Though Cody Rhodes may be the new and reigning Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, the specter of the previous belt holder, Roman Reigns, still hangs heavy over the WWE Universe.

From fans chanting his name on both RAW and SmackDown, to the new developments between Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Paul Heyman within The Bloodline, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson referencing him on social media on the regular, it's clear fans weren't quite as ready to say goodbye to the legacy grappler as they may have claimed on social media heading into WrestleMania 40, with a “Tribal Chief-sized” hole on the roster in his place.

So why, you may ask, has Reigns, who rarely showed up on television over the last two years, left WWE feeling like a very different spot in his absence? Well, in the opinion of the “American Nightmare” on the SI Media podcast, it's because Reigns truly changed the industry, which is something he truly appreciates, even if they haven't exactly become friends since the main event of Mania.

“When you do something so special and epic, and I'm specifically talking about his run as champion, not anything I did. When you change the landscape of the company, when you help better the locker room situation for the talent surrounding you. When you bring the entire tide up for one company, which Roman did, and you're a part of something like WrestleMania 40, his ninth or tenth WrestleMania main event, you're part of that. In the oddest of ways, we don't need to have a moment. He was nowhere to be found in Gorilla when I got back. I look forward to when we actually do have that moment and get to see one another,” Cody Rhodes told SI Media via Fightful.

“No doubt, my entire time in WWE, has been a war time situation. There has always been somebody. There has always been some sort of fight and issue. Even with all that said, you're bonded, to a degree, over the battles that you have. I might be speaking very kindly about him now and he might be thinking in his mind that he wants to smash me and murder me when he comes back. If that's the case, that's okay. I'll be ready for it. Of all the people I did see, the one I didn't, and I think maybe in his mind, if I could put myself in his shoes, he knew that his run had been generational, that he had changed the industry, which very few people can say they changed the industry. You can count ten people in the last 30 years who changed the business. I think he knew that he could walk out of the ballpark knowing the ball was still sailing and WWE is going to be just fine, if not even better. We await the return of Roman Reigns.”

What will Reigns look like when he returns to WWE? Will he want revenge on Rhodes for taking his belt? Or will he instead turn over a new leaf and try to become a babyface once more? Or could he fall somewhere in between, coming to the aid of Heyman without fully embracing what it means to be a traditional babyface? Regardless, with his title loss out of the way, it's clear that call will go down as one of the most important of Reigns' career.

The Undertaker celebrates Roman Reigns' tun with the WWE Title.

Speaking of WWE Champions who are happy to celebrate Roman Reigns for his contributions to professional wrestling, The Undertaker took some time on his Six Feet Under podcast to put over the “Tribal Chief” for a job well done.

“There was a lot of really emotional moments backstage, as you can imagine. Roman coming back after, what an amazing run as champion. If you look at it and put it in today's market, what a phenomenal run,” The Undertaker explained via Fightful. “It's not going to go down in the record books as the longest world title run, but when you look at it in actuality, with as much coverage, as much media, as much exposure as you have now. Backlund's run and Hogan's early run, they didn't have social media. They didn't have as much live TV. (They wrestled jobbers) or didn't wrestle at all on TV. The biggest part about that is to be able to maintain and keep the people's interest in that storyline, for that long. There were so many layers to it. Kudos to him and everybody that worked on all that. It's really difficult to do and difficult to do well. There was some really good storytelling involved in that.”

Did fans make fun of Reigns for not working much on television and even on house shows during the final year and change of his title reign? Yes. But then again, when you consider champions like Bruno Sanmartino worked over basically the exact same programs from wrestlers to wrestlers for years during their pre-televised reigns, it's hard to argue that that's technically a bad thing. In a world where UFC fighters only work a handful of events a year for massive paydays, Reigns brought the big fight feel to WWE and was truly an attraction wrestler, which performers like The Undertaker clearly appreciate.