9 times WWE failed Roman Reigns

#8: WrestleMania 34

As soon as Kevin Owens dropped the Universal Championship to Goldberg at Fastlane 2017, fans got wind of WWE's plans. Vince McMahon would have Brock Lesnar defeat Goldberg, reign for a year, and drop the championship to Roman Reigns, completing the story arc begun at the 2015 Royal Rumble.

It was a match few fans anticipated and the result was that the year felt wasted. Despite how hot Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman became in the interceding months, they had a glass ceiling they couldn't break through because of Vince McMahon's stubborn plan.

The result was a match that fans hated long before the bell rang, and they showed it in New Orleans. Beach ball mania ran wild once again. Fans chanted "Rusev Day" and "this is awful!" Like WrestleMania 32, they cared about anything other than what was happening in the ring.

It didn't help that the match was abysmal, filled with finisher spams and zero storytelling. Roman's shocking loss was unexpected, but after heating him up so much prior to the show, his defeat after such a terrible match felt like a burial, giving fans even less reason to care about the guy. It was 50/50 booking all over again.