As the successor figure of John Cena in the WWE, Roman Reigns has long been present in a commanding position in the company. Since the very beginning of his stint, he was built to be in a franchise figure’s position in the WWE irrespective of the mixed reaction that the fans had in store for him. Then The Tribal Chief gimmick happened for him based on which he could claim the WWE to be his own territory.
The heel transition happened following the COVID-19 era when there were indications that he considered himself retired from wrestling. During the pandemic and leading up to WrestleMania 36, Roman Reigns opted to step away from WWE to prioritize his health and safety alongside his family as he was just coming out of a successful battle with Leukemia.
WWE Raw: The Rock And Roman Reigns Stand Tall Before Wrestlemania 40
Roman Reigns was done with the WWE after stepping away in 2020
While WWE programming continued in his absence, Roman Reigns remained at home and he had some negative perspective in mind in regards to his WWE career. While speaking to Raj Prashad of Uproxx, his Special Counsel Paul Heyman revealed that his Tribal Chief indeed considered himself retired during his absence as part of the COVID-19 pandemic,
“He considered himself retired. He wasn’t coming back. I was executive director of Monday Night Raw, and Roman Reigns was assigned to SmackDown. But every week I heard all the SmackDown writers and producers and personnel saying, ‘God, I just wish Roman would come back.’ And I would ask, has anybody talked to him? Yeah, he says he’s retired. He’s not coming back. No way. Thanks a lot. Done. Finished. Goodbye.”
Roman Reigns walked away from the WWE despite WWE heavily promoting his Wrestlemania 36 match with Goldberg which was canceled at the very last moment. It wasn’t until SummerSlam 2020, with WWE shows continuing at the ThunderDome, that he would make his dramatic return to ally with Paul Heyman to begin the heel run.
A week later at WWE Payback PPV, Roman Reigns won the Universal Title and crossed 1300 days with it. He surpassed Bruno Sammartino’s second WWE Title reign to possess the fourth-longest WWE title reign in history. Plus, the accolade also allowed him to become the tenth-longest-reigning champion with any title recognized by the WWE.
