WWE: 3 full-time wrestlers who could beat Roman Reigns

From a creative standpoint, WWE has gotten a lot of things wrong over the last two decades, but this current iteration of Roman Reigns isn’t one of them.

Since returning from a sabbatical in August 2020, “The Tribal Chief” has become arguably the most compelling character on WWE television. With the company finally relenting to the fans’ requests and turning Reigns heel, the former Shield member has found his voice as a confident lead act.

As such, WWE wasted no time putting the Universal Championship on him, a title that “The Head of the Table” has now held for 387 days (as of Sept. 21). In that time, Reigns has fended off a myriad of Hall of Fame-level talent, but as great as Reigns has been, his run as champion has exposed the shocking lack of top babyfaces on SmackDown (Raw, too, but that’s another story).

With Big E — who many saw as the guy to ultimately dethrone Reigns — presumably moving to Raw now that he’s WWE Champion, figuring out who will eventually beat Reigns for the Universal Title has become even more daunting than it already has. However, there are still a few names who could accomplish the feat.

These are the three wrestlers who could beat Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship.*

*This excludes Finn Balor, who will likely lose to Reigns at Extreme Rules. 

Bobby Lashley

Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley haven’t wrestled one another in a one-on-one match since the July 23 episode of Raw, and given how different both wrestlers are now compared to then, that date feels even further away than it actually is. Considering that and their status as the two most protected wrestlers on the main roster, a singles match at a big show feels inevitable.

Now, the idea of building up Reigns for all this time only for him to lose to a 45-year-old man seems counterproductive, but keep in mind that WWE doesn’t plan on keeping Reigns as a heel forever. Whenever they decide that the fans have gotten the boos out of their system, they will likely have a heel beat him and begin Reigns’ chase back to the title.

Lashley could be the perfect wrestler to catalyze that process, especially if he gets drafted to SmackDown in October.

Seth Rollins

Much like Lashley, Seth Rollins beating Reigns for the Universal Title could fit into the “get the belt off of Reigns to kickstart his babyface run” category. WWE has dropped some subtle teases here and there for a Rollins/Reigns match, so it’s a matter of “when” and not “if” when discussing a future showdown between the former stablemates.

While Reigns has been booked as a dominant force for the last year, the promotion has also protected Rollins to a similar degree; excluding the Money in the Bank ladder match, “The Architect” has only dropped three televised decisions via pinfall in singles matches, two to Cesaro and one to Edge.

As such, it wouldn’t take much to move Rollins into the Universal Title picture. When that happens, WWE will likely make turn one of them babyface. Given the plans they appear to have for Reigns, it will probably be him, and what better way to do that than to have a slimy heel steal the title from him.

Drew McIntyre

Since losing to Bobby Lashley at Hell in a Cell — which barred him from challenging for the WWE Title as long as Lashley held the title — Drew McIntyre has found himself in a creative holding pattern for the last few months.

Big E unseating “The All Mighty” as champion now frees McIntyre up as a potential challenger, but while a match between him and Big E seems like the obvious move to make post-Survivor Series, sending “The Scottish Warrior” to SmackDown to feud with Reigns might be the smarter one.

Again, Reigns is running out of quality babyface opponents to face. Bringing McIntyre over as his primary rival wouldn’t completely solve that problem, but it would be a good start to addressing it. Sure, McIntyre is established enough to not need a big win over Reigns, but it would be a nice way to cap off a feud that started last November.