MR. TITO: Has Roman Reigns Already Peaked As a Top Superstar in the WWE? Or Has WWE Changed?
Prior to 2024, there were discussions among the wrestling community that Roman Reigns had entered the upper echelon of top tier wrestlers to join the likes of Andre the Giant, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, Ric Flair, and the Undertaker. After all, WWE had rebounding business since hitting new lows during 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 virus that wouldn’t allow WWE to host events in areas with fans while also enduring terrible booking throughout the mid to late 2010s, which included overpushing Roman Reigns as a babyface to replace the departing John Cena. You know, those Vince McMahon micro-managing years.
But then, something changed… All Elite Wrestling (AEW) had arrived and quickly rose to being a reasonable competitor to the WWE. Soon, the WWE began locking up top talent to extensions on their deals and finally, Vince McMahon began to change-up the booking. After years upon years upon years of fans booing the overpushed Roman Reigns as a babyface, Vince finally pulled the trigger and turned Roman heel. Roman disappeared before Wrestlemania 36 for safety purposes, as he was still recovering from round #2 of Leukemia from 2018, but returned at SummerSlam 2020. Then, he was seen hanging out with Paul Heyman and the dawn of the new heel character had finally arrived.
Then, one by one, Roman would collect his family members like infinity stones as Jey, Jimmy, and their debuting brother Solo Sikoa would unite and form the Bloodline. Since the Shield broke up during 2014, as the WWE literally broke them up during their peak following defeating Evolution twice in a row, the WWE struggled with forming and pushing stables that mattered. As history has shown, heel stables draw well and help create much needed conflict and layers for babyfaces to fight through before fighting the world champion and/or leader of the group. Four Horsemen in the NWA during the 1980s, New World Order for WCW during 1996-1997, Degeneration X during 1997-1998 and later as Triple H’s flunkies during 2000, the Corporation during 1998-1999, and Evolution during 2002-2004 served their purpose for babyfaces to overcome.
To me, the Bloodline rapidly improved during late 2022 when Sami Zayn was added to the group. He added a new dynamic in terms of an internal conflict and some much needed comedy, as the Bloodline before Sami was added was becoming too dominant. Roman unified the 2 World Titles at Wrestlemania 38 during April 2022 while the Usos also unified the Tag Titles. They were too dominant… But then Sami Zayn presented the “cracks in the wall”, as him joining the group created controversy inside the group and then at Royal Rumble 2023, everything blew up when Sami turned on the Bloodline. For Wrestlemania 39, the Usos finally had met their match for the Tag Titles against Sami and Kevin Owens while Roman Reigns finally found a worthy babyface opponent in Cody Rhodes who was riding his dad’s chase for the title storyline quite hard.
After Wrestlemania 39, things cooled down a touch… Roman was World Champion, but he barely defended the title leading to the RAW brand to create the World Heavyweight Championship for something to defend. When Roman was there, he dealt with the storyline of the Usos leaving the Bloodline and feuding with them. Decent matches, but not as exciting as the 2020 matches with Jey Uso which really established Roman as a heel. Instead of Cody Rhodes avenging Solo or Roman for cheating to win at Wrestlemania 39, he was thrust into an extensive feud with Brock Lesnar. Things settled down a bit during the late Spring and throughout the Summer of 2023 until SummerSlam rolled around and it appeared that after Cody slayed Brock Lesnar, he was going to be the man pushed to get a rematch at Wrestlemania 40.
But then we received an entirely different 2024… The Rock returns to the WWE and at first was thrust into a one-on-one match with Roman Reigns, the “Dream Match” but online fan rejection of that match caused a pivot to have Rock/Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins/Cody Rhodes on Night #1 and Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns on Night #2. The fan rejection of Rock being shoved into the WWE Title match changed plans for the Rock and he returned to his “Hollywood” Rock persona and dubbed himself the “Final Boss” of the Bloodline. With PEAK WWE Rock back, viewership and attendance SURGED during the Spring of 2024. After Wrestlemania 40 was said and done, Rock, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins (due to injury) took extended time off while the rest of the roster had to pull the wagon onward.
My point is this…
Yes, turning Roman Reigns HEEL was a great idea and it vastly improved the robotic John Cena babyface clone that we saw throughout the 2010s. No doubt about it, as Paul Heyman was highly influential and Jey Uso, especially, was a pivotal member of the group to pull initial good matches out of Roman, building the drama between Sami and Jimmy, and let’s make no mistake about it… Jimmy Uso was OVER during 2024 and 2025, insomuch that he DESERVED to win the World Title at Wrestlemania 41. I know that is a controversial take, but the boy pushed merchandise bigtime and had 10,000+ people hopping in arenas. Jey Uso was consistently in the top 5 of merchandise sales during this time and thus deserves credit for being a major part of the Bloodline.
Let’s look at some numbers…
RAW & Smackdown – Viewership (Source: Gerweck.net)
Quarter RAW # % Smackdown # %
1Q 2020 2,085,615 N/A 2,507,846 N/A
2Q 2020 1,847,000 -11.4% 2,103,385 -16.1%
3Q 2020 1,716,154 -7.1% 2,002,154 -4.8%
4Q 2020 1,734,071 1.0% 1,745,500 -12.8%
1Q 2021 1,851,769 6.8% 2,129,538 22.0%
2Q 2021 1,751,692 -5.4% 2,012,231 -5.5%
3Q 2021 1,790,846 2.2% 2,147,923 6.7%
4Q 2021 1,518,000 -15.2% 1,678,929 -21.8%
1Q 2022 1,721,769 13.4% 2,190,000 30.4%
2Q 2022 1,759,154 2.2% 2,053,231 -6.2%
3Q 2022 1,867,077 6.1% 2,172,846 5.8%
4Q 2022 1,593,231 -14.7% 1,926,385 -11.3%
1Q 2023 1,834,077 15.1% 2,366,077 22.8%
2Q 2023 1,803,846 -1.6% 2,308,846 -2.4%
3Q 2023 1,679,077 -6.9% 2,147,308 -7.0%
4Q 2023 1,408,308 -16.1% 1,818,462 -15.3%
1Q 2024 1,714,000 21.7% 2,397,615 31.8%
2Q 2024 1,746,692 1.9% 2,252,615 -6.0%
3Q 2024 1,651,769 -5.4% 2,026,308 -10.0%
4Q 2024 1,522,143 -7.8% 1,347,786 -33.5%
1Q 2025 3,000,000 97.1% 1,532,077 13.7%
2Q 2025 2,838,462 -5.4% 1,476,923 -3.6%
Do you see the pattern? Good first quarter thanks to Royal Rumble to Wrestlemania, with some of that influencing second quarter numbers. Third quarter rebounds, as we’re heading into SummerSlam season… And then fewer are watching during the fourth quarter, historically…
BUT, that pattern is broken through the third quarters of 2023 and 2024, which both featured SummerSlam.
As I was hinting at before, the post Wrestlemania 39 era felt kind of cold and I just don’t think the newer iteration of Roman Reigns and Jey Uso feuding and then headlining the SummerSlam 2023 show really took with fans. Bloodline seemed to be spinning and really, the Rock joining them as the “Final Boss” kind of saved the group during early 2024.
But then 2024 happens… Yes, Cody Rhodes didn’t appear as dominant of a champion, wrestling the likes of AJ Styles and Logan Paul. Not all the way his fault, with the Rock disappearing and Roman taking his 3 month long summer vacation.
Roman Reigns returned during SummerSlam 2024, which is during August, and then we had a full month of September to digest this… Now granted, we switched over to USA Network during this period of time, but what explains the UGLY 33% fourth quarter decline for 2024? BABYFACE Roman Reigns was on that show and just wasn’t exciting teaming up with Cody Rhodes and chasing after the “new” Bloodline led by Solo Sikoa.
My issue with Roman is that he was turned babyface at SummerSlam 2024 after taking over 3 months off and showing ZERO concern for Paul Heyman after late June 2024’s attack on Smackdown in Madison Square Garden. On top of that, Roman didn’t invoke his WWE Title rematch clause after the disappointing loss to Cody Rhodes. He returned a weaker person and turned babyface without much reason other than 1 guy wearing his necklace named Solo who shouldn’t be wrestling in the main event scene yet. The way Roman SHOULD have turned babyface as slaying the “Final Boss” Rock, but that match seems to not be happening now. Roman seems kind of lost as a newly turned babyface, to which his matches are kind of being thrown together for this year’s Wrestlemania and now SummerSlam 2025.
There’s more to this equation… Let’s dig deeper into the numbers.
How about attendance?
WWE Attendance (Source: Wrestlenomics.com)
Year # Total Attendance Per Event Avg
2020 41 310,000 7,561
2021 99 750,000 7,576
2022 232 1,750,000 7,543
2023 214 1,940,000 9,065
2024 176 1,880,000 10,682
Fascinating how similar the averages are for 2020, 2021, and 2022 per event (mind you, 2020 and 2021 were heavily influenced by COVID restrictions). Look at 2023 and 2024… Good jumps, as I’d argue business really picked up through Rumble 2023 and Wrestlemania 39 had some great business around it. Momentum still held up, even when Roman barely defended the title and seemed to often feud with the Usos instead of expanding his horizons with other feuds or opponents.
But then 2024 happens… Yes, business surged during early 2024 thanks to the Rock returning to the WWE and taking on a very active storyline role. But then he left after Wrestlemania. So did Roman Reigns. Even when Roman returned at SummerSlam 2024, he barely wrestled and took nights off often for TV shows.
However, what happened with RAW/Smackdown viewership and attendance? Remained reasonably high, especially attendance. WWE television shows consistently draw 10,000 bodies in seats while Premium Live Events are packing football stadiums. Without Rock and Roman for both 2024 and 2025, guys like Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Jey Uso, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, the returning John Cena, maybe Bron Breaker, and top stars in the female division such as Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair, and others might be COLLECTIVELY pulling the WWE wagon.
Something has happened since the 2023 sale to Endeavor and then the formation of TKO.
Since Endeavor purchased Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Endeavor has really pushed the BRAND hard of UFC rather than individual fighters. There are fewer fighters today becoming household names that are well known outside of the hardcore fanbase, but UFC as a brand guarantees hard hitting fights no matter who is inside the octagon. With boxing not being consistent in terms of Pay Per View delivery, UFC has thrived and sells by its BRAND and no so much about who is on the card.
I think Endeavor and it’s subsidiary TKO are doing the same thing with WWE. Rather than being too reliant on a top star, it’s a COLLECTIVE of multiple good wrestlers that are appealing to wrestling fans. Think about the 2010s… When John Cena reduced his role to part-time through 2015, viewership for RAW dropped from 4 million per show to less than 2 million in just a few years without him. Houseshow attendance also cratered without Cena. WWE for the late 2000s and early 2010s was TOO DEPENDENT on John Cena that it declined business when they tried to shove Roman’s square peg into the babyface round hole.
The FACT is that after Wrestlemania 39 during 2023, it has been proven that Roman Reigns wasn’t as big of a draw as maybe he was appearing to be through Wrestlemania 39 during 2023. The team of Roman, Usos, and Solo with Paul Heyman managing was a strong group and with the right babyface in place in Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes during 2023, it was like gasoline to a fire. But after Wrestlemania 39, the Bloodline lost their value… BUT, the rest of the WWE roster was getting better simultaneously as the Bloodline was peaking through Wrestlemania 39. WWE gets super lucky to add CM Punk to that growing and improving roster during late 2023 and WWE has been doing great, AS A BRAND, with a loaded roster for 2024 and 2025.
In my opinion, Roman Reigns has been an improved wrestler since August 2020. In my opinion, he wasn’t used well during 2015 through early 2020 as Vince pushed him as a sterile babyface wrestler. I also think that he was rushed to the main roster without much experience and nobody was agenting his matches well during the 2010s. Then, he get Paul Heyman in his ear and advising him for 2020-2024. On top of that, the well experienced Uso brothers, particularly Jey Uso, were ready for more expanded roles versus just remaining in the tag team division.
BUT, I think much of the evidence shows that the Bloodline group PARTICULARLY when they obtained Sami Zayn and then feuded with Cody Rhodes during late 2022 and throughout the first half of 2023 is when things greatly expanded for the WWE. The rest of 2023 and 2024 after Wrestlemania, though, wasn’t fully reliant on quality stuff by Roman Reigns and the WWE showed a ton of resilience by keeping numbers higher.
Here we are during 2025… Netflix RAW numbers are holding steady near 3 million per show while Smackdown on USA Network, a smaller TV Channel than FOX, at around 1.5 million. 10,000+ for TV shows and much higher for PLEs. WWE is making money HAND OVER FIST with merchandising.
Oh, and about those ticket prices… WWE has significantly RAISED tickets on both tickets and merchandise for 2025. Yeah, I felt that gouging at Royal Rumble 2025 and the folks in Las Vegas felt it much more for Wrestlemania 41. Higher prices, yet high amounts of tickets and merchandise were sold at record numbers. Royal Rumble had its record attendance and third best gate ever, while the Columbus, OH Monday Night RAW did its record gate and attendance for Nationwide Arena and that venue has held many WWE shows for the past 25 years.
Viewership, attendance, and merchandise sales all have held strong since Wrestlemania 41 and with higher prices for merch/attendance. Yet, Roman disappeared after Wrestlemania 41 and just recently re-appeared a few weeks ago. No Roman, no problem… The WWE brand is strong and can absorb Roman’s absence and will prove to be resilient around Seth’s possible injury.
WWE’s overall brand is STRONG while the focal point doesn’t necessarily on Roman at all times. Many insist that he has to main event EVERY big show. No, he doesn’t… Tickets in New York City are moving just fine with Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena part deux as the second night’s main event.
If you asked me before Wrestlemania 39 about WWE’s dependency on Roman Reigns, then I’d agree that they needed him always to be on top. BUT, the WWE roster and its brand have changed since 2023 and that’s thanks to WWE building up its roster and following Endeavor/TKO’s idea over pushing BRAND versus individual faces of companies.
In my list of top draws ever, Roman is just a bit below the top draws of all time with Andre, Hogan, Austin, Rock, Cena, Flair, and Taker… BUT, hanging around the likes of Roddy Piper, Macho Man, Sting, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Brock Lesnar, and Triple H isn’t a bad achievement.
Now that he’s babyface, I need to see a new evolution of his character… Without the “Final Boss” Rock putting him over to solidify him as a babyface, I just don’t believe in Roman’s character. Seems lost out there and WWE may need to rethink good heel opponents, too.
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