Roman Reigns is the biggest name out of all the full-time wrestlers in the current WWE, as his record-breaking run as the company’s unified champion set him up as the most dominant champion of his era.
For years prior to his heel turn and return to WWE during the COVID-19 pandemic, Roman was positioned just as dominantly on the card, albeit with only begrudging respect from the wider audience and a jarring lack of a character that resonated with more people than the most ardent supporters of the literal shield.
Since The Shield’s WrestleMania debut in 2013, Roman Reigns has been a fixture at the Show of Shows, and although his WrestleMania record as a babyface solo star was very rocky, his recent work as The Tribal Chief has been as phenomenal as WWE says it is.
So as Reigns gears up for an intriguing WrestleMania 41 ahead, with a CM Punk feud likely, let’s take a look at all of Roman’s career WrestleMania matches and rank them in order.
12. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania 34
The lasting image of WrestleMania 34 is that of a bloodied Roman Reigns laying in the ring and an irate Brock Lesnar throwing the title at Mr. McMahon in Gorilla, while a beyond exhausted WWE audience sat in shock at the supposed third crowning of Reigns – a crowning that never was.
Reigns, who never got to finish his first WrestleMania battle with The Beast, eventually got his win over Lesnar a few months later at SummerSlam, but not before this confusing WrestleMania main event that lasted as long as a car crash but had the emotional impact of a spilled glass of spoiled milk.
And what makes this match even worse was that it came after months of a painstaking build in which the only legitimately interesting moment was Lesnar burying the show by telling his Advocate, “I don’t watch the show, Paul. Why would I watch the show?” By extension, why would any of us?
11. Roman Reigns vs. Triple H, WrestleMania 32
If it were at any other venue and if it were taken out of the context of the match itself, Roman Reigns vs. Triple H wouldn’t have been a half-bad world title encounter by any means.
But since it came after Triple H won the Royal Rumble and was supposed to be Reigns’s crowning moment in the main event of WrestleMania, this dragged-out, borefest of a match has to be regarded as one of the biggest WrestleMania flops of all time.
It was a thoroughly uninspired match with a telegraphed finished that fans were sick of before the bell even began, but, to Roman’s credit, fans did actually pop for him despite the fact that they loathed this match, which, if anything, hinted at Reigns’s bright future if/when the office cared to book him in a less obviously rocketstrapped manner.
10. Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker, WrestleMania 33
This match was supposed to be The Undertaker’s last in WWE, and, honestly, thank goodness that wasn’t the case, because as poignant as the image of Taker leaving his boots in the ring was, the match itself was so uneventful that it may as well have predicted a future of similar Undertaker bouts in Saudi Arabia.
Reigns has to get credit for carrying Undertaker to what was at least a passable WrestleMania match, as Taker was so obviously hobbled and hurt that it was shameful for WWE to have even called him back for this match, just to try and put Reigns over again to an increasingly annoyed fanbase.
9. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania 38
Because wrestling fans were so tired of watching Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar do battle, their “Winner Take All” match at WrestleMania 38 is actually more panned by hardcore fans than even the WrestleMania 34 match, but, objectively, it was a significantly better match and at least had the added intrigue of Paul Heyman.
Reigns and Lesnar had a better match at SummerSlam, tractor and all, because this 12-minute amalgamation of their past matches was nothing but a disappointing and bland ending to what would have otherwise been one of the top-five WrestleManias in history. They got outshined by Johnny Knoxville (and Sami Zayn, of course).
8. The Shield vs. The New Age Outlaws and Kane, WrestleMania 30
The Shield vs. The New Age Outlaws and Kane makes it this high by default, because it was a reasonably enjoyable tag match that featured a tag team that is arguably the most influential of the modern era when looking at the three exceptional careers it launched.
Although The Shield could have faced much better opponents at WrestleMania than a trio of old-timers and certainly didn’t benefit from WWE creative haphazardly throwing this all together, these six men made the match work an somehow produced something decently entertaining.
7. Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre, WrestleMania 35
Again, this match only makes it in seventh by default, because it was another nondescript singles match from Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. But you have to remember the context of the match.
Reigns had miss the previous months because his leukemia had returned, forcing him to relinquish the Universal Title he had just won off Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2018.
So McIntyre, a rising star with room to lose before he’d get his real main roster push, was an ideal opponent to beat for a WrestleMania pop. The match served its important purpose and was sufficiently satisfying in terms of in-ring quality, even if it was admittedly a step above a snoozefest that had most of the audience, sadly, reacting almost listlessly to WWE’s most polarizing wrestler.
6. The Shield vs. Randy Orton, Sheamus, and The Big Show
The Shield’s WrestleMania debut, this was a fine tag match that really showcased the incredible talents of Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and the future Jon Moxley. All three young men shined, with the comical added twist of yet another Big Show turn serving to protect Randy Orton and Sheamus, who were massive stars in th company at the time.
5. Roman Reigns and The Rock vs. Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, WrestleMania 40
The last tag match to make the list, this battle at WrestleMania 40 served as a prelude to Cody Rhodes’s crowning moment on Night Two and ranks right there with any of the great tag matches Reigns has been in as either a member of the Bloodline or a member of the Shield.
Watching The Rock and Reigns co-exist with their massive egos and bubbling tension was a treat, as was the fact that the opponents on the other side were both clearly very talented, had their own past friction from Cody’s debut rivalry, and had plenty of recent or distant history with their opponents.
It was a typical, slow-burn, methodical pro wrestling classic/throwback tag match featuring Reigns, and, as usual, Cody was more than equal to it, with Seth adding extra firepower and the Rock milking every single moment for the crowd as any old school pro would.
4. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania 31
Easily the best WrestleMania match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, the battle itself actually never went to completion, as Reigns’s friend-turned-rival Seth Rollins put an exclamation mark on this main event by cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase to create a moment that Michael Cole forever immortalized as “The Heist of the Century”.
Thanks to Rollins’s twist, it would be literal years until a WrestleMania main event surpassed this one, but the hard work went to Reigns for putting on a captivating match with an increasingly irritable – and notoriously difficult – Lesnar.
The battle was athletic and hard-hitting with a legitimate big-fight feel that neither Reigns nor Lesnar could ever capture again in their subsequent meetings, because those iterations of their rivalry never quite felt as organic as this matchup did.
3. Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes, WrestleMania 39
Although you could literally feel the piercing third slap of the canvas release all the air out of the arena as wrestling fans everywhere collectively sighed in agony at Roman Reigns winning yet again, the match itself was a masterpiece and a sign that, despite losing, Cody Rhodes had indeed fulfilled his destiny as a legend of the game in his very own right.
But just as well, this match proved that Reigns had arrived as a legend, too, because even though his work as The Tribal Chief was finally acclaimed by critics – and not just the sort of fans who would buy any top star’s merchandise- he had yet to have a truly iconic WrestleMania singles match in his entire career, even with all the chances.
Reigns and Rhodes brought all their pedigree, athleticism, and charisma to the table in a match that felt like a fairytale but turned into heartbreak. As Shawn Michaels will tell you, sometimes, the best moments in pro wrestling are born out of that very heartbreak, and this match beautifully set up Rhodes’s triumph one year later.
2. Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Edge, WrestleMania 37
If this list were purely about ranking Roman’s WrestleMania matches on the back of stand-alone quality without considering build or impact, WrestleMania 37 would be No. 1.
WWE took three of the greatest wrestlers in the world, bridging generations and intertwining three distinct stories into a wonderful, overarching narrative to cap off yet another brilliant WrestleMania to prove the company had rebounded from the doldrums of WrestleMania 32-24.
Reigns needed to get his first WrestleMania title defense as Tribal Chief right and wash away the poor taste of his previous failings at the Show of Shows, and he had the perfect two opponents to do so, both on the mic and in promos.
Edge and Bryan were formidable forces with extensive resumés, no shortage of in-ring chops, and the desperation of two men who knew that this was their last shot at eternal glory.
Reigns disposing of the two, stacking them on top of each other, and pinning them together in one fell swoop signified a true changing of the guard and an era of dominance that would not relent for three more years.
1. Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes, WrestleMania 40
And that era was closed, finally, by Cody Rhodes, who returned to WWE and won the title that had always eluded his own historic bloodline. After coming up short a year before, Cody became part of a hallowed class of legends to win back-to-back Royal Rumbles and claw his way back to a WrestleMania main event – one almost snatched away from him at the bitter end by The Rock.
If The Rock vs. Roman Reigns was the plan all along, then Reigns may have very well carried the title for another year. But the fans would not deny Cody, who had become such a phenomenon in his own right that he could even usurp a less resonant Rock in 2024.
To this point, Reigns had already proven himself on two occasions as being capable of leading a resoundingly successful WrestleMania main event, and while the actual in-ring quality of even the match just the night before was superior, this was the finest WrestleMania story that the Tribal Chief was a part of.
It is, in a way, only fitting that Reigns’s greatest WrestleMania success was the time he finally used his star power to create a new icon in WWE, as all the aspects of his game that he worked on over the years came together to gift Cody his unforgettable WrestleMania crowning moment. And that is truly special.
