Brock Lesnar: The Beast’s Universal Championship Defenses Ranked
By Bryan Heaton
Photo Source: WWE.com
4. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (WrestleMania 34)
The match that was supposed to be the culmination of a years-long storyline. Reigns got his first crack at Lesnar at WrestleMania 31, only to suffer from a case of “we need a huge moment” booking when Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract during the match.
Reigns went back to the bottom of the ladder and worked his way bac– okay, he didn’t do any of that. Reigns contended for the WWE Championship almost non-stop until he won it at Survivor Series, then main evented WrestleMania 32 and 33. In between that, he also became United States Champion and Intercontinental Champion. Such heart, such grit.
Lesnar, meanwhile, reignited his feud with The Undertaker before Reigns retired him (but not really), and feuded with Goldberg in a throwback to 2004. That ended when Lesnar won the Universal Championship from Goldberg at WrestleMania 33, indirectly setting up the rematch with Reigns roughly a year in advance.
As I mentioned when I ranked Reigns’s multiple chances at the Universal Championship, I initially hated this match, but on a rewatch I merely disliked it. I was much too hard on it in the moment, but that doesn’t mean it was a great match. The crowd was dead after a loooooooong card at Mania, and they didn’t even get the “desired” result.
Because even people who don’t like Reigns just want him to win the title at this point, just to end this poorly constructed feud.