Over the last five years, Roman Reigns has often been the highlight of WrestleMania weekend, with his back-to-back matches with Cody Rhodes and his most recent match with Seth Rollins and CM Punk arguably being his best performances at the "Grandest Stage Of Them All." Therefore, it's easy to forget that WrestleMania used to be a challenging event for Reigns, with his matches with The Undertaker and Triple H often regarded as some of the worst main events in WWE history. That said, some of the "Original Tribal Chief's" struggles at WrestleMania were often due to last minute changes made by management, preventing him from emerging victorious, despite initially being scheduled to win.
Coming into WrestleMania 31, Reigns was set to challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship in the main event. Famously, fans were beyond frustrated with Reigns being the babyface chosen to go up against Lesnar, especially after he won the Royal Rumble, with many wishing Daniel Bryan would've been in that position instead. In addition, fans believed the main event would lead to a predictable outcome, with Reigns closing WrestleMania 31 as champion, but instead, WWE shockingly chose to go in another direction.
Heading into the event, Seth Rollins was scheduled to face Randy Orton in singles action, but he also pitched to cash-in his Money In The Bank contract during the match between Reigns and Lesnar. Cashing-in the Money In The Bank contract in the main event of WrestleMania had never been done before, and despite WWE wanting the night to end with Reigns winning his first world title, the decision was made at the last minute to go through with Rollins' plan. Although fans were thrilled with the result, Reigns was robbed of his first big push as WWE's next top star.
Three years later, WWE decided that WrestleMania would once again be headlined by Reigns and Lesnar, but this time for the Universal Championship. Although Reigns didn't win the Royal Rumble this time around, fans were still annoyed with "The Big Dog" once again being gifted a main event spot at WrestleMania. At the very least it was expected that Reigns would finally defeat Lesnar, and WWE would retire the feud between both men, but that all changed when former company CEO Vince McMahon made a last minute call to have "The Beast" win.
Despite a strong portion of WWE's audience displeased with Reigns challenging for a world title again, they were also confused with Lesnar coming out victorious at WrestleMania 34, as he already had been champion for 371 days up until that point. Many questioned if McMahon made the abrupt decision because he noticed fans were still not behind Reigns, or because he wanted the rivalry between both men to continue. Nevertheless, the audience in attendance at WrestleMania 34 voiced their frustration with the main event, booing both competitors out of the building, leading Lesnar to disrespect McMahon backstage after the show.
Despite Reigns having two WrestleMania moments stolen from his resume, transitioning into the "Tribal Chief" definitely helped him cement his legacy at the "Showcase of the Immortals." After turning heel in 2020, Reigns secured back-to-back main event victories at WrestleMania, defeating Bryan and Edge in 2021 and would finally get his win over Lesnar the following year.
