5 Things Roman Reigns should do before his WWE career ends

Whether you like or loathe Roman Reigns’ current character on WWE television, it cannot be denied that the former Shield member will go down as one of the most successful Superstars of his generation.

Following his dominant performances alongside Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins as one-third of The Shield, Reigns broke out as a singles competitor in June 2014 and went on to headline the next four WrestleMania events against Brock Lesnar (x2), Triple H and The Undertaker.

In February 2019, the man behind the Reigns persona, Joe Anoaʻi, announced that he was set to return to in-ring action after a four-month absence due to his battle with leukemia, and he has since become a regular presence on Raw and SmackDown Live again.

Speaking in a recent interview with The Sportster, the three-time WWE champion hinted that he could be looking to transition away from the ring within the next couple of years to pursue opportunities in acting.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five things that Reigns should do in WWE before he brings an end to his in-ring career.

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#5 Reclaim the Universal Championship

After Roman Reigns announced in October 2018 that he had been diagnosed with leukemia for the second time, Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman at WWE Crown Jewel to win the vacant Universal Championship.

Since then, Seth Rollins has became the champion, defeating Lesnar at WrestleMania 35, while Reigns is yet to re-enter the main-event scene on Raw to challenge for a title that he never officially lost.

In the three years that the Universal Championship has existed, none of the five previous holders of the title – Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and Reigns – received an immediate title rematch.

Given that Reigns, like Balor in 2016, was forced to give up his championship, it would only be right for “The Big Dog” to be granted a match for Raw’s top male title after his rivalry with Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre & Co. is over.

Technically, the former Shield member is a SmackDown Live Superstar, meaning he should be in the WWE Championship picture instead of the Universal Championship picture, but the introduction of the ‘Wild Card Rule’ has essentially made the brand split pointless.

#4 Face The Undertaker in a WrestleMania rematch

WrestleMania 33 ended with Roman Reigns defeating The Undertaker in a match which appeared to signal the end of “The Deadman” as an in-ring competitor in WWE.

However, despite laying his hat, coat and gloves down in the middle of the ring in a symbolic gesture at the end of the show, ‘Taker returned to WWE television nine months later to cut a cryptic promo at Raw 25.

Since then, the WrestleMania icon has been involved in matches against big names including John Cena, Triple H and Goldberg, while he had not been involved in any on-screen interactions with Reigns – the man who seemingly retired him – until he helped the four-time 'Mania main-eventer take out Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre on the June 24 episode of Raw.

Now that the two former rivals are set to team up at Extreme Rules, it feels like the next natural progression in this storyline would be for WWE to book a WrestleMania 33 rematch at SummerSlam 2019.

#3 Face The Rock in the WrestleMania main event

While Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker is a marquee match worthy of headlining any WWE pay-per-view, Reigns vs. The Rock would be a career-defining encounter for “The Big Dog” that would bring a huge amount of eyes to WWE programming.

Much like the two-year rivalry between John Cena and The Rock in 2011-2013, die-hard WWE fans might not be sold on Reigns taking on Hollywood’s biggest star, but casual fans would certainly be intrigued by a 47-year-old Dwayne Johnson returning to the squared circle for one more match.

The man himself even mentioned at a 2017 Comic Con that Reigns is on a list of people, along with Brock Lesnar and Triple H, who he would be willing to face if he ever made an in-ring comeback.

As for Reigns, who stars alongside The Rock in the upcoming Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, he has spoken numerous times about wanting to face his cousin in WWE.

#2 Turn heel

As soon as you saw this headline, there is a good chance that you immediately wondered where ‘turn heel’ would appear in this list.

From 2015-18, almost the entire WWE Universe wanted Roman Reigns to become a bad guy. However, following his leukemia announcement in October 2018, the chorus of boos that used to greet Reigns to a WWE ring has been replaced with cheers.

Some detractors of the former Shield member still boo, of course, but the cheer/boo ratio is approximately 80/20 since his in-ring return in March 2019, whereas it used to be around 20/80.

In out-of-character interviews, Joe Anoaʻi has mentioned that he does not want his illness to define him and he wants fans to continue making noise every time he appears in a WWE arena, regardless of whether they decide to cheer or boo.

With a mindset like that, surely a heel turn cannot be ruled out?

#1 Lose to an up-and-comer in the WrestleMania main event

Inside a WWE ring, Roman Reigns is likely to be defined by his series of WrestleMania main events between 2015 and 2018.

In that time, he lost two matches against Brock Lesnar, with Seth Rollins interrupting the first one to cash in his Money In The Bank contract, while he also picked up statement-making victories over WWE veterans Triple H and The Undertaker.

At the age of 34, Reigns is by no means a veteran compared to those aforementioned names, but he is still one of the few full-time Superstars on the current WWE roster who possesses the ability to elevate his opponent by losing to them.

This happened in 2016 when Finn Balor burst onto the scene by defeating Reigns on his first night on Raw, while “The Big Dog” also helped push Braun Strowman up the card by losing to him at two PPVs during their 2017 rivalry.

If WWE is going to allow any other stars of the future to take over from Reigns as the company’s top guy, there would be no better place for them to conquer the former Shield member than on “The Grandest Stage of Them All”.