48529,48423]