8 Times WWE Tried (And Failed) To Make The Roman Reigns Experiment Work
3. Defeating The Undertaker At WrestleMania
After the Triple H storyline and his subsequent WWE World Heavyweight Championship run failed to make Reigns the top babyface that WWE wanted him to be, they decided to recycle a different narrative to get him over instead when they had him take on, and defeat, The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33. The Deadman had a reputation for helping young stars get over in his career, so if anybody could help Reigns become the star he was destined to be, it was 'Taker. Unfortunately for Roman, things didn't work out that way.
Due to a hip injury, The Undertaker was quite limited in the ring and Reigns wasn't capable of carrying him through the match. Moreover, the result only made the audience hate Roman even more. Perhaps if The Undertaker had barely gotten the win and showed Reigns some respect afterwards, things may have been different, but having perhaps the most beloved WWE superstar of all time lose to one of the most hated was never going to make people cheer for Reigns.
The feud ultimately accomplished nothing for either man, other than the fact that Reigns now uses The Undertaker's "This is My Yard" catchphrase. Even that is a loss for the Big Dog because in recycling someone else's schtick, he comes off as nothing more than a cheap Undertaker wannabe that nobody truly buys as The Deadman's successor.