WWE WrestleMania 37: Roman Reigns’ Long Road To Tribal Chiefship

Universal Champion Roman Reigns’ Road To WrestleMania 37

Mark Justice: After Reigns steals the show with Bryan and retains the Universal Championship at Royal Rumble 2021, Big E should win the Royal Rumble and select Roman Reigns as his opponent at WrestleMania 37. Big E is not only the betting favorite to win the Rumble but he is currently on the biggest singles push of his career and he needs to topple the top heel to solidify himself as the top face. No one on the roster is a better pick for Reigns’ Mania opponent than Big E right now.

Roman Reigns and Big E’s Mania feud needs to be about family and leadership combined. How Roman treats the Usos is condescending, compared to Big E’s fulfilling, authentic brotherhood with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. While Reigns eats all the meat at the head of the table and Usos carry his bags, Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods Woods eat Booty O’s cereal together at each side of the table as equals.

Why? It’s because they are all leaders in their own right and actually treat each other as loving brothers who uplift each other. There’s a reason fans were heartbroken at The New Day breaking up at this year’s WWE Draft. Big E does not need to look down on other people in a condescending, ‘tough love’ manner like Reigns to be considered a locker room leader. He needs to use the power of positivity and uplift everyone around him to be considered a locker room leader.

This is what makes him different from Reigns. Whether this is done through a cinematic showing of Reigns at a dinner table with Usos and Big E at a breakfast table eating Booty O’s cereal with Kingston and Woods or done through traditional promo battles between Reigns and Big E in the ring, the WWE needs to draw the disparities between Reigns’ heel persona and Big E’s fan support in  light of family and leadership so that the fans can care about their feud.

Family and leadership are the main themes of Reigns’ title reign, and Big E needs to prove why his values of family and leadership are morally superior to Reigns’ at WrestleMania 37. Being portrayed as a hero in this feud is an incentive for Big E to win the Universal Championship and solidify himself as the new locker room leader that the fans have been waiting to see ever since they thought about his breakup from The New Day.

This is what a WrestleMania moment is supposed to feel like. After continuous, long-term storytelling that allows the superstars to be themselves, the fans need to be rewarded with something that matters: a babyface locker room leader that has values of family and leadership that the fans can get behind, can relate to, and understand the importance of, especially in the dire circumstances they have been put in for the year of 2020.

The WWE has a major problem booking babyfaces, but it can regain its reputation of booking babyfaces by solidifying Big E’s single push in what would be the historic end of Reigns’ Universal Championship reign at WrestleMania 37. This feud would assure that Reigns and Big E both end up as megastars who can elicit a brighter future for the WWE while maintaining cognizance for diverse opportunity that is well-deserved once all is said and done.

Kevin Parvizi: So this is where I start to second-guess my original prediction, which was Roman Reigns putting over Big E at WrestleMania 37. It seems like a perfect story on paper, because E should be a world champion and should be a top star in WWE. Remember how WWE picked Roman over E as their top star? It is only fitting that all these years later, Big E is the one to dethrone Reigns’ ultimate heel run.

But I’m not so sure it should happen at WrestleMania 37 without any fans in attendance (I don’t think it will be safe, even by then). Like, should Big E’s huge coronation happen without fans? It can and can still work, but that’s something that could make WWE hesitate.

There’s another matter, too. Should Reigns drop the Universal Title at WrestleMania 37? Reigns is doing so well right now that I honestly think he should hold the championship for more than a year. We’d have to have this conversation next summer, but he’s seriously looking like he’s in for a long, long reign with the Universal Title. And he’s earned it and is constantly earning it.

Of course, I wouldn’t complain if Big E goes over Roman Reigns. Like a lot of wrestling fans, I complain frequently. But would I complain about something I originally wanted? No.

On the flip side, would I complain if Big E didn’t go over Reigns at WrestleMania 37 and WWE went with a different opponent? I would not either, because I can understand the logic of wanting to wait and really slow-burn the story until the time is right. Remember, in wrestling, you only get one true coronation.

Who would be another logical opponent? Well, how about Gol- *laptop explodes*

I could see WWE repeating Bryan vs. Reigns after an Elimination Chamber title defense or No. 1 Contender’s match, because I think there’s enough room in this rivalry to run it twice It’s not new or unpredictable, but they are both SO good that the would have a great WrestleMania program. Like, if Reigns and Jey Uso can have two awesome matches, then why can’t Bryan and Reigns do the same during ‘Mania season?

Drew McIntyre is another option, but there would be some rule-bending involved that I don’t necessarily like. WWE can do whatever they want, of course, but if Drew is still champion, do you really want to tie him up in a title vs. title match or a double-champ crowning of Reigns when you could instead put over Keith Lee as WWE Champ? Or if he’s not champion, would you really want Drew from Raw fighting for Reigns from SmackDown’s championship? I don’t buy it.

WWE could get creative with a surprise challenger like a Dominik Mysterio, who would benefit even from a loss to Reigns.

From my perspective, I still want Big E, because I think WWE NEED to crown another up-and-coming star during this lull of interest. Yet I also understand WWE may want to wait on that, which is a risk, but it could pay off. And in that case, there’s nothing wrong with either Bryan or a different kind of opportunity for a wrestler on the SmackDown roster.