Coming up to 1000 days as world champion, there are few in WWE who can match the dominance of Roman Reigns.
The leader of The Bloodline has been the king of the WWE for nearly three years, holding the Universal title without failure for the entire period.
He added the WWE Championship to his collection at WrestleMania 38, becoming the undisputed champion in the WWE.
His reign is one of the longest of all time, and has smashed all over modern day records in the WWE.
In the process of his legendary title reign, Roman Reigns has beaten just about every top superstar in the WWE.
In this article, we’ll talk you through every wrestler that Roman Reigns defended his World Titles against, showcasing the incredible dominance of The Tribal Chief in the WWE.
Jey Uso
The first challenger for Roman Reigns’ Universal Champion was his cousin and Bloodline teammate, Jey Uso.
One half of the legendary tag team, The Usos, challenged Reigns on multiple occasions for the title, most notably inside the Hell in a Cell.
They eventually reconciled, and the Usos joined Roman Reigns to form a faction called The Bloodline.
Braun Strowman
After winning the Universal Championship in a match against The Fiend and Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns second title defence was against Braun Strowman.
The Monster Among Men was one of Reigns’ best rivals in WWE, with the pair having some fantastic, yet destructive, matches in the WWE, with this one on Smackdown being no exception.
Roman Reigns won the match via submission, but was attacked by Jey Uso after the match, furthering their feud.
Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens had a few tries at dethroning the Tribal. The most notable came two years apart, both at the Royal Rumble event.
In 2021, Owens lost to Reigns in a Last Man Standing match, with a finish that was marred by Reigns be unable to free himself from handcuffs.
The next was in 2023, when Owens lost again. However, in the aftermath, Sami Zayn turned on the Bloodline, setting up a huge WrestleMania main event for Owens and Zayn.
Daniel Bryan
In 2021, Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns faced off in several highly anticipated matches in the WWE. The feud between the two superstars was centered around Reigns’ Universal Championship reign and Bryan’s quest to dethrone him
Despite being one of the best of all time, Bryan could not beat Reigns. He ended up losing a Title vs Career match, sending him packing from the WWE in 2021.
Daniel Bryan also wrestled against Roman Reigns in a Triple Threat match at WrestleMania, against…
Edge
Edge returned to the WWE after an injury layoff to win the 2021 Royal Rumble match, entering at number 1 and lasting all the way to the end to victory. He won his second Royal Rumble match, becoming one of a few men to have multiple Royal Rumble victories under his belt.
He didn’t wrestle in the Wrestlemania main event after his first rumble win in 2010 but made up for it by appearing in the shows last match in 2021.
At Wrestlemania 37 he wrestled against Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship in the main event of the show. This was his first main event in 13 years and a huge comeback statement for Edge.
He also faced Roman Reigns at Money in the Bank 2021.
Cesaro
Cesaro only challenged once for Roman Reigns’ world champion, during WrestleMania Backlash in 2021.
Despite a battling performance, Cesaro fell to Roman Reigns, failing in one of his few very title opportunities.
A year later, he had left the company and signed for AEW, wrestling under the name Claudio Castagnoli.
Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio faced Roman Reigns on one of the only Hell in a Cell matches in Smakdown history, in the summer of 2021.
Despite having the backing of the crowd, the WWE Hall of Famer lost to Roman Reigns in 16 minutes, failing to win his first world championship since 2011.
John Cena
It looked like John Cena had retired for a few years, but he came back to be the challenger for Roman Reigns in a huge Summerslam main event.
The 16 time world champion tried to make it 17 at Summerslam 2021, heading up an incredible main event that drew endless amounts of fans to watch it.
The bout ended with a Roman Reigns victory, in what would turn out to be John Cena’s last match in almost 18 months.
Finn Balor
Finn Balor challenged Roman Reigns twice for the Universal Championship. One one occasion, he did so on Smackdown as Finn Balor, while the other saw The Demon come out, for the first time in years.
However, it ended badly for Balor. At Extreme Rules 2021, Roman Reigns beat Demon Finn after a rope snapped and Balor fell onto the mat.
This was never explained and never brought up again, making everybody involved look rather stupid.
Brock Lesnar
Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 38, defending his Universal Championship and winning the WWE Championship in the process.
He also defended his belt gainst The Beast at Summerslam 2022, in a match that saw Lesnar tip the ring over with a tractor.
Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn challenged twice for the Universal WWE Championship.
The first was a 15 second loss to Roman Reigns on Smackdown, which was part of the storyline of Sami Zayn joining The Bloodline.
The second was in a blockbuster main event at the Elimination Chamber 2023 in Montreal, Sami’s hometown.
Roman Reigns won both matches, defending his Undisputed Championship with help from The Bloodline.
Seth Rollins
Whilst Roman Reigns didn’t actually pick up the win against Seth Rollins, he did retain his championship, so I’ll keep his name on this list of challengers for The Tribal Chief.
The two former Shield members fought at the 2022 Royal Rumble, with Rollins wrestling in his old Shield gear to get in the head of Reigns.
He did win the bought, but the match ended via DQ. This meant that the title did not change hands, and The Big Dog escaped with his title belt once again.
Goldberg
In a match that was cancelled due to the pandemic, Roman Reigns took on Goldberg in a dream match at the Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia, in 2022.
In a short match, The Tribal Chief put away the former WCW Champion with a choke hold, in what would turn out to be Goldberg’s last match in the WWE.
Riddle
After Riddle and Randy Orton feuded with The Usos, Riddle moved on to face Roman Reigns for his world titles.
Prior to Summerslam 2022, Riddle agreed that, if he did not beat Roman, that he wouldn’t be able to challenge The Tribal Chief for his titles again.
He was sadly unsuccessful, losing to Roman Reigns on Smackdown, before Brock Lesnar returned to set up a huge Summerslam main event match.
Drew McIntyre
Roman Reign’s beat Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle, the first UK Stadium show for 30 years in the WWE.
In the main event in Cardiff, Roman Reigns overcame the overwhelming support for the Scot in Wales, pinning him after interference from the debuting Solo Sikoa.
This was one of the first title defences that fans really thought that Roman should lose, given the special nature of the UK-based pay per view, and the drawn out nature of the title reign.
Logan Paul
One of the most shocking challengers to Roman’s throne was Youtube star Logan Paul.
The former amateur wrestler made his debut in the WWE in 2022, teaming with The Miz at WrestleMania 38. He impressed, and in just his third match ever, he took on Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
The pair wrestled at Crown Jewel 2022 in Saudi Arabia. Both men put on an incredible performance, and with interference from both men’s families, Roman put Logan away to kept the titles in his grasp.
Cody Rhodes
It really seemed like time for Roman Reigns to lose when he took on Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39.
Cody Rhodes won the 2023 Royal Rumble match, and seemed destined to avenge his late-father and finally win the WWE Championship by defeating The Big Dog in the WrestleMania main event.
Despite looking like a top star, and almost beating Reigns with a Bionic Elbow and Cross Rhodes, interference from Solo Sikoa and The Usos helped Roman Reigns beat Cody Rhodes and keep his near-1000 day title reign alive.