Subscribe
Follow Us
Roman Reigns is closing in on 1,000 days as the WWE‘s Universal Champion. Fans haven't seen a championship reign this historic in decades and probably won't see another one like this for another few decades. What we are witnessing is genuinely historic.
Since returning to the company at SummerSlam in 2020, Reigns has been one of the most dominant superstars in WWE history. Reigns hasn't been pinned since December 2019, and it looks like it'll stay that way for a while longer. Reigns has been a top guy ever since he debuted in 2012, but he's cemented himself as one of the greatest superstars ever over the last few years.
Since his title reign began nearly three years ago, many superstars have stepped up but failed to dethrone the Tribal Chief. He's defeated superstars such as John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Brock Lesnar, Edge, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn. Although these superstars gave it their best shot, none have been able to take the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship away from Reigns.
Because Reigns has been so dominant and WWE can't find anybody to dethrone him yet, the company introduced the new World Heavyweight Championship. For months, fans have been begging for a new championship, or to at least split Reigns' titles. Although it shouldn't be viewed as one, many believe this is a consolation prize to Reigns' championship. The reason is that since nobody can beat Reigns, WWE needed to introduce a new title to help out the main event scene.
WWE could have introduced a new world championship for other reasons too. Since Reigns won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania and took both titles “hostage,” the main event scene has suffered. WWE needed to fix their main event scene and give main event superstars a title to fight over. But WWE could have also introduced the World Heavyweight Championship to allow Reigns to keep the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship even longer.
WWE is walking on a very thin line with Reigns' title reign. As historic as it is, WWE needs to be careful that it doesn't start to drag on. Unfortunately for them, fans believe that it's become stale. Many people think Rhodes dethroning Reigns at WrestleMania 39 was the perfect moment for him to lose the titles. WWE obviously had other plans and wanted to see Reigns hit the 1,000-day mark as world champion.
Reigns could go well beyond 1,000 days as world champion, according to Andrew Zarian of the Wrestling Observer. In response to a tweet about Reigns surpassing Hulk Hogan's 1,474-day title reign, Zarian says WWE wants to update their history books.
“I have been told numerous times that WWE wants to update its history books and needs longer title reigns,” Zarian says.
The thought of Reigns holding on to the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship will upset many fans. To some, the storyline of Reigns' dominance over the WWE roster has run its course. For others, the belief is that Reigns' dominance can continue if the story makes sense. The entire Tribal Chief and Bloodline story has been the best story WWE has told in decades. Not every bit of it has been perfect, but it's still interesting nearly three years later.
WWE introducing the new World Heavyweight Championship allows them to continue this reign for another year or so. With Reigns being a part-time champion, this will also allow the new world championship to get plenty of attention. To make this work, WWE has to tell an excellent story. Because of what they've done so far, fans should trust them with whatever they do with this storyline. It's been fantastic up to this point, so there should be little doubt that they'll mess it up moving forward.
How much longer do you think Roman Reigns should remain the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion? WWE could easily have Reigns lose the titles after surpassing the 1,000-day mark at Night of Champions. With SummerSlam coming up, Reigns could lose the titles in a rematch against Cody Rhodes. Or, WWE could hold off on that match until WrestleMania 40. The possibilities truly are endless. It'll be interesting to see what WWE does with the rest of Roman Reigns' historic title run.
For more content like this, subscribe to Stache Club Wrestling for weekly quizzes, predictions, and reactions, and listen to Dante and John's weekly wrestling podcast every Thursday!
