WWE WrestleMania 40 Slowly Shaping Up to Be Grand Finale of the Roman Reigns Era

WWE has long been ready to move beyond the Roman Reigns era, and with WrestleMania 40 on the horizon, now is the perfect time for the company to begin heading in that direction.

For 1,200 days, Reigns has ruled WWE as its Undisputed Universal champion. Many have attempted to dethrone him in that time, but despite an elite few nearly succeeding, The Tribal Chief has reigned supreme on every occasion.

With how quickly things change in today's wrestling landscape and the average fan's attention span waning, a three-plus-year title run is undoubtedly an impressive feat. That includes a large catalogue of excellent matches and memorable rivalries with Sami Zayn, Brock Lesnar, John Cena and many more.

It's been nothing short of a generational run with countless records being broken along the way, but even with business booming for WWE, but after walking out of three consecutive WrestleMania main-events with the prestigious prize still in his possession, this upcoming installment in April 2024 must be when that streak finally comes to an overdue end.

Based on everything that's transpired on WWE TV as of late, all signs point to that event marking the collapse of WWE's Roman Empire.

Cody Rhodes Is the Proven Proper Successor to Reigns as Undisputed WWE Champ

If WWE was waiting for the right person to come along to take the torch from Reigns as the face of the franchise, they found their answer in Cody Rhodes well over a year ago.

It was evident from the moment he made his triumphant return to WWE at WrestleMania 38 that he checked every conceivable box to be the one to end the historic title reign. WrestleMania 39 should have been when it happened, but the company instead opted to have Reigns retain in what felt like a swerve for the sake of a swerve.

Delaying the moment an entire year won't make it any less monumental, though it does make it much more predictable.

Nonetheless, the endgame remains the same. Rhodes is every bit as over with the audience now as he was ahead of WrestleMania 39, if not more so. He can't afford to lose in a high-profile situation for a second straight time in the 'Mania main-event, otherwise his credibility will endure a drastic hit.

There's no point in waiting any longer to crown him as the champ. He and Reigns briefly crossing paths at SmackDown's "season premiere" in October was designed to telegraph their looming encounter at WrestleMania 40, so it's not as if Rhodes will be saved for SummerSlam 2024 barring an injury or last-minute creative changes.

There's Little Story Left to Tell with Reigns as Champion

When you reign as champion for over three years, you're bound to run out of fresh and exciting challengers eventually.

Although WWE missed the mark by having Rhodes beat Reigns for the belt at WrestleMania 39, it's not as if The Head of the Table had a shortage of credible contenders coming out of the event.

Jey Uso and LA Knight stepped up to face him at SummerSlam and Crown Jewel respectively and Reigns retained both times. The issue is that those have been his only televised title defenses in the past eight months.

AJ Styles, Sheamus, Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton and others have been waiting in the wings for a title shot and would be believable opponents for Reigns, but the champ's infrequent appearances make it difficult for those matches to be booked.

The Bloodline saga, which has largely been compelling since it started in the summer of 2020, peaked when Jey left the group earlier this year. It officially jumped the shark when Jimmy Uso betrayed Jey at SummerSlam and subsequently rejoined the group.

Since then, there have been no interesting developments with The Bloodline. There is little story left to tell with Reigns in this role outside of the aforementioned rematch with Rhodes.

Reigns' current part-time schedule, which has seen him compete less and less in the last year, is simply not conducive to being a long-term world champion on SmackDown.

SmackDown Needs a Full-Time World Champion Again

Part-time world champions aren't exactly unheard of in WWE, nor is it always a bad thing. Unfortunately, it's a tired trope the company has relied on far too often in the last decade with the likes of Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, John Cena, The Rock and Triple H.

Reigns' run kicked off in August 2020 with him as a full-time member of the SmackDown brand, appearing every week on television and defending on every pay-per-view. That changed following WrestleMania 38 when he shifted to a part-time schedule–which he later confirmed in an August 2022 Sports Illustrated interview–and became exclusive to the bigger events.

He's wrestled even less matches in 2023, including none on SmackDown, and although that's befitting of his larger-than-life Tribal Chief persona, it has hurt the blue brand's main-event scene considerably.

Raw getting its own World Heavyweight Championship was a massive step in the right direction and filled a void on the red brand, but the Superstars of SmackDown have had nothing to fight for when Reigns isn't around.

Having a part-time world champion can only work for a period in time with a set end date, but three-plus years is both excessive and unnecessary. SmackDown has suffered without its Undisputed WWE Universal champion long enough.

The Bloodline Are on the Brink of Collapse

The Bloodline have been an unstoppable stoppable for the better part of the past three years, and gradually adding more members has only made them that much stronger.

It's also given WWE the chance to tell more stories with everyone involved, including occasionally teasing tension.

All of the bad blood between the Bloodline members came to a head over the summer when The Usos defected from the sadistic stable, only for Jimmy to get back in Reigns' good graces by helping him defeat Jey at SummerSlam.

They've been treading water since then, and even with Reigns on his way back to WWE TV, no seeds have been planted for what could be coming for them.

For as well as he's played his role recently, Jimmy can't be taken seriously when he's being booked as a lackey, while Solo Sikoa hasn't progressed beyond being a one-dimensional enforcer. Paul Heyman constantly calling Reigns on the phone in the latter's absence hasn't helped matters, either.

SmackDown is past the point of needing The Bloodline around, especially when they've been stuck in the same spot for many months. Once they slowly start to dissipate, Reigns will no longer have that ultimate advantage over his opponents, resulting in his own demise.

WrestleMania Is in Desperate Need of a Happy Ending

For over three decades, the main-event of WrestleMania was fairly easy to predict because, with the pay-per-view marking the grand culmination of WWE's last year, it was commonplace for it to have a happy ending.

There were a handful of occasions where the heel would reign supreme and the babyface would avenge the loss on the subsequent event (see: 2000, 2011), but by and large, the babyface conquering the heel to cap off a feud was typically how The Show of Shows went off the air.

WWE has moved away from that formula in the past three years with Reigns retaining his title in the main event of Night 2 three straight times. It was somewhat refreshing at first, but with this lengthy reign having run its course, another disheartening finish to 'Mania hardly sends the message that change is imminent.

Regardless of whether CM Punk or Seth Rollins walk out of the assumed Night 1 main-event with the World Heavyweight Championship, whatever closes Night 2 will be what fans remember most and thus it's imperative that be where The Tribal Chief gets beat.

From there, WWE can finally turn the page on the Roman Reigns era and start anew.

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Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.