The complete history of the WWE Championship - Part 19 

Roman Reigns (November 22, 2015 - November 22, 2015)

Roman Reigns finally captured the big one at Survivor Series 2015

Roman Reigns was supposed to be this generation's Hulk Hogan. However, he quickly became John Cena mark 2, as the WWE Universe rejected WWE's choice as top baby face, once again.

Reigns, like Cena had gotten over huge with the fan-base as a mega cool heel but once he turned face, WWE abandoned what had made him popular and geared his character towards children instead which caused the masses to resent and boo him. Reigns had a bigger problem than Cena had, as the fans actually wanted someone else, namely, Daniel Bryan to be WWE's number one superstar. WWE thought differently and had Bryan almost instantly eliminated from the 2015 Royal Rumble match, which Reigns ultimately went on to win.

Fan discord had not dissipated by the time WrestleMania rolled around on March 29, 2015 and Reigns was loudly booed by the fans in attendance at Levi's Stadium. WWE had finally anticipated that response and booked a contingency plan to save their 'Mania headliner. Money in the Bank winner Seth Rollins added himself to the bout and lifted the belt from WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar instead.

Reigns was shunted down the card as WWE tried to build him up more slowly in order to recover fan goodwill. WWE finally pulled the trigger on Reigns's first WWE Championship win in the final of a tournament at the 2015 Survivor Series, to crown a new champion after Rollins had vacated the belt due to injury. It was the battle of The Shield as Reigns defeated Dean Ambrose to lift the strap. However, fan enmity was still strong and WWE used another Money in the Bank winner, Sheamus to deny Reigns. Minutes after his victory, Reigns lost the belt to Sheamus's cash in.

The hope was that fans would sympathise with Reigns and rally behind him in a rematch. That was the thinking anyway.