Ranking EVERY Roman Reigns WWE WrestleMania Main Event From Worst To Best

4. WrestleMania 31 (Roman vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins)

Brock Lesnar Roman Reigns WrestleMania 31
WWE.com

Vince McMahon’s very public quest to turn Roman Reigns into a main-event star began in 2015 when the 'Big Dog' won the Royal Rumble (to thunderous boos) and then headlined WrestleMania 31 against the indestructible Brock Lesnar. For reference, the latter was 12 months removed from ending The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Mania XXX.

Before the "Heist Of The Century" occurred, Roman and Brock actually were having a pretty good slugfest, albeit with babyface Reigns being booed hard by an unrelenting audience. This match birthed the “Suplex City” tagline, with Lesnar throwing Roman around like a small child. Reigns was nowhere near the level of wrestler he is today, and had this just been a straight one-on-one match it would have polled lower on this list despite the hard-hitting stuff on show.

Seth Rollins would appear, Money In The Bank briefcase in hand, cashing in to join the main event and make it a surprise Triple Threat. He managed to capitalise and pin Roman to capture his first World Title, completely blowing up the main event and leaving with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a moment that is still fondly remembered today.

These days, that MITB cash-in idea has become a trope, but it was fast becoming played out even 11 years ago. Rollins breaking fertile ground with a WrestleMania cash-in while a match was ongoing breathed new life into the briefcase and super-charged the climax of the show all at once.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.