8 Most Unthinkable WWE Changes Since Roman Reigns Became Champion

As of writing, Roman Reigns has been WWE Universal champion for 984 days making his current run the 6th longest in WWE history, 44 days short of Pedro Morales' 1027 days as title holder.

Cast your mind to 30 August 2020 when Roman initially won the title. A week removed from his unexpected return at SummerSlam, Reigns bested both Braun Strowman and the then-champion Bray Wyatt to start what was to become one of the longest and most dominant runs as a WWE champion of all time.

Since then, 'The Tribal Chief' has beaten everyone that has dared step on him and has proven that his glorious run is bigger than what numbers can define. Title runs like this don't happen very often in WWE with the only modern-day reigns coming close being that of the United Kingdom Championship under the likes of Pete Dunne and the then WALTER. With how fast things change in the wrestling landscape, it is refreshing to have one constant running through the spine of the company and that is what Roman has been for the past two and a half years.

With Reigns being that one constant, everything else around WWE has drastically changed and leaves the company in a much different state from where it was when Roman first won the title, but how different?

Rosters in any industry change all the time but none more so than in the WWE and that is evident when comparing the 2020 wrestler list to today.

To really gauge how much WWE personnel has changed, let's highlight the two men Roman Reigns beat to win the Universal Championship in the first place. Braun Strowman - who replaced the 'Head of the Table' at WrestleMania 36 to win the title - was released in June 2021 before being rehired just over a year later. The same is to be said for Bray Wyatt, whose stellar return at Extreme Rules 2022 came just 14 months after his controversial firing.

Other names who have been fired and rehired since August 2020 are; Zelina Vega, Chelsea Green, Dexter Lumis, Johnny Gargano, Tegan Nox, Sarah Logan, Dakota Kai, Hit Row, Mia Yim, Karrion Kross and Scarlett. Alongside these re-signings, the majority of the NXT roster signed professional WWE contracts in this time period.

To add to this, the likes of Jeff Hardy, Cesaro, Aleister Black, Daniel Bryan, Murphy, Ruby Riott, Keith Lee, Samoa Joe and The Undisputed Era have all since jumped ship to WWE's biggest competitor AEW, with William Regal also finding the time to get the first boat back to the sports entertainment island.

The two rosters separated by three whole years are really chalk and cheese by comparison.