5 WWE Legends Roman Reigns could defeat before he retires

There hasn't been a single WWE superstar this past decade who has been pushed more than Roman Reigns. Viewed as the successor to John Cena's throne, WWE tried to rush The Tribal Chief to the top of the mountain arguably before he was ready and chose to forcefully work against an organic rise to the top.

It took over five years for WWE to finally give in and turn Roman Reigns heel. As predicted way back in 2015, a heel turn was exactly what was needed to give him a career rejuvenation.

The Tribal Chief version of Roman Reigns has been far more acclaimed, and he is currently having the best run of his WWE career. As you may know by now, WWE almost always reserves the biggest match on the WrestleMania card for Roman Reigns.

While 2019 was an exception, just look at his WrestleMania opponents list from 2015 - Brock Lesnar (x2), Triple H, The Undertaker, and Drew McIntyre. While the latter match wasn't that significant, it helped give Reigns his footing back upon his 2019 return.

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Roman Reigns was even scheduled to face Goldberg in 2020 at WrestleMania 36, but that match was changed after Reigns pulled out for personal reasons. Here are five WWE legends Roman Reigns can beat before he retires:

#5. Christian - A perfect setup for Roman Reigns' WrestleMania title defense?

Christian made his shock return to WWE in the 2021 Royal Rumble match. While it wasn't technically an in-ring return after 6-7 years, it was his first actual match. If you recall, Chrisitan competed against Randy Orton on RAW in 2020, only to get hit by a low blow and a punt in an "unsanctioned match".

He actually competed in the 2021 Royal Rumble, and his best friend Edge will be facing Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 37. Christian can play a significant part in the feud.

Vince Russo suggested on the new Writing with Russo series that a good way to start the feud would have been before the Royal Rumble, with Roman Reigns destroying Christian. This would give Edge a reason to come back and win the Rumble match.

That's not what we're getting, but we could still see Roman Reigns vs Christian on SmackDown before WrestleMania 37. Roman Reigns destroying the WWE legend would be a great way to get heat ahead of his match against Edge.

#4. Rey Mysterio - An opponent Roman Reigns has a small history with

Roman Reigns and Rey Mysterio at Survivor Series 2013

One of the earliest signs of WWE's intent to push Roman Reigns happened at Survivor Series 2013. Just a year into his WWE debut with The Shield, the trio teamed up with Jack Swagger & Cesaro (The Real Americans) to take on The Usos, Goldust, Cody Rhodes, and Rey Mysterio.

While the babyface team had the advantage in the early going, it was Roman Reigns who was the biggest difference-maker, eliminating four out of the five possible opponents. Seth Rollins, meanwhile, scored an elimination against Jey Uso before getting eliminated a few minutes later by Rey Mysterio.

Roman Reigns was the sole survivor and eliminated Rey Mysterio at the end to win the match. They haven't had a serious singles feud, and given that both men are on SmackDown, we wouldn't be surprised to see Roman Reigns eventually get a victory over the WWE legend Rey Mysterio.

It would likely be a one-sided beatdown from Roman Reigns.

#3. Goldberg - A Roman Reigns dream match that was canceled

The originally scheduled main event of WrestleMania 36 Night One was presumably going to be Roman Reigns vs Goldberg for the Universal Championship. While 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt was expected to be the Universal Champion heading into WrestleMania 36, his momentum was thwarted by Goldberg - who was subsequently challenged by Roman Reigns.

It was a big "spear vs spear" match that was highly anticipated by a section of the WWE fanbase. While Goldberg was controversial, there was no denying that he was a draw as the World Champion, and it was the perfect moment to give Roman Reigns another coronation.

Instead, Roman Reigns pulled out due to personal reasons and was replaced by Braun Strowman, who ended up winning the Universal title from Goldberg instead. We wouldn't be surprised to see WWE trying to rebook the match between Roman Reigns and Goldberg in a year or two. The big question is as to whether anybody else will emerge, or if WWE keeps feeding part-timers to Reigns.

#2. Edge - Roman Reigns' next big opponent

Edge made his decision for WrestleMania 37

Edge vs Roman Reigns is official for WrestleMania 37. It was the first match to be announced on the card, and it was confirmed when Edge speared Roman Reigns after his "title defense" against Daniel Bryan after the latter won the Elimination Chamber match.

It's a dream match, and now that Roman Reigns is a heel, many fans are happy that WWE went in this direction, rather than an Edge-Randy Orton trilogy at WrestleMania 37.

It's hard to say if Roman Reigns will walk out of WrestleMania 37 as the Universal Champion, but many hope he does. Edge stated that even though he's a part-timer, he wants his run to be "full time" while he's there - meaning that he is expected to appear every week on SmackDown.

It's interesting because the story of Edge winning World title #12 might be too hard for WWE to resist. But at the same time, can Edge realistically have a run as World Champion and continue to go at it post-WrestleMania 37? Roman Reigns is likely to win, but it's not guaranteed.

#1. The Rock - Is Roman Reigns the only opponent left for The Great One?

The Rock is Roman Reigns' cousin (although not related by blood, they are part of the long lineage of the Anoa'i family), and a dream match between the two has been talked about for a long time now.

The Rock revealed that he "quietly retired" from wrestling in 2013, and didn't seem to keep the door open for an in-ring return. Despite this, there were talks about a WrestleMania 30 match against Brock Lesnar, and even a WrestleMania 32 main event against Triple H.

While we don't doubt that The Rock was in the frontrunning to be Ronda Rousey's tag team partner for her debut match, that didn't work out. Roman Reigns, meanwhile, continued to rack up the biggest wins at WrestleMania.

It's hard to tell whether the circumstances will allow The Rock to wrestle again, but if there's any superstar he should return to face, it should be Roman Reigns.

A win over The Rock would completely establish Roman Reigns as the biggest star in the company regardless of part-timer presence, and it would elevate his star power to a whole new level.

Edited by James Sullivan