6 Positives and 4 negatives from Roman Reigns' 365 days as WWE Universal Champion
It’s official: Roman Reigns has held the WWE Universal Championship for an entire year.
The Tribal Chief defeated Braun Strowman and The Fiend at WWE Payback on August 30, 2020 to win his second Universal Championship. Since then, he has defeated superstars and legends including Edge and John Cena in what has arguably turned out to be the best 365 days of his career.
While Reigns has created several career-defining moments over the last year, his title reign has also had its fair share of ups and downs.
In this article, let’s take a look at six positives and four negatives from Reigns’ 365 days as Universal Champion.
#10 Positive: Paul Heyman singing Roman Reigns’ praises on Talking Smack
Talking Smack was introduced as SmackDown's post-show which got axed. It's 2020 reboot had a lot to live up to, and it definitely didn’t disappoint.
Paul Heyman’s amusing digs at host Kayla Braxton made for entertaining viewing. He also frequently referenced topics that fans would not expect to hear about on WWE television, such as Samoa Joe’s release from the company.
Best of all, no matter who the guests were, Heyman turned almost every conversation around and made it all about Roman Reigns. Thanks to his special counsel, Reigns’ superstar status grew more and more by the week, and he didn’t even need to say a word.
#9 Negative: Roman Reigns vs. Jimmy Uso did not happen
Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso was one of the most compelling WWE storylines of 2020. Jey initially refused to acknowledge Reigns as The Head of the Table of their family. After suffering numerous beatdowns he was then left with little choice but to become Reigns’ right-hand man.
WWE began telling a similar story after Jimmy Uso returned to television in April 2021 following a year out of action. At one stage, it looked as though Reigns vs. Jimmy Uso could be WWE’s next big feud, possibly leading to a pay-per-view main event.
We may never know the full story, since Jimmy’s real-life DUI arrest in June 2021 appeared to alter WWE’s plans. Instead of feuding with Reigns, Jimmy joined forces with the Universal Champion and WWE stopped planting seeds about a possible match between the cousins.