The Complete History of the WWE Championship - Part 20
Roman Reigns debuted on WWE television at the 2012 Survivor Series held on November 18 of that year.
He was one third of a new faction, The Shield, which would go on to dominate WWE for two years, beating anybody and everybody in their path.
Reigns was the least experienced of his teammates. Dean Ambrose had wrestled for years on the independent scene as Jon Moxley (the moniker he would return to in AEW in 2019), where he had competed for a wide array of promotions including the ultra violent CZW, as well as Dragon Gate and FIP. Seth Rollins was previously known as Tyler Black and had reigned as ROH World Champion, following in the footsteps of the likes of CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Samoa Joe. Reigns was largely an unknown quantity in comparison.
However, Reigns had the familiar connections. His father is WWE Hall of Famer, Sika, one half of the Wild Samoans, his brother wrestled in WWE as Rosey and his cousins include WWE Hall of Famers Yokozuna and Rikishi. His cousins once removed are The Usos and The Rock. Reigns had a legacy that his faction brothers could not compete with. He also had the look, size and dimensions that Vince McMahon demands of his headline superstars.
Although most observers expected Ambrose and Rollins to be the breakout performers of The Shield (indeed it was Ambrose who first tasted singles gold in WWE, reigning as United States Champion for one year between 2013 and 2014), Reigns was the one who was first positioned as a headline talent in late 2013.
His coronation as WWE Champion was supposed to occur at WrestleMania 31, but the boos that had plagued the 'Big Dog' since his 2015 Royal Rumble victory showed no signs of abating. WWE had misjudged the public mood and were caught unaware when the WWE Universe chose Daniel Bryan as their main man instead.
Forced to change tack, WWE instead gave the belt to Rollins at WrestleMania and crowned Reigns as champion at the 2015 Survivor Series instead. The experiment failed and Reigns would lose, win and lose the belt at incredible speed as WWE tried all sorts of booking tricks to direct cheers instead of boos at Reigns. All attempts failed.
They tried again at WrestleMania 32. This slideshow covers whether WWE were successful at the third time of asking.
Previous parts in my series can be found here: Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16. part 17, part 18 and part 19.
Stay tuned for the final part in my series bringing the WWE Championship right up to date soon!
Roman Reigns (April 3, 2016 - June 19, 2016)
Roman Reigns as WWE Champion has never worked. That fact is evidenced by how quickly the company relieved him of the title after winning it, time after time. His third title reign was no exception, however this time he did not lose it due his unpopularity. He was relieved of the belt due to outside the ring issues.
Reigns was suspended for 30 days, two days after Money in the Bank on June 19, 2016.
That suspension was related to a failure of WWE's Wellness Policy due to substance abuse. Therefore, Reigns had to lose the belt at Money in the Bank, earlier than planned. That title loss came in a one on one battle with Seth Rollins.
Reigns title reign was over. It had begun 77 days earlier at WrestleMania when the Big Dog defeated Triple H in the main event. This was meant to be another coronation of Reigns as the main man in WWE. Once again, due to unforeseen circumstances this time, that eventuality had to be put on ice.
Reigns has yet to regain the WWE Championship. Expect him to do so in 2020.