The Big Dog Roman Reigns.
One of the most polarising figures to have ever stepped foot in a WWE ring, the very mention of Roman Reigns’ name evokes a range of mixed emotions amongst members of the WWE Universe.
While some fans see him as nothing but a product of the WWE corporate machine, which the company is hell bent on pushing despite whatever reactions he might get, others see him as a talented performer who deserves everything that the WWE have thrown his way so far.
Then, of course, are the dedicated Reigns fans (raise your hands if you’re in the house people!) who love the Big Dog and cheer him on with every step that he takes in the professional wrestling business.
Love him, or hate him, Roman Reigns is the face of the WWE right now. The Big Dog has been pushed to the skies by the company and it doesn’t seem like the push will be slowing down anytime soon.
Reigns, whose real name is Leati Joseph Anoa’i, is a member of the coveted Anoa’i professional wrestling family. Even though he only started wrestling in 2010, Reigns has made it to the top of the food chain in a relatively short period of time and despite only being 31 years old, has achieved a lot already.
So today, we’re going to take a look at 5 incredible things that ONLY Roman Reigns has done so far! Starting off with the more recent ones and proceeding further down the slideshow into some of the lesser-known achievements of the big man.
Special mention: The ONLY WWE Superstar (alongside Seth Rollins) to have received a 4.5 Star rating on his debut
Even though this accomplishment isn’t unique because he shares it with Seth Rollins, one has to tip their hat to Roman Reigns for getting a 4.5 Star rating in his debut match by legendary wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer.
The match we’re referring to was the in-ring debut of The Shield, where Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns went up against Daniel Bryan, Kane and Ryback in a six-man tag team TLC match.
The Shield ended up winning, and Dave Meltzer rated the match 4.5 Stars in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, making Reigns and Rollins the only two people to have ever received such a high rating on their WWE debuts. While Cena’s first match against Angle was solid (no rating available), the Cenation leader scored a dismal 1.25 in his PPV debut match against Chris Jericho at Vengence 2002.
Also read: 5 reasons why Roman Reigns does not need to turn heel
Ambrose is excluded from this because he had wrestled on WWE TV as a jobber before, and this was thus not his debut, technically.
What makes the accomplishment even more special on Reigns’ part is that none of his singles matches since his debut have ever been rated under 3 Stars by Meltzer! He is the only member of the Shield to hold this distinction.
Let’s now move on to some accomplishments and achievements that are unique only to Reigns!
#1 Pinned Braun Strowman clean
We’ll start off with one of the more recent accomplishments of Roman Reigns. He is the only man in WWE history to have pinned Braun Strowman clean.
The Big Dog achieved this distinction at Fastlane 2017, where, after being on the receiving end of a gruesome beatdown at the hands of the monster among men for the better part of their match, Reigns made a comeback and defeated the man mountain via Pinfall.
Prior to this, Strowman had never been pinned clean since his debut in 2015.
This thus made Roman Reigns the ONLY man to have pinned Braun Strowman! Next, let’s take a look at another relatively recent achievement of Reigns.
#2 Eliminated 12 Superstars at the Royal Rumble
We all remember the 2014 Royal Rumble, and just in case you don’t, it was the one where a returning Batista ended up winning the whole thing. This was also the Royal Rumble where fans furiously got behind Daniel Bryan and completely disapproved of Batista’s victory.
Remember? Exactly, that’s the one we’re talking about.
A fact that got slightly overlooked in the aftermath of the event (but has been constantly reminded to us since then by Michael Cole) was that Roman Reigns actually eliminated 12 WWE Superstars that night, to set a new record for the most eliminations in a Royal Rumble match!
The unfortunate victims of Reigns’ rampage were Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kofi Kingston, Kevin Nash, The Great Khali, Sheamus, El Torito, Cesaro, Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler, Goldust and JBL.
In the process, Reigns became the first and the ONLY MAN in WWE history to have ever eliminated 12 Superstars in the Royal Rumble.
Next, let’s take a look at a rather unfortunate record that Reigns holds.
#3 Only person to be beaten TWICE by an impromptu Money in the Bank cash-in in the same year (2015)
People like to think that Roman Reigns does nothing but win. However, that has not always been the case. Even though the WWE Creative have been high on him and have frequently booked him in matches where he has come out the victor, Reigns has had his fair share of defeats in the past.
Roman Reigns was subjected to two impromptu Money in the Bank cash-ins in the same calendar year. The reason we say impromptu was because the cash-ins weren’t pre-announced or premediated, they happened unannounced.
At WrestleMania 31 (29th March 2015), Reigns went into his match against Brock Lesnar, who was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the time.
Reigns had previously won the 2015 Royal Rumble and had also defeated Daniel Bryan at Fastlane 2015 to preserve his shot at the title, which he had put on the line for that match.
Anyway, Reigns’ encounter against Brock Lesnar was nothing but a complete dismantling. Lesnar rag-dolled Reigns for the entire match, with Reigns only being able to get the sporadic offence in until the match hit the 12-minute mark and Reigns turned it around.
After hitting Brock with three Superman punches and two spears, Reigns covered him for a pin but Brock kicked out. Brock then connected with his fourth F5 of the match on Reigns, and both men were knocked out cold.
This was when Seth Rollins decided to run in and cash in his Money in the Bank contract, turning the match into a Triple Threat contest.
He hit Brock Lesnar with the Curb stomp but before he could do it for the second time, Lesnar got up and prepared to F5 him, Reigns speared Lesnar, which helped Rollins Curb stomp Lesnar once again.
Rollins then pinned Reigns for the win, one of the rare instances when The Big Dog has been beaten cleanly on his back.
A few months later, after Rollins had to vacate the title due to a real-life injury, a tournament was organised to crown the new champion. The Number One contender Reigns had to go through Big Show, Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio and Dean Ambrose in order to win the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series 2015.
After the hard-fought match, Sheamus made an appearance and cashed in his own Money in the bank contract. He then proceeded to destroy Reigns and pinned him within 35 seconds, becoming the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Poor Reigns. Him and Money in the Bank contracts really don’t sit too well together. Let’s now talk about an award that Reigns received and why his accomplishment was so unique!
#4 Youngest WWE Superstar ever to win the “Superstar of the Year” Slammy award
The WWE Universe has historically been very divided on the Slammy awards, while some people criticise them for being “scripted”, the Slammy awards are still a very real indicator of Superstars who have outperformed everyone else during that year.
Roman Reigns happens to be the youngest Superstar to have ever won the “Superstar of the Year” Slammy award. At the age of 29 years, 6 months and 13 days, Roman Reigns won the 2014 award by beating out names such as Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose and John Cena.
Seth Rollins, who is a year younger than Reigns, came very close to beating his record in 2015, when he too, won the same award. However, Rollins missed out by 10 days and even though he ended up winning the award, his former Shield partner Reigns remains the youngest one to have done so.
Next, we’ll take a look at yet ANOTHER award that Reigns has won, as well as some of his other unique achievements!
#5 The only babyface to have ever won PWI’s “Most Hated Wrestler of the Year” award in 44 years
Alright, this is a funny one and is certainly not an achievement that Reigns would want to write home about.
But in 2016, Roman Reigns beat out Kevin Owens, The Miz and Eva Marie (all heels) to win Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Most Hated Wrestler of the Year award. Reigns, in PWI’s 44-year history of the award, is the first and only “babyface” to have received the distinction.
Is Roman Reigns really that hated? You bet he is!
Reigns is booed by most hardcore wrestling fans in the WWE Universe, as I mentioned earlier in this article. Not only that, it appears that Reigns has been deliberately booked in a way that incites negative reactions to him, for whatever reason.
Reigns, still, was very much a babyface throughout the year when this award was given to him and thus holds this unfortunate distinction of being the only Wrestler to have ever won it while still being projected as a babyface.
So that is it for the list of 5 incredible things that ONLY Roman Reigns has done!
But that’s not all, Reigns also holds some smaller distinctions such as being the only WWE Superstar to have appeared on all editions of the Fastlane PPV (2015, 2016 and 2017) as well as on ALL 12 pay per views in 2015.
Reigns is also unique for being, funnily enough, the only WWE Superstar in history who has been smart enough to wear a protective vest for all his matches. Why didn’t anyone else EVER think of this?
That's Roman Reigns for you! The man puts in a shift and gets polarising reactions, but at the end of the day, he is one of the best that the WWE currently have and will only achieve more success as time goes on.
We wish him the best for his future and hope that he and Undertaker have a thrilling contest at WrestleMania 33!
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