This fall saw a seismic shift in WWE. After years of rumored pushes, and snagging the men’s Money in the Bank briefcase this summer, Big E at last got the biggest push of his career when he cashed in and took the WWE Championship off of Bobby Lashley. It was a feel good moment and Big E has enjoyed his share of successes as a champion. However, he couldn’t beat Roman Reigns at Survivor Series in a world champion vs. world champion match. In defeat E felt cemented not as the top guy in WWE but rather, at best, as number two. This raises the question: should Big E’s title win have happened over Reigns?

Roman Reigns Is Running Through Every Credible Challenger

Roman Reigns Pins Edge Daniel Bryan WrestleMania

Roman Reigns has enjoyed one of the most successful reigns as world champion in recent WWE history. He’s closing in on a year and a half on top, which is an especially rare mark for a full-time performer. To date, his dominant reign has seen him successfully defend against challenges from Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan, Edge, Cesaro, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, and others. Increasingly, the question has become who could credibly defeat Reigns for the title?

Related: Is Roman Reigns Still Too Overpowered As A Heel?

Big E feels like precisely the right mix of a talent who is organically over based on a long tenure with the company, while also feeling fresh in the main event picture. Combine that with the benefit of a Money in the Bank cash-in to protect Reigns, and it’s easyto imagine an alternate universe in which E could have defeated The Head of the Table, and ultimately set up a longer feud between the two.

A Part Timer Like The Rock Is Not The Right Choice To Dethrone Roman Reigns

The Rock WWE

Roman Reigns vs. The Rock—at this point, rumored for WrestleMania 39— feels all but inevitable. Moreover, some fans foresee The Great One as that rare Superstar who could credibly drop in for a big event and take the Universal Championship off the biggest full time star in the company.

As much as The Rock is a legend and has remained in great shape, he also has virtually nothing to gain from beating The Tribal Chief. Additionally, The Brahma Bull defeating Reigns only creates a bigger problem of who, then—besides Reigns himself—could take the title off The Rock? Maybe a Money in the Bank cash-in could solve that problem, but it doesn’t feel as likely as a way of ending a Rock title reign. It would probably be Reigns himself taking the title back, which would put WWE back at square one, only with the weakness that the victory for the next person to beat Reigns would be a little less satisfying for the new champ not being the guy to end the marathon reign. By contrast, Big E could have believably taken the title and would have benefited enormously from being the one to pull off this major win.

Beating Roman Reigns May Have Been The Best Way To Truly Get Big E Over As A Top Guy

Big E Wins WWE Championship

Big E has succeeded as WWE Champion thus far. Despite winning the title via Money in the Bank cash-in, he has been well protected as a legitimate main event level talent since, including wins over Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre. However, it’s impossible to buy him as the face of the company when Roman Reigns is still atop the blue brand, and all the more so after The Head of the Table won their one-on-one match cleanly at Survivor Series.

It’s fair enough to reason that WWE favors Roman Reigns over Big E, and has consciously positioned them as, respectively, the number one and number two full time talents in WWE. Still, if E had beaten Reigns, and especially if the two had then moved to separate brands, it could have introduced more of a legitimate case of WWE having two top guys. This narrative arc may have even included Reigns beating E at Survivor Series to then tie them at one win a piece and set up a tie-breaking match way down the road.

In the end, Big E is doing well, and feels as though he’s well on his way to truly being one of the top few names on the WWE roster. While Roman Reigns has benefited from continuing his long reign without interruption, it certainly feels like WWE on the whole—and particularly E—would have benefited from him taking the title off Reigns.