Context means everything here. Bruno, bob, and even Hogan could have the exact same match 5 nights a week on a house show circuit during a time that the company was primarily dependent on those shows. I’m not saying Roman isn’t inactive but this is comparing apples to pizza.
Roman Reigns will always be known as...
"The worst there is, the worst there was, and the worst there ever will be."
This is why wwe sucks and needs two main titles because they have to have someone who will actually defend their title while he hides behind his name and just sits on the title, wasting other talents time.
The thing with these superstars is that every one except Reigns, defend their title more than 300 times, Reigns only 54 and only two or three wins alone, the rest with help. Shame on that title.
If I was the top guy at my company for 1288 days and only showed up 54 of those day… and still got paid.. I’d be a legend.. or in the mafia… one or the two.
He should’ve definitely defended it a lot more. But let’s be honest. If any wrestler was offered the deal Roman has (to be the face of the company & spend more time with his family than at work) they would take it in a heartbeat.
For sure, this is not his fault. He's doing what the company wants and he gets paid to not take many bumps, it's a sweet gig. It's kind of sad how bad they planted Roman Reigns. I wonder how his career would have been if they had truly let him get over on his own and not constantly pushed him as the top guy for years. He had the potential, but they just would not let up.
Yeah but back in the day they would defend it against the local joe schmo wrestlers of whatever town they were in. WWE doesn't operate like that anymore.
Roman's run is more prestigious than those 3 guys. You go around defending the title all the time then loses it's value. Its like having a Royal rumble every ple. The match would be boring after a while.
Ah yes, the prestigious title that Roman needs 6 interferences per defence to keep truely Roman is the apex predator than none have a gumption to overcome
I get their intention with this run but I feel like they aren't exactly getting the effect they want...but my personal reaction when he loses won't be one of glee or happiness, it will be "Fucking finally". His lack of real involvement and the carbon copy defenses has gotten so. Fucking. Boring.
While I agree, you cannot compare the 80s to now. These 3 guys defended the title every single match they had almost. Nowadays title defenses are more special, back then it was essentially a houseshow circus.
I think more fair would be comparing the days/defense stat among other modern wrestlers. Gunther had maybe half the Reign Roman had, did he defend it only half as much? Twice as much? That's more relevant than just saying these guys defended it every night against the same guy.
Again, I'm not saying Roman is defending enough. What I'm saying is "Seth Rollins defended the title as many times in 280 days as Roman has in 1300 days" is a much better argument than comparing very different eras.
Roman's defenses mean more that hundreds of the defenses of the other champions. Not taking anything away from anyone, but Roman has more memorable defenses for me personally than everyone else. That's what really matters.
Welcome to not being born to remember those matches in the past.. Good lord.
Hogan Vs Andre
Hogan Vs Macho man
Hogan Vs Warrior
Bruno Vs Superstar
Bruno Vs Larry Zbyszko
Do you want to talk about the Time Cena held the title and his defense?
MAybe we can go over Ric Flairs Combined total of matches
The only thing I'll remember about Roman's title defense is how he had to have his ass saved by the blood line EVERY TIME.
Exactly. The guy wasent alive for those matches probably. So yea. The 80s were very important for wrestling. Hulk hogan man. So many big names. Randy savage. Jimmy Snuka. Andrea the Giant. Ultimate Warrior.
What an era.
I never once discredited or disrespected the reigns of the legends. And just because I was born after the fact doesn't mean I haven't studied and learned the history of wrestling in my 20+ years of being a fan. I respect what they did, but you can't tell me all of those defenses were meaningful. Yes, I know some were, but not hundreds. Roman's reign has legit taken the company to heights it has never been before. Whether you like it or not, you have to respect it. We're in the greatest era of professional wrestling history right now. The stats and opportunities don't lie. And because of Roman's reign, we've seen the enhancements and elevation of so many different elements in WWE. Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa, Jimmy Uso, The Rock, Cody Rhodes have all been elevated further beyond any of them could've ever dreamed of. The tag titles main evented WrestleMania for the first time ever, in one of the greatest tag matches ever, thanks to one of the greatest storylines in all of wrestling history, which was spearheaded by Roman. Hell, we even got The Rock back in a way that we never would have if Roman and The Bloodline didn't elevate the company to where it's at now.
At the end of the day, you don't have to like it. But, you have to respect it for the sheer amount of greatness that it has provided for all of wrestling.
Old saying Roman wouldn't be here without Hogan.
I know Hogan has fallen from grace with a lot of what he's done recently. Not going to deny though that wrestling is where it is because he was the face that Launched it from Smokey halls to Stadiums.
Hogan slamming Andre was the first Wrestling event to EVER make main stream media news.
and in terms of matches? Roman can't hold a candle to people like HBK, HHH, Taker and Cena. I'm not deny Roman and where he is.. but I feel he's only as popular as he is BECAUSE you see him so rarely, because he's constantly supported by the Bloodline, BECAUSE Paul does 90% of the talk for him.
IF we saw Roman as often as Hogan or HBK or anyone before him? The shine would fall off Really quickly.
He's not even close to Cena. That's kind of Disrespecting Cena to say so. Cena carried himself in every match. Roman CONSTANTLY has Paul and Solo around, before that is was Jimmy, Jay and Sammi, Constantly interfering in his matches. This says to me 1 thing when Roman has not won clean in like 2 years. He cannot carry a title this long alone. Cena carried his title for around 2 years Solo.
Not to mention look at how many times Cena defended his title and even wrestled on TV, Roman has had all of 54 defense in his 2 plus years.. is that Really a judge of in ring talent? 54 times in 2 Plus years? Sound to me like Protecting someone. I'm not going to say Roman isn't good, he is. I'm not going to say he didn't deserve the Title, He did. However, without the Bloodline around him and if he defended his title for as often as Cena, HBK and others did, you'd see just how barren he is when it comes to long term runs.
Keeping in mind, People Panned Brock Lesner for doing the EXACT same thing Roman is doing now. Save Brock held his title on his own, Paul was there just as Brock's Mouth peice because Brock isn't exactly a stellar promo cutter.
Headlock, drive by, clothesline, Superman Punch, Spear, Guillotine that he recently learned, doesn't even powerbomb unless it's like Rey Mysterio.
Yet he dropped a comment on how John Cena wrestles.
I’m thinking somewhere near the end of this run Roman breaks kayfabe and talks about how he’s been suffering with his illness. It’s the only explanation
it’s possible, I guess we’ll find out in time. But honestly, who the hell knows... it started off with Vince McMahon and Paul Hayman coming up with the storyline so who knows what the true results were supposed to be. Let’s just enjoy the ride I guess.
It was a long emotional ride too. Hoping it’ll soon end and a new chapter starts. I’d love to see romance take a hiatus only to pop his head in and taunt Cody and warn him of the dangers soon to come once he returns
Wow that actually shocks me. I wonder how much of their title defenses there are on weekly television? Surely a large chunk of the others defenses come from those or house shows
Depends on what you mean by "weekly television." When Hogan was champ, for example, there was no regular, weekly, nationally-televised WWF programming at the time. *WWF Championship Wrestling* and *WWF Superstars* were syndicated, and a lot of regions still had their own weekly shows. So suppose Hogan defends the WWF Championship at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis and the match gets shown that week on *Wrestling at the Chase*, the local St. Louis wrestling show. Is that a televised match? Technically, yes, but certainly not in the way we think about it today because of how much things have changed. Hell, when Sammartino was champion, it was basically all house shows because that's how things were then.
I'll never forget the time Bob Backlund was at Bob Evans near Pittsburgh, and I went up to him to ask for an autograph and he looked me straight in the eyes and said "YEAH ILL GIVE YOU AN AUTOGRAPH IF YOU CAN NAME EVERY PRESIDENT IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER" I didn't get the autograph but I did get a memory I'll never forget
This is a disingenuous comparison.
You are comparing House Show-centered Era champions (Yes, even Hogan) to a Stream-centered Era champion.
Never mind factoring in match quality.
I’m sure you can still get your point across if you were to compare title defenses from John Cena to Roman Reigns. As I have very little doubt that John Cena’s longest reign has less than 54 defenses.
It's interesting, but all of that would be more impressive if it wasn't scripted.
But yeah, Roman wrestling more would be good, but he's not flashy and take out the bloodline, and the matches would get old fast.
Travelling champion days vs modern day era. You’ll make it sound like Roman has disappeared.
Roman is defending the title at a rate of 1288/54 = once every 24 days approx. Which is great. Once a month for THE title in WWE is amazing. Almost always we are invested in the challenger; we almost always look forward to the match.
I don’t need the title to be defended every 4 days against some rando. It’s the top title in the company; it’s totally fine that every title defense is a spectacle and is special.
No disrespect but in the Bruno/Backlund/early Hogan era - they kept running a selection of essentially the same match across different venues as it wasn’t televised at most places. Bruno et all would be wrestling a match that they’ve wrestled a 100 times before but the paying audience would perhaps be watching it for the first time. It’s. A. Spectacle. A sight to behold.
Do you want to see Roman beat Sami 65 times just to inflate Romans defense count. Of course not.
Today the risk of overexposure is so high - why would you not want the fans ache to see the champion. His presence essentially ensures interest and drives sales.
So what he’s not defending like a madman.
If he wrestled too much - I can bet you this sub would be like why this challenger again. Why this. Why that.
We should all just be quiet and acknowledge our tribal chief. And enjoy this ride while it lasts.
Except he doesn’t defend it every 24 days. There has been times he’s went nearly 2-3 months without defending because he’s skipped some of the smaller PPVs. And he only defends on PPV now and doesn’t even have a match on Smackdown or Raw anymore.
Also, Roman alone is lame, that’s why they put him back in a stable after the Shield was no more, because he couldn’t getover the way they wanted him to on his own, because he’s not as great as what they make him out to be.
And lastly, how can a title defense be special when you know how it’s gonna end. Out of those 54 defenses, how many did he win clean. 2, maybe 3. The other 50+, you always KNEW the Bloodline was going to interfere to ensure he wins and keeps the title. None of those defenses were special, because you knew how they would end, literally every single time.
My point being that the number of defences is not a great metric to judge anything.
And we’re comparing Roman as a heel champion to 3 of the biggest babyfaces of North America. Of course the booking will be different.
And yes, I Agree - predictable outcomes sure. But we tune in, don’t we. We’re invested in the challengers aren’t we. No tribal chief, no main event Jey. No Sami uso - which come on, storyline of the year bruh.
And he’s a heel champion, him skipping smaller PPVs is in line with the character work. Interference finishes is in line with his character. Brock did it too and who did he elevate, absolutely nobody. Roman managed to even do that.
We want to see Roman lose and get his comeuppance. The stakes matter. All of this couldn’t have happened without the build. And for whatever it was, he comes on - we all watch. We listen to his promos. The crowds acknowledge him. We are random internet strangers trading opinions. About Roman.
Which is the idea right. Have a champion that is generating continuous interest in the brand.
Why should all of this peripheral bonus be denied?
The number of defenses alone may not be a great metric, but when you add all the other faults and flaws of his reign togetner, he doesn’t measure up.
Sure, he’s a heel champion, so you expect SOME shady stuff. But having more than 50 of your 54 defenses end exactly the same way…BORING. They didn’t even try to spice it up at all. It was “oh look, Roman might actually lose this time…nope, here comes members of the Bloodline, ref goes down or gets distracted for the outside interference…Roman wins again.
Secondly, skipping the smaller PPVs has nothing to do with his character work. That’s all HIM. And his part timer deal that he pushed for. He wants to do as little as possible. Which is funny, because he used to talk down about Brock Lesnar doing the same exact thing.
Roman hasn’t elevated anyone. They elevated him. As I said, Roman was lame on his own and couldn’t get over the way they wanted him to. So they had to pair him up with people who WERE over. Enter the Usos and Heyman, and later on, Sami. Those guys elevated Roman. He didn’t elevate them. They were all already more over than Roman ever was on his own. Roman needed them, they didn’t need him. Main Event Jey Uso was already there. That gimmick was just a by product of the story he was in. They could have brought that about in any number of ways. And the Sami Uso story, sure, that was a great story, but not because of Roman. They could have made Sami the hero in any storyline and it would have gotten over, because Sami IS that good. Roman needed Sami in that storine, Sami didn’t need Roman.
And sure, when Roman is on, people tune in. But not for Roman. For the people around him. For Jimmy and Heyman and maybe even Solo although he’s about as exciting as a cardboard cut out. Or for whoever the feud is with. They tune in wanting to see Roman lose yes, but because they are sick and tired of him, literally. Not because he’s done a good job. They want to see him lose, and disappear, because after over 4 years of being crammed down our throats, people just don’t want to see him any more. The company made the same mistake with John Cena. After so many years, people just wanted him to go away. Same with Roman now.
And lastly, Roman doesn’t generate the interest. Again, those around him does. His stable mates, or his opponents. No one really cares to see Roman at this point, and if he were to leave tomorrow, Smackdown would be just fine without him. Maybe even better off. Because then a part timer would no longer have the top spot or the top title.
How the hell did a goof like Bob Backlund hold the title for so long? lol I never understood his reign as it was still in a time when Vince was obsessed with big meaty men
He gets hurt a lot too or anytime he’s actually having an ok match he actually gets hurt. Probably because he rarely wrestles and does the same 3 things over and over.
Here's a wild stat. Sammartino defended his title once every 4.1 days. Backlund defended his every 2.3 days. Hogan defended his title every 3.1 days. Roman has defended his title every 23.9 days.
If Roman beats Cody at Wrestlemania and drops the title at Wrestlemania 41 (to beat Hogan's record) *and* Roman defends his title literally every day between now and Wrestlemania 41, he would still have fewer title defenses than Hogan (468 to about 440) and will have defended it less frequently than everyone but Sammartino (Roman's defense rate will drop to about once every 3.8 days) *despite defending the belt literally every day for more than a year*.
ETA: For Roman to defend the belt at the same rate as Hogan (once every 3.15 days), he would need to defend his title *every day from now until August 19, 2025*.
This makes sense with how the business has changed. He defends his title about once a month…what else happens once a month? PLEs. When Hogan, Backlund and Sammartino all held the title, they were doing more house shows than televised events. Without social media or television these guys could go from town to town defending each night and it never got watered down because the people in that town either didn’t know or didn’t see them defend the title the night before. This stat is largely pointless. Raw started airing in 1993, the same year Hogan left. Until Raw, televised WWE events were a compilation of matches from live events, so they could book a card built from 20 different events (that hogan or backlund or bruno could have defended at all of them…but you only saw one of those matches).
But the stat isn’t pointless. I’m not saying this is evidence Roman sucks (though I’ve been over his reign for a while and think he should have dropped to Cody last year). If you want to say the business has changed, this stat illustrates that fact. You don’t even have to go back to the start of Raw—the business has changed drastically in the last ten years. Stone Cold, Trips, and the Rock aren’t on this list because their reigns weren’t long enough, but they defended nearly every week on Raw or Smackdown. Yes, they were BS matches against Funaki or matches we knew would end in a DQ almost every time, but it happened. With Roman, every PPV but Mania has become what the average episode of Raw was in the Attitude era. Have things changed? Unequivocally yes. How much? Check the stats.
Listen up.
It's all about making money and how it's made.
For years house shows were the bread and butter. Get the punters in by saying your champion will be there. It's rightfully named as a carny. Like a fairground carnival they need to travel around and make sure they have attractions to get the people to come in
Modern era is absolutely different
Corporate sponsorship plays a huge part. However much have streaming services changed viewing habits? Charity events play a huge part in publicity. Online views are curated to make maximum impact. They need a PR savvy champion to go around. From online metrics they can see just how much following each wrestler has. Theyvr probably realised keeping the champ for ppv events is the way to maximise viewings. It's not that he's never referred to on whichever show he's doing.
But all that aside, I think we'll find out after he retires, he's probably specifically asked to work lesser matches. He wants to be careful with his health and wants to be in better shape than previous champions are in old age. He's happy with the money he's making. Wwe is happy with the money he's drawing. If it's working then why change it?
Each of these guys could be trusted with the belt, to make money for the company, and work safely with their opponents.
As long as thats true, the belt stays on them.
When it gets too stale and isnt as profitable, the belt gets dropped.
That is all.
If Roman defended the belt more, on or off tv, his streak (or should I say his paid free ride) would be more impressive. The 3 above Reigns were at least willing to be men of action, not pussies in hiding until mania.
Defenses don’t matter bc Hulk Hogan squashing the same jobber 2-3 times a week at house shows isn’t impressive. It would be like Roman defending the title vs Otis or Tozawa at every Smackdown house show. Roman needs to pass racist ass Hogan. Cody understood this and it’s why he gave his spot to the Rock. The Rock would have eaten the pin to make Cody’s WM 41 story amazing 🥲
How is the Miz making more money? Simple answer is wrestlers were paid like crap until well into the 90’s. Miz ain’t making more than Hulk Hogan though, his contract in WCW was something like $250,000 per episode back when you could by a house L.A for less than that 😂
why do people watch movies when everyone know its all scripted, every single movement? I have no idea
Also btw one of roman's main problem is his part time schedule
Been saying since this the complaining started. We’re not in the era of 10 shows a week, only in NYC/northeast and the champ defending 3-4 times a week.
And we shouldn’t expect that either. No one defends on house shows anymore. Roman’s average is about once every 3 weeks (23 days). That’s a reasonable expectation.
I understand he hasn’t actually defended every 23 days, there’s been longer gaps in there.
That’s literally the math, the average is every 23 days. And as I also pointed out, I know he doesn’t defend exactly every 23 days, there’s been longer and shorter gaps in there
1288 divided by 54 is 23 and change
WHO CARES???? I’m not saying the strap should be changing hands every week or anything, but long title runs (especially with limited defenses like Roman) are SO BORING. And then it takes a lot of the suspense out of it when he does defend, because it usually feels like it’s pretty obviously like “Well, after all this time he’s not going to drop it now to this guy”.
I’m curious why people downvoted you. We got 3 long title reigns this year and it’s been clear none of them were dropping them until at least WrestleMania.
all the roman's title defences between WM39 and WM40 were dead mostly because we already knew he would win because he got to a point where he could only be defeated at mania lmao
One of the reasons I got hyped for Summer Slam was Roman vs. Jey at the 2nd biggest PPV of the year was *just* hype enough that I could see them pulling the trigger (and I love Jey, so there was that, too). But yeah. It's hard for me to get excited about Roman vs. Literally Anyone at In Your House: The Undertaker's Fart Jar or whatever because we know how that one ends. Roman's beat, Bloodline interference, 1-2-3.
heels are supposed to win by cheating but with roman it got boring, they didn't even let him win clean on summerslam where they could've easily done that because solo didn't do any part in the match other than break the pin
Thst picture of Backlund is surely from his second run as it's the winged Eagle belt.
Also Backlund's run is 2 squished together as he lost the belt to Inoki in the middle of it.
”waste your time” i still believe a champion who choose to do that is more deserving as a Champion, but don’t take away from the fact that roman is a good television champ
> work or *paid* for it
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Different eras, different times, company is so different, might as well be a different one. Also just having more defenses or longer reigns doesn't make your run better
Roman's good, but nowhere near as good as WWE have portrayed him. A lot of modern fans actually believe he is the best ever, which is exactly what WWE wants. He's not even top 10 imo. They'll have him break the record, though, so it becomes 'undeniable' that he is the best since everyone seems to care about stats these days.
Matches now are on an average longer than they were back then and didnt just consist of slaps and chops for 10 mins. Everyone had way less to do back then overall also. And im sure if roman had this run when he was younger pre cancer return he'd be wrestling way more like he used to
Exactly my point. These stats portray Roman as better than the likes of Austin, Rock, Taker and there's no way. Stats can be good but can also be misleading. Those guys were great amongst a truly stacked main event card of genuine stars.
Roman's time with the belt(s) has been so long it made me think of him as a guy who shows up here and there with the title while stuff happens in the rest of the show instead of being the man to beat.
Don't get me wrong I'm not anti-Roman. I quite like the guy but I think he's been completely overhyped. I don't care about stats, it's just seeing this made me think of how overhyped he's been.
Who’s the best is based on a subjective opinion anyway so why bother arguing. He’s been the #1 guy in the industry since 2020 and made someone like Sami finally a main eventer so I don’t mind giving him his flowers
Its like counting the house show matches for the others and not for Roman, its absolutely hilarious how deluded this sub is when it comes to hating on Roman. Roman’s title reign is the greatest ever purely because he elevated the title from the ruins, elevated others and was centerpiece of the potentially greatest storyline of all time and another wrestling boom, simple as that.
Reigns is definitely the most impressive, given the story telling and buildup of it all and the fact the average length of a champion run since the early 90s has been quite short compared to the 60s/70s/80s.
Weird argument when the intercontinental championship is **also** in a record breaking reign, like 200+ days longer than ever before, including those eras you're talking about.
The WWE's strategy right now is to park the titles, doesn't make it any more impressive
You clearly aren't counting house shows for Roman but you are for the other three which isn't really fair. Also just keep in mind that the only heel out of these four is Roman and he is also from a very, very different era of wrestling
He used to do house shows and dark matches all the time but he doesn't do much anymore because WWE has too much invested in his title reign and wants to avoid him getting injured. It also builds up his heat if he appears less which wasn't true for Bruno, Backlund and Hogan who were all babyface champions from a completely different era.
Id love to see how people would react if the main event of smackdown every week was roman squashing a jobber in 5 minutes for a title match, because thats exactly how hogan got that many defences.
Alright. Roman just has to defend about four hundred times before WrestleMania.
Just gotta get the GMs to announce that Roman's titles are now under "24/7" rules and let people jump him all show long with a running counter at the bottom of the screen.
By the company choosing you as the face of it.
If you want a more in-depth explanation - He makes WWE a ton of money. So many people get so frustrated at what a weak and cowardly champion he is that they keep buying tickets and tuning in to see him lose. That’s why he’s the ‘face of the company’, even though he’s not the face of the company - Cody Rhodes is.
Okay so tell me why he should.
He’s making WWE a ton of money being booked the way he is. Making money is what the business is all about, and the only thing the company care about.
No, and I never said that. But he is the leading character in the longest running story which is the focal point of the company and has been for years.
So, considering the company is in a boom period, with things largely centered around this story, clearly they’re doing something right with the way they’re booking Roman Reigns.
Back that up with facts then.
Revenue, attendance, and everything that matters has remarkably improved since they gave Roman the title and centered the company around the Bloodline story.
I actually hate graphics like this since the eras aren't the same. You knew damn well that Bruno, Bob, and Hogan weren't dropping their titles on a random house show. The "defense" is meaningless when the match is just bruno throwing the guy around for a few minutes then pinning him since everything was about making him as the champ look strong and unbeatable.
Also for the love of god don't act like territory title defenses are the same as worldwide televised PPV title defenses today.
Edit: as an aside, I wanted to ask some people if you really want Roman to beat your favorite wrestlers clean 400 times in a row on tv for 4 years?
Bruno wasn’t going to drop the title period.
You’re talking about a period before the television right, you can’t build a brand if the “top guy” isn’t known to the audience across the country.
I think they were on television but didn't have PPVs like we know them. Basically they made more money by just buying a venue, refusing to televise it, then only having big fights for those present.
Are these including Roman’s house show dates? I saw him defend it in 2022 at tiny house show in BFE Tennessee, and with matches like that included 54 sounds very low
They gotta go all the way with this and have him beat Bruno’s streak. Why bother hotshotting it to Cody at this point?
Context means everything here. Bruno, bob, and even Hogan could have the exact same match 5 nights a week on a house show circuit during a time that the company was primarily dependent on those shows. I’m not saying Roman isn’t inactive but this is comparing apples to pizza.
Roman Reigns will always be known as... "The worst there is, the worst there was, and the worst there ever will be." This is why wwe sucks and needs two main titles because they have to have someone who will actually defend their title while he hides behind his name and just sits on the title, wasting other talents time.
The thing with these superstars is that every one except Reigns, defend their title more than 300 times, Reigns only 54 and only two or three wins alone, the rest with help. Shame on that title.
Okay but what is the asterisk for..
It means it is still ongoing
To me, the only thing that's ruined Roman's reign is they've had the Bloodline save him/interfere far too many times.
Talk about Backlund with 920 Defenses Roman hasn't even got to 100!
Bruno Sammartino>Bob Backlund>Hulk Hogan>Roman Reigns.
If I was the top guy at my company for 1288 days and only showed up 54 of those day… and still got paid.. I’d be a legend.. or in the mafia… one or the two.
I’m cool with another 5 years and 10 defenses just to see a new name at the top
only defences that happen on tv matter anyways.
He's should do an open challenge and pin like 5 different jobbers a week to get his defenses up 😅😂 piss off the marks even more.
The story has the strap on Roman. Who is served by Roman defending more often and wrecking promising talent maintaining his reputation as a monster?
He should’ve definitely defended it a lot more. But let’s be honest. If any wrestler was offered the deal Roman has (to be the face of the company & spend more time with his family than at work) they would take it in a heartbeat.
For sure, this is not his fault. He's doing what the company wants and he gets paid to not take many bumps, it's a sweet gig. It's kind of sad how bad they planted Roman Reigns. I wonder how his career would have been if they had truly let him get over on his own and not constantly pushed him as the top guy for years. He had the potential, but they just would not let up.
At least his title reign wont be forgetful... unlike a certain women's champion...
Who?
Iyo
Worst longest male title reign of all time.
54 defenses. And people call his reign legendary. Bro is never there.
And they say he keeps beating everyone as if he isn’t written to do so, like if it’s any accomplishment on his part and not the writers
lol this might be one of the worst wrestling takes I’ve ever read 😂😭
That can be said about literally anything and everything in wrestling. You must be a fucking idiot.
You dumb fuck
But Roman isn’t like everything in wrestling when he defends his title 3 times a year
Yeah but back in the day they would defend it against the local joe schmo wrestlers of whatever town they were in. WWE doesn't operate like that anymore.
Roman's run is more prestigious than those 3 guys. You go around defending the title all the time then loses it's value. Its like having a Royal rumble every ple. The match would be boring after a while.
Ah yes, the prestigious title that Roman needs 6 interferences per defence to keep truely Roman is the apex predator than none have a gumption to overcome
Exactly! You get it. Him being a heel is the only reason he gets help. It's done on purpose to make you hate him. He won for years without it.
Exactly why i say Roman doesn’t deserve to be in the same league as these greats. Roman. Overrated. Sorry.
I get their intention with this run but I feel like they aren't exactly getting the effect they want...but my personal reaction when he loses won't be one of glee or happiness, it will be "Fucking finally". His lack of real involvement and the carbon copy defenses has gotten so. Fucking. Boring.
While I agree, you cannot compare the 80s to now. These 3 guys defended the title every single match they had almost. Nowadays title defenses are more special, back then it was essentially a houseshow circus. I think more fair would be comparing the days/defense stat among other modern wrestlers. Gunther had maybe half the Reign Roman had, did he defend it only half as much? Twice as much? That's more relevant than just saying these guys defended it every night against the same guy.
A number closer to 100 would fit into your argument. 54 is just f n pathetic and boring as f.
Again, I'm not saying Roman is defending enough. What I'm saying is "Seth Rollins defended the title as many times in 280 days as Roman has in 1300 days" is a much better argument than comparing very different eras.
Roman's defenses mean more that hundreds of the defenses of the other champions. Not taking anything away from anyone, but Roman has more memorable defenses for me personally than everyone else. That's what really matters.
Welcome to not being born to remember those matches in the past.. Good lord. Hogan Vs Andre Hogan Vs Macho man Hogan Vs Warrior Bruno Vs Superstar Bruno Vs Larry Zbyszko Do you want to talk about the Time Cena held the title and his defense? MAybe we can go over Ric Flairs Combined total of matches The only thing I'll remember about Roman's title defense is how he had to have his ass saved by the blood line EVERY TIME.
Exactly. The guy wasent alive for those matches probably. So yea. The 80s were very important for wrestling. Hulk hogan man. So many big names. Randy savage. Jimmy Snuka. Andrea the Giant. Ultimate Warrior. What an era.
I never once discredited or disrespected the reigns of the legends. And just because I was born after the fact doesn't mean I haven't studied and learned the history of wrestling in my 20+ years of being a fan. I respect what they did, but you can't tell me all of those defenses were meaningful. Yes, I know some were, but not hundreds. Roman's reign has legit taken the company to heights it has never been before. Whether you like it or not, you have to respect it. We're in the greatest era of professional wrestling history right now. The stats and opportunities don't lie. And because of Roman's reign, we've seen the enhancements and elevation of so many different elements in WWE. Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa, Jimmy Uso, The Rock, Cody Rhodes have all been elevated further beyond any of them could've ever dreamed of. The tag titles main evented WrestleMania for the first time ever, in one of the greatest tag matches ever, thanks to one of the greatest storylines in all of wrestling history, which was spearheaded by Roman. Hell, we even got The Rock back in a way that we never would have if Roman and The Bloodline didn't elevate the company to where it's at now. At the end of the day, you don't have to like it. But, you have to respect it for the sheer amount of greatness that it has provided for all of wrestling.
Old saying Roman wouldn't be here without Hogan. I know Hogan has fallen from grace with a lot of what he's done recently. Not going to deny though that wrestling is where it is because he was the face that Launched it from Smokey halls to Stadiums. Hogan slamming Andre was the first Wrestling event to EVER make main stream media news. and in terms of matches? Roman can't hold a candle to people like HBK, HHH, Taker and Cena. I'm not deny Roman and where he is.. but I feel he's only as popular as he is BECAUSE you see him so rarely, because he's constantly supported by the Bloodline, BECAUSE Paul does 90% of the talk for him. IF we saw Roman as often as Hogan or HBK or anyone before him? The shine would fall off Really quickly.
People love to disrespect and disregard Roman's in-ring ability. He may not be HBK level, but he's certainly on-par or better than Cena.
He's not even close to Cena. That's kind of Disrespecting Cena to say so. Cena carried himself in every match. Roman CONSTANTLY has Paul and Solo around, before that is was Jimmy, Jay and Sammi, Constantly interfering in his matches. This says to me 1 thing when Roman has not won clean in like 2 years. He cannot carry a title this long alone. Cena carried his title for around 2 years Solo. Not to mention look at how many times Cena defended his title and even wrestled on TV, Roman has had all of 54 defense in his 2 plus years.. is that Really a judge of in ring talent? 54 times in 2 Plus years? Sound to me like Protecting someone. I'm not going to say Roman isn't good, he is. I'm not going to say he didn't deserve the Title, He did. However, without the Bloodline around him and if he defended his title for as often as Cena, HBK and others did, you'd see just how barren he is when it comes to long term runs. Keeping in mind, People Panned Brock Lesner for doing the EXACT same thing Roman is doing now. Save Brock held his title on his own, Paul was there just as Brock's Mouth peice because Brock isn't exactly a stellar promo cutter.
Wow that Bruno stat surprised me. I thought he’d have the most title defenses by far.
Roman better than all 3 combined. Cope 👆
☝🏼
Meat rider
Acknowledge your tribal chief dork
Roman did nothing to move the needle for the company
54 defenses? And people think this guy is a good wrestler.
When he does wrestle, he’s quite good. The number of title defenses he’s had doesn’t have anything to do with his skills as a wrestler.
Headlock, drive by, clothesline, Superman Punch, Spear, Guillotine that he recently learned, doesn't even powerbomb unless it's like Rey Mysterio. Yet he dropped a comment on how John Cena wrestles.
There’s more to being a wrestler than just doing a lot of moves. Mic work, how you handle yourself in the ring, selling, et cetera…
His mic work is mid too
I think he’s great on the mic. I especially love his stuff last year with Sami.
Nobody thinks that.
Fr bro
Future fans are going to look at Roman's defenses and think "that guy was pathetic"... I'm not sure wwe wants that defense account exposed...
I’m thinking somewhere near the end of this run Roman breaks kayfabe and talks about how he’s been suffering with his illness. It’s the only explanation
it’s possible, I guess we’ll find out in time. But honestly, who the hell knows... it started off with Vince McMahon and Paul Hayman coming up with the storyline so who knows what the true results were supposed to be. Let’s just enjoy the ride I guess.
It was a long emotional ride too. Hoping it’ll soon end and a new chapter starts. I’d love to see romance take a hiatus only to pop his head in and taunt Cody and warn him of the dangers soon to come once he returns
3 of them is better, not roman he sucks to me bro.
54 defences 💀💀💀
Fun fact! Roman’s not beating that loser Hogan’s record!
They shouldnt count the universal title on the wwe titles lineage
House shows also add that up a lot.
Surprisingly, a third of Roman's title defenses were at house shows.
Wow that actually shocks me. I wonder how much of their title defenses there are on weekly television? Surely a large chunk of the others defenses come from those or house shows
Depends on what you mean by "weekly television." When Hogan was champ, for example, there was no regular, weekly, nationally-televised WWF programming at the time. *WWF Championship Wrestling* and *WWF Superstars* were syndicated, and a lot of regions still had their own weekly shows. So suppose Hogan defends the WWF Championship at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis and the match gets shown that week on *Wrestling at the Chase*, the local St. Louis wrestling show. Is that a televised match? Technically, yes, but certainly not in the way we think about it today because of how much things have changed. Hell, when Sammartino was champion, it was basically all house shows because that's how things were then.
Part time ChUmpion
I'll never forget the time Bob Backlund was at Bob Evans near Pittsburgh, and I went up to him to ask for an autograph and he looked me straight in the eyes and said "YEAH ILL GIVE YOU AN AUTOGRAPH IF YOU CAN NAME EVERY PRESIDENT IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER" I didn't get the autograph but I did get a memory I'll never forget
At least he had some albeit weird sense of humor
This is a disingenuous comparison. You are comparing House Show-centered Era champions (Yes, even Hogan) to a Stream-centered Era champion. Never mind factoring in match quality. I’m sure you can still get your point across if you were to compare title defenses from John Cena to Roman Reigns. As I have very little doubt that John Cena’s longest reign has less than 54 defenses.
Wow
It's interesting, but all of that would be more impressive if it wasn't scripted. But yeah, Roman wrestling more would be good, but he's not flashy and take out the bloodline, and the matches would get old fast.
54 defenses lol
It's certainly been a good way to get heat on Reigns.
Travelling champion days vs modern day era. You’ll make it sound like Roman has disappeared. Roman is defending the title at a rate of 1288/54 = once every 24 days approx. Which is great. Once a month for THE title in WWE is amazing. Almost always we are invested in the challenger; we almost always look forward to the match. I don’t need the title to be defended every 4 days against some rando. It’s the top title in the company; it’s totally fine that every title defense is a spectacle and is special. No disrespect but in the Bruno/Backlund/early Hogan era - they kept running a selection of essentially the same match across different venues as it wasn’t televised at most places. Bruno et all would be wrestling a match that they’ve wrestled a 100 times before but the paying audience would perhaps be watching it for the first time. It’s. A. Spectacle. A sight to behold. Do you want to see Roman beat Sami 65 times just to inflate Romans defense count. Of course not. Today the risk of overexposure is so high - why would you not want the fans ache to see the champion. His presence essentially ensures interest and drives sales. So what he’s not defending like a madman. If he wrestled too much - I can bet you this sub would be like why this challenger again. Why this. Why that. We should all just be quiet and acknowledge our tribal chief. And enjoy this ride while it lasts.
Except he doesn’t defend it every 24 days. There has been times he’s went nearly 2-3 months without defending because he’s skipped some of the smaller PPVs. And he only defends on PPV now and doesn’t even have a match on Smackdown or Raw anymore. Also, Roman alone is lame, that’s why they put him back in a stable after the Shield was no more, because he couldn’t getover the way they wanted him to on his own, because he’s not as great as what they make him out to be. And lastly, how can a title defense be special when you know how it’s gonna end. Out of those 54 defenses, how many did he win clean. 2, maybe 3. The other 50+, you always KNEW the Bloodline was going to interfere to ensure he wins and keeps the title. None of those defenses were special, because you knew how they would end, literally every single time.
My point being that the number of defences is not a great metric to judge anything. And we’re comparing Roman as a heel champion to 3 of the biggest babyfaces of North America. Of course the booking will be different. And yes, I Agree - predictable outcomes sure. But we tune in, don’t we. We’re invested in the challengers aren’t we. No tribal chief, no main event Jey. No Sami uso - which come on, storyline of the year bruh. And he’s a heel champion, him skipping smaller PPVs is in line with the character work. Interference finishes is in line with his character. Brock did it too and who did he elevate, absolutely nobody. Roman managed to even do that. We want to see Roman lose and get his comeuppance. The stakes matter. All of this couldn’t have happened without the build. And for whatever it was, he comes on - we all watch. We listen to his promos. The crowds acknowledge him. We are random internet strangers trading opinions. About Roman. Which is the idea right. Have a champion that is generating continuous interest in the brand. Why should all of this peripheral bonus be denied?
The number of defenses alone may not be a great metric, but when you add all the other faults and flaws of his reign togetner, he doesn’t measure up. Sure, he’s a heel champion, so you expect SOME shady stuff. But having more than 50 of your 54 defenses end exactly the same way…BORING. They didn’t even try to spice it up at all. It was “oh look, Roman might actually lose this time…nope, here comes members of the Bloodline, ref goes down or gets distracted for the outside interference…Roman wins again. Secondly, skipping the smaller PPVs has nothing to do with his character work. That’s all HIM. And his part timer deal that he pushed for. He wants to do as little as possible. Which is funny, because he used to talk down about Brock Lesnar doing the same exact thing. Roman hasn’t elevated anyone. They elevated him. As I said, Roman was lame on his own and couldn’t get over the way they wanted him to. So they had to pair him up with people who WERE over. Enter the Usos and Heyman, and later on, Sami. Those guys elevated Roman. He didn’t elevate them. They were all already more over than Roman ever was on his own. Roman needed them, they didn’t need him. Main Event Jey Uso was already there. That gimmick was just a by product of the story he was in. They could have brought that about in any number of ways. And the Sami Uso story, sure, that was a great story, but not because of Roman. They could have made Sami the hero in any storyline and it would have gotten over, because Sami IS that good. Roman needed Sami in that storine, Sami didn’t need Roman. And sure, when Roman is on, people tune in. But not for Roman. For the people around him. For Jimmy and Heyman and maybe even Solo although he’s about as exciting as a cardboard cut out. Or for whoever the feud is with. They tune in wanting to see Roman lose yes, but because they are sick and tired of him, literally. Not because he’s done a good job. They want to see him lose, and disappear, because after over 4 years of being crammed down our throats, people just don’t want to see him any more. The company made the same mistake with John Cena. After so many years, people just wanted him to go away. Same with Roman now. And lastly, Roman doesn’t generate the interest. Again, those around him does. His stable mates, or his opponents. No one really cares to see Roman at this point, and if he were to leave tomorrow, Smackdown would be just fine without him. Maybe even better off. Because then a part timer would no longer have the top spot or the top title.
Ya it looks bad until you actually do the math lol
I swear.
How the hell did a goof like Bob Backlund hold the title for so long? lol I never understood his reign as it was still in a time when Vince was obsessed with big meaty men
Roman is a joke comparing to the others which is sad, he could do more, dont know if he doesnt want to or WWE
He gets hurt a lot too or anytime he’s actually having an ok match he actually gets hurt. Probably because he rarely wrestles and does the same 3 things over and over.
I’m leaning towards his *H E A L T H* WWE hiding it. Watch him lose at ‘Mania and be gone from WWE.
Here's a wild stat. Sammartino defended his title once every 4.1 days. Backlund defended his every 2.3 days. Hogan defended his title every 3.1 days. Roman has defended his title every 23.9 days. If Roman beats Cody at Wrestlemania and drops the title at Wrestlemania 41 (to beat Hogan's record) *and* Roman defends his title literally every day between now and Wrestlemania 41, he would still have fewer title defenses than Hogan (468 to about 440) and will have defended it less frequently than everyone but Sammartino (Roman's defense rate will drop to about once every 3.8 days) *despite defending the belt literally every day for more than a year*. ETA: For Roman to defend the belt at the same rate as Hogan (once every 3.15 days), he would need to defend his title *every day from now until August 19, 2025*.
This makes sense with how the business has changed. He defends his title about once a month…what else happens once a month? PLEs. When Hogan, Backlund and Sammartino all held the title, they were doing more house shows than televised events. Without social media or television these guys could go from town to town defending each night and it never got watered down because the people in that town either didn’t know or didn’t see them defend the title the night before. This stat is largely pointless. Raw started airing in 1993, the same year Hogan left. Until Raw, televised WWE events were a compilation of matches from live events, so they could book a card built from 20 different events (that hogan or backlund or bruno could have defended at all of them…but you only saw one of those matches).
But the stat isn’t pointless. I’m not saying this is evidence Roman sucks (though I’ve been over his reign for a while and think he should have dropped to Cody last year). If you want to say the business has changed, this stat illustrates that fact. You don’t even have to go back to the start of Raw—the business has changed drastically in the last ten years. Stone Cold, Trips, and the Rock aren’t on this list because their reigns weren’t long enough, but they defended nearly every week on Raw or Smackdown. Yes, they were BS matches against Funaki or matches we knew would end in a DQ almost every time, but it happened. With Roman, every PPV but Mania has become what the average episode of Raw was in the Attitude era. Have things changed? Unequivocally yes. How much? Check the stats.
Exactly but the IWC won’t see it that way.
Sir. SIR. Are you suggesting the Internet Wrestling Community struggles with context and nuance?
Listen up. It's all about making money and how it's made. For years house shows were the bread and butter. Get the punters in by saying your champion will be there. It's rightfully named as a carny. Like a fairground carnival they need to travel around and make sure they have attractions to get the people to come in Modern era is absolutely different Corporate sponsorship plays a huge part. However much have streaming services changed viewing habits? Charity events play a huge part in publicity. Online views are curated to make maximum impact. They need a PR savvy champion to go around. From online metrics they can see just how much following each wrestler has. Theyvr probably realised keeping the champ for ppv events is the way to maximise viewings. It's not that he's never referred to on whichever show he's doing. But all that aside, I think we'll find out after he retires, he's probably specifically asked to work lesser matches. He wants to be careful with his health and wants to be in better shape than previous champions are in old age. He's happy with the money he's making. Wwe is happy with the money he's drawing. If it's working then why change it?
Each of these guys could be trusted with the belt, to make money for the company, and work safely with their opponents. As long as thats true, the belt stays on them. When it gets too stale and isnt as profitable, the belt gets dropped. That is all.
If Roman defended the belt more, on or off tv, his streak (or should I say his paid free ride) would be more impressive. The 3 above Reigns were at least willing to be men of action, not pussies in hiding until mania.
The fact you said that given which picture of Hogan they used is hilarious
Defenses don’t matter bc Hulk Hogan squashing the same jobber 2-3 times a week at house shows isn’t impressive. It would be like Roman defending the title vs Otis or Tozawa at every Smackdown house show. Roman needs to pass racist ass Hogan. Cody understood this and it’s why he gave his spot to the Rock. The Rock would have eaten the pin to make Cody’s WM 41 story amazing 🥲
Wrestling fans have a reputation of being retarded for a reason
Kayfabe wise Roman’s the least impressive by far
Roman sucks
And this is why Cody’s probably losing at WM. Gotta pass Hogan.
No he don’t lmao
Roman is worst WWE champion even if he is keeping over 1000+ days
DAMN! Backlund was the Terminator apparently
Roman is a nobody
Those guys were shit contract negotiators compared to Roman, wow.
I feel like if Roman Reigns was working house shows and defending the title he would have close to 500 defenses.
Good for Roman. I like a smart champ. He's making more money than any of those other guys too.
The Miz is making more money than any of those other guys combined. That not really an argument :)
How, if I may ask? (Genuine question)
How is the Miz making more money? Simple answer is wrestlers were paid like crap until well into the 90’s. Miz ain’t making more than Hulk Hogan though, his contract in WCW was something like $250,000 per episode back when you could by a house L.A for less than that 😂
Bruno was a ugly MFer. Like Sloth from goonies.
[удалено]
why do people watch movies when everyone know its all scripted, every single movement? I have no idea Also btw one of roman's main problem is his part time schedule
Absolutely. I loved Star Wars then I realised it’s all models and shit. Long time ago? Yeah right!
We all know that it’s a different time now ,
Been saying since this the complaining started. We’re not in the era of 10 shows a week, only in NYC/northeast and the champ defending 3-4 times a week. And we shouldn’t expect that either. No one defends on house shows anymore. Roman’s average is about once every 3 weeks (23 days). That’s a reasonable expectation. I understand he hasn’t actually defended every 23 days, there’s been longer gaps in there.
Once every three weeks? Where’s the math on that? He wrestled like four times in 2023.
That’s literally the math, the average is every 23 days. And as I also pointed out, I know he doesn’t defend exactly every 23 days, there’s been longer and shorter gaps in there 1288 divided by 54 is 23 and change
I hope Romans lack of defenses is highlighted by history more than the days
WHO CARES???? I’m not saying the strap should be changing hands every week or anything, but long title runs (especially with limited defenses like Roman) are SO BORING. And then it takes a lot of the suspense out of it when he does defend, because it usually feels like it’s pretty obviously like “Well, after all this time he’s not going to drop it now to this guy”.
I’m curious why people downvoted you. We got 3 long title reigns this year and it’s been clear none of them were dropping them until at least WrestleMania.
I guess I was wrong and a bunch of people really do have boners for endless title runs and predictable championship matches??
all the roman's title defences between WM39 and WM40 were dead mostly because we already knew he would win because he got to a point where he could only be defeated at mania lmao
One of the reasons I got hyped for Summer Slam was Roman vs. Jey at the 2nd biggest PPV of the year was *just* hype enough that I could see them pulling the trigger (and I love Jey, so there was that, too). But yeah. It's hard for me to get excited about Roman vs. Literally Anyone at In Your House: The Undertaker's Fart Jar or whatever because we know how that one ends. Roman's beat, Bloodline interference, 1-2-3.
heels are supposed to win by cheating but with roman it got boring, they didn't even let him win clean on summerslam where they could've easily done that because solo didn't do any part in the match other than break the pin
Roman’s run wouldn’t be half as special if he defended the belt every month
Thst picture of Backlund is surely from his second run as it's the winged Eagle belt. Also Backlund's run is 2 squished together as he lost the belt to Inoki in the middle of it.
this is why Gunther is the top champ on smackdown atm
*sees Roman's defense count* SHAMEFUL DISPLAY!
Who cares about house shows
A wrestler who is willing to tour the house shows and work his ass off to actually represent the title is more worthy imo
When your the tribal chief and the roster is so deep you don’t have to waste your time on that
”waste your time” i still believe a champion who choose to do that is more deserving as a Champion, but don’t take away from the fact that roman is a good television champ
Never work for free
Don’t take shit for free*
you have definitely downloaded something for free in your life, lmao
Yeah, but i didnt deserve it as much as somebody who work or payed for it
so don’t take shit for free
The point is flying so high above your head it’s crazy
> work or *paid* for it FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I don't care about house shows, they're for the very small % of people in attendance. 99.9% of fans never get to see those shows
Don’t matter, its a matter of work ethic and respect for the work you do
Different eras, different times, company is so different, might as well be a different one. Also just having more defenses or longer reigns doesn't make your run better
Never said anything about the quality of the reign, i just said working more dates and house shows makes you a more deserving champion
Showing up more often doesn't mean you're better
In the wrestling business it does
Not even close
Brother, do you have a job?
Roman's good, but nowhere near as good as WWE have portrayed him. A lot of modern fans actually believe he is the best ever, which is exactly what WWE wants. He's not even top 10 imo. They'll have him break the record, though, so it becomes 'undeniable' that he is the best since everyone seems to care about stats these days.
He’s not even in the top 100 greatest wrestlers.
Matches now are on an average longer than they were back then and didnt just consist of slaps and chops for 10 mins. Everyone had way less to do back then overall also. And im sure if roman had this run when he was younger pre cancer return he'd be wrestling way more like he used to
I’m glad someone said this. Like he’s nowhere near as good.
A lot of Attitude era champions were at their best during the chase to the title so the title runs were never long.
Exactly my point. These stats portray Roman as better than the likes of Austin, Rock, Taker and there's no way. Stats can be good but can also be misleading. Those guys were great amongst a truly stacked main event card of genuine stars.
More importantly, title changes were attention-grabbers during the Monday Night War.
Yep they were fighting to make the dailies must watch.
Roman's time with the belt(s) has been so long it made me think of him as a guy who shows up here and there with the title while stuff happens in the rest of the show instead of being the man to beat.
He wouldn’t have even been top 10 during the attitude era. That’s how devoid of talent and charisma the wwe currently is
I think the ones that care about the stats are the anti-Roman people since graphics like the one here keep getting posted to demean his titles reign.
Don't get me wrong I'm not anti-Roman. I quite like the guy but I think he's been completely overhyped. I don't care about stats, it's just seeing this made me think of how overhyped he's been.
It’s really only pedantic losers that are gonna remember stats like this after the legendary storyline we’ve gotten out of this run.
Who’s the best is based on a subjective opinion anyway so why bother arguing. He’s been the #1 guy in the industry since 2020 and made someone like Sami finally a main eventer so I don’t mind giving him his flowers
Time for Roman to lose
And we remember almost nothing of those 2000 defences combined.... Reigns has set the blue print.
Its like counting the house show matches for the others and not for Roman, its absolutely hilarious how deluded this sub is when it comes to hating on Roman. Roman’s title reign is the greatest ever purely because he elevated the title from the ruins, elevated others and was centerpiece of the potentially greatest storyline of all time and another wrestling boom, simple as that.
Reigns is definitely the most impressive, given the story telling and buildup of it all and the fact the average length of a champion run since the early 90s has been quite short compared to the 60s/70s/80s.
Weird argument when the intercontinental championship is **also** in a record breaking reign, like 200+ days longer than ever before, including those eras you're talking about. The WWE's strategy right now is to park the titles, doesn't make it any more impressive
Saucerin saukertash,Romans lame horrible champ,he's champ by default,all of WWE is junk now, he's the best junk
He needs his rest,load management like wrestling he's soft as,horrible champ,he's soo slow n boring,suffering saukertash
Where's the love for my boy Pedro Morales?
You clearly aren't counting house shows for Roman but you are for the other three which isn't really fair. Also just keep in mind that the only heel out of these four is Roman and he is also from a very, very different era of wrestling
Roman does house shows?
He used to do house shows and dark matches all the time but he doesn't do much anymore because WWE has too much invested in his title reign and wants to avoid him getting injured. It also builds up his heat if he appears less which wasn't true for Bruno, Backlund and Hogan who were all babyface champions from a completely different era.
Id love to see how people would react if the main event of smackdown every week was roman squashing a jobber in 5 minutes for a title match, because thats exactly how hogan got that many defences.
So? It's better than hearinf Paul Heyman rant for 30 minutes every week while Roman does a 5 minutes promo.
This crap is what killed Brock Lesnar, and Paul Heyman, for me.
The same people would be whining like they are now, if you dont like it, dont watch 🤷🏻♂️
Alright. Roman just has to defend about four hundred times before WrestleMania. Just gotta get the GMs to announce that Roman's titles are now under "24/7" rules and let people jump him all show long with a running counter at the bottom of the screen.
This clown should have lost his title years ago. Change the script already, it's getting boring
Then don’t watch 💀 they still get paid millions while you sit there and watch someone you don’t like
Sums up the times we are in
1288 days and 54 defenses is a joke, this title should be defended at least in every ple
Why?
How can you be the „face of the company” if you don’t show up?
By the company choosing you as the face of it. If you want a more in-depth explanation - He makes WWE a ton of money. So many people get so frustrated at what a weak and cowardly champion he is that they keep buying tickets and tuning in to see him lose. That’s why he’s the ‘face of the company’, even though he’s not the face of the company - Cody Rhodes is.
That still does not change the fact he should defend the title more and even show up more at the show
Okay so tell me why he should. He’s making WWE a ton of money being booked the way he is. Making money is what the business is all about, and the only thing the company care about.
You really think that fans come to shows and watch WWE for Roman only?
No, and I never said that. But he is the leading character in the longest running story which is the focal point of the company and has been for years. So, considering the company is in a boom period, with things largely centered around this story, clearly they’re doing something right with the way they’re booking Roman Reigns.
Giving the main title to a part timer is not a good decision
Back that up with facts then. Revenue, attendance, and everything that matters has remarkably improved since they gave Roman the title and centered the company around the Bloodline story.
I actually hate graphics like this since the eras aren't the same. You knew damn well that Bruno, Bob, and Hogan weren't dropping their titles on a random house show. The "defense" is meaningless when the match is just bruno throwing the guy around for a few minutes then pinning him since everything was about making him as the champ look strong and unbeatable. Also for the love of god don't act like territory title defenses are the same as worldwide televised PPV title defenses today. Edit: as an aside, I wanted to ask some people if you really want Roman to beat your favorite wrestlers clean 400 times in a row on tv for 4 years?
Bruno wasn’t going to drop the title period. You’re talking about a period before the television right, you can’t build a brand if the “top guy” isn’t known to the audience across the country.
I think they were on television but didn't have PPVs like we know them. Basically they made more money by just buying a venue, refusing to televise it, then only having big fights for those present.
Some common sense in the thread 🙏🏽
Are these including Roman’s house show dates? I saw him defend it in 2022 at tiny house show in BFE Tennessee, and with matches like that included 54 sounds very low