Who REALLY Carried WWE Every Year (1985-2026)

5. 2022 (Roman Reigns)

The fun continued into 2022.

Roman beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38 before bringing the curtain down on their feud at SummerSlam later in the year. Clash At The Castle's win over Drew McIntyre introduced Solo Sikoa, and there was more fun to be had vs. Logan Paul at Crown Jewel on 5 November. The Bloodline was the hottest story in wrestling, and Reigns is one of the main reasons why.

Sami Zayn's inclusion was inspired. It was all rather thrown together, but in the best possible way. Originally, Zayn had been pencilled in to work a few brief segments with Reigns and The Usos, but they had obvious chemistry. In a clever move, WWE decided to just roll with it and see what might happen next. The result? Sami became an 'Honorary Uce'.

2022 was the year when Cody Rhodes returned to WWE after leaving AEW, but it'd take a while for the 'American Nightmare' to become the new poster boy. Cody was a popular babyface, of course, but nothing was going to threaten Roman's kingdom for another few years. That's how wonderful his turn from 'Big Dog' to 'Tribal Chief' had been in 2020.

In many ways, Reigns was still riding the coattails of his own sensational switch a few years prior. He worked a slow, story-heavy style inside the ring that looked different to anything else in the industry. It didn't appeal to every single fan walking the planet, but millions agreed that Roman was the best high profile character in the biz.