Roman Reigns is in the midst of his second Universal Championship reign and fifth World title reign overall. Interestingly enough, his current Universal Championship reign is not only the longest of his career, but it is far longer than his previous four World title reigns combined.
Before winning the Universal Championship at Payback 2020, his combined World Championship tenure was only 182 days. As of this writing on July 5th, 2021, Reigns has been the Universal Champion for 309 days.
There’s little doubt about which title run has been the best for Roman Reigns. Between November 2015 and June 2016, he held the WWE Championship on three occasions – all of which were short durations. While his third WWE title reign was meant to be a long one, a Wellness Policy Violation meant that the company had to take the title off him and suspend him for a month.
Things are different in 2021. When Roman Reigns returned in 2020, it was after a hiatus of over five months. It was the longest that he had been away from WWE TV and it was the break that he needed. Reigns would finally turn heel and won the Universal Championship a week after he returned.
It turned out to be the best decision, as he is currently enjoying the best run of his entire WWE career.
Who could dethrone Roman Reigns as the Universal Champion?
While SmackDown’s move to FOX established it as WWE’s new “A-show”, the presence of Roman Reigns and his rise has been a catalyst in making the Blue brand as big as it is.
He is now the character that everybody wanted him to be – a dominant heel champion. Some of his title opponents include Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, Edge, Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, and Rey Mysterio, among others. There seems to be nobody who is in a position to dethrone Roman Reigns – giving way for a potentially lengthier run as the Universal Champion.
As Universal Champion, Reigns usually either opens a pay-per-view and in most cases, headlines it. Royal Rumble 2021 was one of the rare exceptions to this rule.
It will be interesting to see who eventually dethrones Roman Reigns. There are high-profiled matches rumored for him in the future, including a potential SummerSlam clash against John Cena and a future WrestleMania match against The Rock.
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