August 30th, 2022 marked two years of Roman Reigns running roughshod over WWE. It was on that date that he – albeit after showing up late to the party – defeated Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match to win the Universal Championship. At Wrestlemania this year, he added the WWE Championship to his collection when he defeated Brock Lesnar in the biggest Wrestlemania main event of all time. Such has been the Head of the Table’s dominance over the past two years, it’s hard to see anyone who may usurp him as champion. Oddschecker, which provides free no deposit offers and compares odds from online bookmakers, has already priced up the winner of next January’s Royal Rumble match. Could we perhaps see the Tribal Chief’s next contender emerging in their odds list?
So far, Reigns has vanquished all who stood before him. He has beaten former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar on three consecutive occasions, including a slobber knocker of a main event at Summerslam. To add to that, he has also beaten the likes of Kevin Owens, Drew Mcintyre, Edge, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, and Goldberg. With a resume like that, it’s hard to see anyone dethroning the current champ. He has regularly stated that he is currently operating in GOD mode and that he is the greatest of all time, and in current form, it’s hard to argue with him. As of September 25th, 2022, his championship reign stood at 756 days, the 6th longest world title reign in company history. So, just who could put an end to Roman’s reign?
Cody Rhodes
While Roman Reigns was busy defeating Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania, Cody Rhodes was having a moment of his own. The night before, he made his highly anticipated return to WWE after six years away to a thunderous ovation. He defeated Seth Rollins in his first match back in the company and looked like a million bucks whilst doing so. The following night on Raw, he emerged as if he was the prodigal son returning home, and declared that his only ambition was to become WWE Undisputed Universal Champion in honour of his late father, WWE Hall of Famer, Dusty Rhodes.
Following his acrimonious departure from the company in 2016, Rhodes travelled the world plying his trade and honing his craft, competing for the likes of New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honour. He – alongside the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and the checkbook of Tony Khan – would found AEW, finally providing WWE with some competition since the decline of WCW at the turn of the century. But upon the expiry of his contract earlier this year, it was clear that the American Nightmare had unfinished business in the company that gave him his start as a professional wrestler.
Rhodes would once again defeat Rollins at Backlash and was set to settle the feud with the former 4-time World Champion inside Hell in a Cell. Prior to the event, however, the former Intercontinental champion legitimately tore his pectoral muscle clean off the bone. Unbelievably though, he would still compete in the Hell in a Cell match, where – despite his chest and arm being black and blue – he would defeat Rollins for the third time in the main event. The match was awarded five stars by the notoriously critical Dave Meltzer, the first WWE match to receive such an accolade since CM Punk defeated John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011, some 11 years prior.
Rhodes has since undergone surgery and is thought to be due to return to action around the time of the Royal Rumble, which online bookmakers have made him the favourite to win. Should he win the 30-man extravaganza, he would then go on to headline Wrestlemania, where Roman Reigns is expected to still be the reigning defending WWE Undisputed Universal Champion. Could the American Nightmare reign supreme and lift gold above his head in front of 70,000 fans in Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium next April?
Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins
It has unbelievably been over 1000 days since Seth Rollins’ most recent reign as a World Champion in WWE. It was way back on Halloween 2019 at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia when the Visionary lost the Universal Championship to The Fiend. Since then, Rollins has gone through numerous transformations – firstly as The Messiah, then as The Visionary – but nothing has led him back to the title picture.
That all changed this January as Rollins challenged Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. Despite the Head of the Table hitting his former Shield brethren with everything in his arsenal, he still couldn’t put the number one contender away for the count of three. That forced the reigning champion to lose his cool, intentionally getting himself disqualified and thus defending his championship, despite losing the match. It remains the only title match that Reigns has lost in the last two years, even though the title didn’t change hands.
And that just goes to show the level of respect both Reigns, Triple H, and the rest of WWE creatives have for Rollins. As a four-time World Champion and former Royal Rumble winner, it’s clear to see that he would be rated highly by the company but getting the rub from Reigns only adds to his value.
Rumours in recent weeks have rumbled that the company is looking to break up the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship so that both Raw and Smackdown have a world championship on the show. If they do go down this route, there isn’t any better option to take the WWE Championship out of the picture than Seth Rollins. It would also make sense in regards to the Royal Rumble. If Cody Rhodes is the one chosen to outlast 29 other men in San Antonio’s Alamodome, he and Rollins can pick up their rivalry where they left off earlier this year, this time feuding over the WWE Championship.
