When did Roman Reigns start his alliance with Paul Heyman?

Roman Reigns' heel turn in 2020 was a pleasant surprise for WWE fans. From early 2015 to late 2018, the company's attempts to establish him as the next face of WWE were constantly thwarted by negative reception from fans.

While WWE used to describe Reigns as "polarizing" to put him in the same light as John Cena, that wasn't necessarily the case. On several, if not most occasions, Cena had a truly polarizing response as half of the live audience would cheer him and half would boo him.

In Roman Reigns' case, the vast majority of the weekly audience used to boo him constantly. This didn't stop WWE, however, as he would headline four consecutive WrestleManias.

I don't have contempt nor disdain for @WWERomanReigns' opponents. I have contempt and disdain for the notion they actually belong in the ring with him! pic.twitter.com/6FHf8euJpx

— Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) April 23, 2021

Roman Reigns' alliance with Paul Heyman began on August 28th, 2020 - two days before he won the Universal Championship. He took a hiatus from WWE before WrestleMania 36, pulling out of the event in the process. He only returned five months later at SummerSlam 2020 after 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt defeated Braun Strowman in the main event to capture the Universal Championship.

On the following episode of SmackDown, WWE officials were seen trying to get Reigns to sign his contract to face The Fiend and Strowman in a Triple Threat Universal title match. Right at the end of the episode, Adam Pearce tried to get Reigns to sign the contract once more.

While vowing to regain the title that he never lost, he used the line "that isn't a prediction, that's a spoiler" and Paul Heyman was revealed to be sitting next to him. It cemented his heel turn:

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What makes Paul Heyman's relationship with Roman Reigns different from Brock Lesnar?

For eight years, we've seen a continuous alliance between Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. The latter's WWE contract had expired by August 2020, so Heyman was free to align with a new superstar.

This turned out to be Roman Reigns. Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Heyman said that the difference between his relationship with Lesnar and Reigns is this - with Brock Lesnar, he was "tied to the hip" as The Beast Incarnate was a rising star.

Paul Heyman spoke on what led him to teaming up with Roman Reigns after so many years with Brock Lesnar. pic.twitter.com/aU8rTOXd3u

— B/R Wrestling (@BRWrestling) May 6, 2021

With Roman Reigns, he was paired with a superstar that has been established for eight years at that point. He said it was more of a case of Reigns "rescuing" him. In a separate interview with TVInsider, Paul Heyman said that Reigns' objective is for his decorated career to be a set-up for bigger and better things.

Given that this is Roman Reigns' best run in WWE since 2012, he is already on track.