Roman Reigns continues to represent the WWE as the most popular full-time performer on the roster. WWE viewed Reigns as a tremendous prospect that they wanted to make a top name for many years. That part of the project is already a huge success as Reigns has become the face of the company. However, the road to becoming a star was not as easy for Reigns as WWE would have liked.
Fans took a while before accepting Reigns and many still don’t want to see him as the world champion. That doesn’t change the fact that Roman is clearly among the most important wrestlers to the future o WWE’s success. The history of his work has been mixed with both incredible and disappointing moments. We will look at the specific wrestlers to work with Reigns. These are five of the best feuds of Roman’s career along with five of the most disappointing.
10 Best: Seth Rollins
The end of The Shield featured Seth Rollins becoming a heel as Roman Reigns remained on his own as a face. Both wrestlers faced off on a couple of occasions following the split with incredible results in the form of must-see matches.
Rollins returned from injury and defeated Reigns to regain the WWE Championship. Multiple matches between them showed they have great chemistry as opponents almost as impressive as the bouts teaming together during the run of The Shield.
9 Worst: Shane McMahon
The recent feud of Shane McMahon becoming the top enemy of Roman Reigns has created some of the worst content in WWE today. Shane’s heel run has him teaming with wrestlers like Drew McIntyre, Elias, The Revival and Dolph Ziggler.
Reigns is one of the few face wrestlers opposing him as the rivalry has been going for many months. Shane even scored a win over Reigns in a decision most fans found foolish. Despite his status as a top star, the past few months of action for Roman have been lackluster due to the awful feud with Shane.
8 Best: Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns have delivered great action in their feuds as singles stars and as leaders of their factions. It started when Bray and the Wyatt Family faced off against Reigns and The Shield in some of the all-time great trios matches together.
The two singles wrestles would have a long feud on their own years later as singles stars. Reigns and Wyatt showed strong chemistry that led to them having an impressive Hell in a Cell match together. The potential of Bray returning with his new gimmick against Reigns could provide fascinating television.
7 Worst: Samoa Joe
One feud that should have been far better than what it was featured Roman Reigns facing off with Samoa Joe. The first feud following WrestleMania 34 for both men would see Reigns defeat Joe in the main event of the Backlash PPV.
Reigns and Joe surprisingly had a disappointing match with fans heckling them for the lack of interest in it. The feud ended right after that as WWE wanted to keep them apart, especially with them on different shows after the brand split.
6 Best: Daniel Bryan
The short program between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan was extra entertaining due to the real-life story in play. Fans were upset at Reigns for winning the 2015 Royal Rumble match to receive a title shot against Brock Lesnar. Bryan was the fan’s choice for the second consecutive year leading to a huge clash between different fans.
WWE utilized this to set up a singles match between the two with the title shot on the line. Bryan and Reigns delivered an instant classic with Roman winning and earning the respect of his opponent following the match.
5 Worst: Rusev
Roman Reigns was in an interesting place in WWE following his wellness policy suspension in 2016. Following his return from the suspension, Reigns was removed from the world title picture and entered a mid-card feud with Rusev for the United States Championship.
The two talented wrestlers could not get on the same page enough to create success. An embarrassing segment featured Reigns interrupting a ceremony between Rusev and Lana that ended with cake all over them. The matches also did nothing for either man as the feud was a bust.
4 Best: John Cena
Many fans expected a match like John Cena vs Roman Reigns to come in the main event of WrestleMania, but it would take place in the middle of the card of No Mercy 2017. The build to this match was electric with both men cutting vicious promos on each other.
Cena referenced the past issues of Reigns’ struggles like a few of his weaker promos, the suspension and the narrative that Roman was a poor man’s Cena without the success. Reigns fired back at Cena with the commentary on his part-time status.
The win ended up being a big one for Roman as Cena transitioned out of WWE more after putting over The Big Dog.
3 Worst: Triple H
WWE tried to use Triple H as the heel to get Roman Reigns over with the fans that did not enjoy him back in 2016. Triple H would use his power to get the final spot in the Royal Rumble match and win it to steal the WWE Championship from Reigns since it was on the line in this match.
Reigns would get his revenge on the biggest stage by defeating Triple H at WrestleMania 32 in front of over 100,000 fans in attendance. The lack of a response for the win and match itself made it come off as a huge disappointment. Reigns did not get much from the win on a historic show since the feud with Triple H was a bust.
2 Best: AJ Styles
The best rival for Roman Reigns in WWE so far has been AJ Styles. WWE thrusted Styles into a WWE Championship feud with champion Reigns just a few months into AJ’s debut. Their two PPV matches were incredible and arguably the only time Reigns had momentum during a world title reign.
WWE even found some way fun ways to add others in the mix with Roman teaming with his cousins the Usos against AJ Styles and his friends Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson on Raw. Styles became a legitimate superstar for WWE and Reigns become a respected champion during their great battles against each other.
1 Worst: Brock Lesnar
The worst feud for Roman Reigns in his WWE career has been the ongoing one for many years against Brock Lesnar. WWE wanted Reigns to be the one that finally dethroned Lesnar after Brock ended the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania and become the WWE Champion shortly after.
Fans turning against Reigns forced WWE’s hand to instead have Seth Rollins cash in his MITB contract to end the title run of Brock. WWE once again tried to tell the Brock/Roman story three years later at WrestleMania 34 for the Universal Championship. Reigns would lose a couple more title matches until ending Lesnar’s reign at Summerslam 2018, but the feud hurt him more than it ever helped.