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It looked for a long time as though Roman Reigns was going to go down the same route as John Cena by remaining WWE’s number one good guy until the end of his career.
The Big Dog was immediately positioned as the top up-and-coming babyface on the WWE roster following The Shield’s separation in June 2014. Then, despite his good-guy status, he often received negative reactions from the WWE Universe over the next five years of his career.
Reigns took time away from WWE during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed him to return with a new attitude and a new ally, Paul Heyman, in August 2020.
The four-time WrestleMania main-eventer has made lots of interesting out-of-character comments since his return, particularly on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast.
When asked if anybody in WWE is standing out and impressing him right now, Reigns claimed that WWE would not have asked him to return if they did not need him.
“Nah, man, otherwise I wouldn’t have to be back, you know? I mean, if it was all just perfect, there wouldn’t be a need for me, you know what I mean? The fans wouldn’t have been calling for me to come back, the company wouldn’t need me. If it was really all good, I might still be at home, you know?”
With Reigns seemingly doubting the potential of the current WWE locker room, let’s take a look at five WWE Superstars who could realistically replace him as WWE’s top main-eventer in the years to come.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and they do not necessarily represent the views of Sportskeeda.
#5 Becky Lynch could become WWE’s top main-eventer
Some might argue that Becky Lynch had already surpassed Roman Reigns as WWE’s top babyface between August 2018 and May 2020.
Lynch was originally supposed to turn heel after she betrayed Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2018. However, the WWE Universe refused to accept The Man as a villain and WWE’s decision-makers were left with little choice but to push her as the biggest babyface in the women’s division.
During Reigns’ time away from WWE to battle leukemia, Lynch stepped up more than anybody else. Not only did she create more of a buzz than every other Superstar on the roster, but her overwhelming popularity led to her main-eventing WrestleMania 35 against Flair and Ronda Rousey.
Since announcing her pregnancy in May 2020, the 33-year-old has kept a low profile on social media and it is unclear when she is planning to resume her WWE in-ring career.
Assuming she returns one day, Lynch will undoubtedly be viewed as one of the most credible main-eventers in WWE.
#4 Seth Rollins could become WWE’s top main-eventer
Although Seth Rollins has been one of WWE’s most established names over the last eight years, he has still never main-evented WrestleMania in an advertised match.
The former Shield member’s first one-on-one PPV main event came in October 2014 when he fought Dean Ambrose in the final match of the night at Hell in a Cell.
Since then, he has had plenty of main-event PPV appearances, usually when he is involved in a World Championship storyline, but he has never been WWE’s go-to main-eventer in the same way that Roman Reigns is.
At the age of 34, Rollins could realistically continue to perform at the top level for another decade. That would not have been the case in past WWE generations, especially in the 1990s when Vince McMahon decided to push younger Superstars over the likes of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.
Nowadays, however, it is not uncommon to see Superstars over the age of 40 – and, in some cases, even over the age of 50 – compete in WWE main events.
Rollins is producing some of the best work of his career right now, so there is no reason why he cannot be trusted as WWE’s number one guy one day.
#3 Adam Cole could become WWE’s top main-eventer
After cementing his status as one of the top Superstars in WWE NXT history, it will be very interesting to see where Adam Cole’s career takes him over the next five years.
In 2015, that exact sentence could have summed up Finn Balor’s position in WWE at the time. The Irishman was among the most popular Superstars in NXT and, just like Cole in 2020, he looked destined to achieve huge success on RAW and/or SmackDown in the future.
Unfortunately for Balor, while he was hardly a failure on WWE’s main roster, it cannot be denied that he did not live up to expectations after leaving NXT. Now, after a three-year run on RAW and SmackDown, he is one of NXT’s main attractions once again.
Cole, 31, is likely to remain in WWE NXT for the foreseeable future with his Undisputed Era colleagues (Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong), but it is clear that WWE’s higher-ups view him as the group’s top singles Superstar.
When he eventually makes a permanent move to RAW and/or SmackDown, it would not be at all surprising if Cole is immediately presented as a main-eventer.
#2 Sasha Banks could become WWE’s top main-eventer
In 2015, Sasha Banks and Bayley made history when they followed up their epic WWE NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn match by main-eventing WWE NXT TakeOver: Respect in a 30-minute Iron Man match.
One year later, Banks’ WWE RAW Women’s Championship rivalry with Charlotte Flair featured in the main-event spot on WWE RAW on multiple occasions. They also fought in the main event of WWE Hell in a Cell 2016 in the first women’s Hell in a Cell match.
The Boss had a difficult couple of years after she dropped out of the WWE RAW Women’s Championship picture in September 2017.
Granted, she still had some memorable moments, including her WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship triumph with Bayley in February 2019, but her babyface character was not presented as a possible main-eventer.
Now, after featuring prominently on WWE television with Bayley for most of the last year, Banks’ current character is definitely worthy of main-eventing WWE’s shows again.
In fact, as of the time of writing, it looks likely that Bayley and Banks will go one-on-one in a WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship match at Hell in a Cell 2020. If that does happen, the match would certainly not look out of place inside the cell or in the main event.
Banks, 28, is the seventh-youngest Superstar on the RAW and SmackDown rosters right now, which is remarkable considering that she left NXT five years ago. That means she has plenty of time to solidify her status as a go-to main-eventer in WWE.
#1 Bray Wyatt could become WWE’s top main-eventer
Nobody in WWE has had a career resurgence like Bray Wyatt over the last 18 months.
In 2013, the former Husky Harris re-debuted in WWE alongside Erick Rowan and Luke Harper as part of The Wyatt Family. Wyatt quickly became one of WWE’s most compelling characters and it was no surprise that WWE’s decision-makers booked him in high-profile WrestleMania matches against John Cena and The Undertaker.
The problem was that Wyatt continued to lose big matches when they mattered most. Cena and The Undertaker defeated the Wyatt Family leader, while the likes of Finn Balor, Randy Orton and Roman Reigns ultimately won their long-term rivalries against him.
Thankfully, after Wyatt’s cult leader character became stale, he reinvented himself as two different personas in 2019: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and “Firefly Fun House” Bray Wyatt.
Wyatt is now one of WWE’s most captivating characters once again and he has proven throughout 2020 that he can be trusted in the main-event position.
Like many of the other Superstars in this list, Wyatt is still young (33 years old) and there is every chance that he could succeed Reigns as WWE’s next top main-eventer.
