Where Does Roman Reigns Rank Among WWE's All-Time Greats After WrestleMania 39?

On April 2, Roman Reigns hoisted the Undisputed WWE Universal Championships high overhead on the WrestleMania 39 stage inside SoFi Stadium having won another big-time main event.

One could not help but ask where this latest win, over Cody Rhodes, ranked Reigns in the pantheon of WWE greats.

Taking into consideration historical significance, in-ring contributions, financial success and his overall body of work, we ranked The Tribal Chief against the most iconic WWE Superstars (Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and John Cena) to determine his place in company history.

At least for now.

Historical Significance

There has not been a Superstar in WWE to hold its world championship as long as Reigns has since Hulk Hogan's four-year run (1984-88).

The Tribal Chief has reigned as Universal champion and undisputed top star in the company for just shy of 1,000 days. He will break Pedro Morales' record of 1,027 days, for sure, and will have the opportunity to surpass Bruno Sammartino's second run with the title (1,237 days) in January of 2024.

The idea that a Superstar in today's modern age of wrestling could conceivably hold the title, and the audience's attention, as Reigns has was once thought to be a pipe dream. Attention spans were too short, audiences grew too bored too quickly with the same guy on top.

Look at the Attitude Era for evidence of that.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania X-Seven from The Rock and held it for 175 days. That was the longest run of any world champion during that entire four-year stretch.

It was not until the Ruthless Aggression Era that John Cena held the title for a year, beginning in September 2006. CM Punk would replicate that feat six years later, but it was still more of an anomaly than a trend.

While there have been others since who have enjoyed lengthy title reigns, none have utterly dominated the sport, or headlines, like Reigns. The Head of the Table has been entrusted by WWE officials, regardless of the regime, to carry the company as the guy at the top, and he has done so with unparalleled modern success.

That he has been able to evolve his character and tell his story enough that fans continue to tune in and flock to shows to see him headline is a testament to his performance. More on that in a moment.

History will certainly tell Reigns' story when he is gone, but strictly from the perspective of his run as champion, its length and where it stands among the greats, there is no denying that it is of great significance and puts him alongside the most iconic stars to ever lace a pair of boots.

In-Ring Contributions

Austin and The Rock had limitless classics against each other during the height of the Attitude Era, including three WrestleMania main events.

Hulk Hogan may not have been the most skilled in-ring performer, but he knew how to captivate an audience, and his battles with Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, King Kong Bundy, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Andre the Giant are among the most iconic of WWE's early national days.

John Cena is probably the best worker of all of WWE's tippy-top guys, with countless in-ring classics against Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Edge, AJ Styles, CM Punk, The Rock, Chris Jericho and others. He proved over his decade as the top babyface in the company that he could hang with any wrestler, of any style and background, and earned respect by evolving and growing his skill set over the years.

Reigns is following in Cena's footsteps.

The early years of his singles run were iffy, at best. He showed flashes of greatness, but it was not consistent enough, and the fans recognized it. Look no further than the WrestleMania 34 main event with Brock Lesnar, widely considered to be one of the worst in the event's history.

He allowed himself to be gobbled up by The Beast, and when he was not, it was a passionless exchange of finishers until the three-count.

Over the years, he has evolved and developed into one of the best big-match performers in WWE. Some of that can be attributed to being a better worker as a heel. His selling is phenomenal, but as the cocky, arrogant villain, he can tell a story that goes along with the physicality.

He has not yet strung together the wealth of extraordinary matches that Cena has, and he needs a few more WrestleMania bangers to really accentuate his resume, but he is getting there. The longer management keeps him away from Lesnar and the repetitive, finisher-heavy matches, the more he will be able to showcase himself against the likes of Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and others.

Those are the competitive, high-drama matches in which he thrives.

Financial Success

Coming out of WrestleMania 39, the headline ribbon atop WWE.com read, "WWE holds most successful WrestleMania of all-time."

The show, headlined by Reigns' defense of the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Cody Rhodes, was built largely on The Bloodline story, of which Reigns is an architect and main character. It produced $21.6 million at the gate, an increase of 27 percent from the year before.

In 2022, the company set social media records that outmatched the Super Bowl and generated $206 million for Dallas and its surrounding communities.

Both shows were at the height of Reigns' dominance as the Tribal Chief, and while a certain amount of that success can be attributed to the company itself and the brand recognition of WrestleMania, Reigns deserves some credit for being the top star in the promotion and the guy whose face was on the posters.

Inflation should be taken into consideration and, if adjusted for it, Hogan, Rock, Austin and Cena would all have surpassed even what Reigns has done as champion.

Cena and Rock are responsible for the biggest buy rate in WrestleMania history with their 2012 dream match main event.

The Tribal Chief is well on his way to being one of the biggest box-office attractions in WWE history, but it is important to keep context in mind and understand what those numbers mean in relation to today's dollar.

Overall Body of Work

Austin had a revolutionary feud with the evil Mr. McMahon.

Hogan had great stories with Andre and Savage.

Cena's feud with CM Punk and The Rock's programs with Triple H and Austin were great, too.

One would be hard-pressed to put any of those, from a quality standpoint, over what Reigns has accomplished with The Bloodline epic. A multi-layered story that has not just taken place over a three-year window but actually evolved and expanded, it has made stars out of The Usos and Solo Sikoa, as well as babyfaces that oppose them, such as Zayn and Owens.

There is a genuine desire to see the challenger of the month knock off Reigns, and when it doesn't happen, fans do not tune out. They come back the next month in hopes that the egotistical bad guy will get his comeuppance and be dethroned.

Reigns, Paul Heyman, Triple H and even McMahon have created this story that has become all-encompassing and a title reign with such lore that fans watch in hopes of seeing history made when someone finally beats Reigns for the gold.

It is storytelling on a different level, unlike any WWE fans have ever witnessed, and if there is an argument to be made for Reigns against the others in this conversation, this is the strongest.

Where Does Reigns Rank?

So where does Reigns rank coming out of WrestleMania 39?

The Tribal Chief is the unquestioned king of epic storytelling, that much we know. He is also in the midst of a historic reign as champion that few ever thought they would witness in this era of short attention spans and weekly television.

His in-ring resume is as strong now as it has ever been, but he does not have the historically significant matches the likes of Austin, Rock, Hogan and Cena do.

The financial success of the shows he headlines rank at the top of any list, but one must take into consideration inflation and rising costs. For example, the American dollar in 1987 at WrestleMania 3 is equivalent to $2.66 dollars today, well over double the value, according to InflationTool.com.

What Reigns has accomplished as the top star in WWE is astonishing, and we have only scratched the surface of what he is capable of moving forward. His contributions to the modern product are undeniable, and he is inching his way up the list of all-time-great WWE Superstars, but recency should not cloud one's judgment.

Austin's run may have been far shorter, Hogan may have overstayed his welcome, Cena may not have had the creative to back him up and The Rock's success in Hollywood probably clouds fans' judgment of just how valuable he was to WWE, but they are still iconic figures whose legacies are established.

Reigns is still working on his.

For that reason, he comes in fifth among those men, with all signs pointing to the gradual eclipsing of, at the very least, Rock and Cena, before all is said and done.

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Rankings

1. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
2. Hulk Hogan
3. The Rock
4. John Cena
5. Roman Reigns