Who REALLY Carried WWE Every Year (1985-2026)
4. 2023 (Roman Reigns)
One last entry for Roman.
His win over Kevin Owens and the subsequent Bloodline beatdown at Royal Rumble 2023 caused Sami Zayn to turn on Reigns and go babyface. That led to fab showdown between 'Tribal Chief' and 'Honorary Uce' at Elimination Chamber, then Roman defended his title vs. Cody Rhodes successfully at WrestleMania 39.
That came as a shock to many in 2023, because it did look for all the world like Rhodes would be the one to shut the 'Chief' down for good. Being real, all of the Bloodline civil war stuff is arguably when WWE should've ended the faction permanently, but Roman was on top form and was still undoubtedly the biggest star on the roster.
That'd soon change heading into 2024, but WWE bosses weren't quite ready to kiss goodbye to Reigns as the tippy top guy just yet. They were willing to ride The Bloodline until it was knackered. Hell, it's 2026 at time of writing and the faction is still an ongoing concern! It's reached nWo 'B' team levels of interminable now.
2022 was the year when Roman could show up, deliver a promo and then call it a night, but that really kicked into high gear come 2023. Merely advertising Reigns for an appearance piqued everyone's interest, because people knew they were going to see one of the most important moments of the week.
Looking back, it's understandable that WWE wanted to prolong Roman and The Bloodline stuff. It was doing killer business. Everything has to change at some point though.