6 Positives and 4 negatives from Roman Reigns' 365 days as WWE Universal Champion

#6 Positive: Roman Reigns elevates his opponents

Here. We. Go.#SmackDown @WWERomanReigns @WWECesaro @WWEDanielBryan @HeymanHustle @WWEUsos pic.twitter.com/xCqFBHm4eE

— WWE (@WWE) April 24, 2021

With respect to Cesaro and Jey Uso, neither superstar would have main-evented a WWE pay-per-view if their opponent was not Roman Reigns.

Jey Uso lost against Reigns in the Clash of Champions 2020 main event before losing against him again a month later inside Hell in a Cell. Earlier this year, Cesaro unsuccessfully challenged for Reigns’ title in the main event of WrestleMania Backlash.

Despite their losses, both Cesaro and Jey Uso were elevated simply by going one-on-one with The Head of the Table. The latter has even earned himself the nickname “Main Event Jey,” which surely would not have been possible without his association with Reigns.

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#5 Negative: Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns’ Royal Rumble botch

What's next after #RoyalRumble? 👀 #SmackDown @WWERomanReigns @HeymanHustle @FightOwensFight pic.twitter.com/wOgtC8Tmi7

— WWE (@WWE) February 5, 2021

Roman Reigns defeated Kevin Owens in a Last Man Standing match at the 2021 Royal Rumble to retain his Universal Championship. While the match was of a high standard, the finish did not go anywhere near as smoothly as initially planned.

Paul Heyman was supposed to unlock Reigns from a set of handcuffs to break the referee’s 10-count. However, he struggled to free the Universal Champion from the cuffs, causing a lengthy delay. The referee even stopped his count at five to prevent Reigns from losing his title.

Former WWE referee Mike Chioda recently said he would have counted to 10 if he was in charge of the match. If that happened, Owens would have won the Universal Championship from Reigns in one of the biggest botches of all time.