Paul Heyman Reveals How Far Back WWE Planned to Push Roman Reigns as a Top Star
Roman Reigns has been a key figure in WWE's main event scene since he first challenged Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 31 back in 2015. And while his initial run as "The Big Dog" was met with mixed reception from audiences, he has since reinvented himself as "The Tribal Chief" while smashing WWE's record books. Paul Heyman, who has been working directly alongside Reigns since 2020, revealed in a new interview with Rick Rubin this week that WWE had plans for Reigns to be WWE's next star as far back as WrestleMania XXX when he was still a member of The Shield.
While discussing Vince McMahon's decision to end The Undertaker's WrestleMania streak at WrestleMania XXX in a match with Brock Lesnar, Heyman explained (h/t WrestlingNews.co), "It's not in Vince's nature (to let Undertaker retire before ending his streak). It's just not. I'm gonna get something out of this. I invested this much into it, and I want something out of it. He just never saw the time yet where he needed it and that was something that was going to be pulled when he needed it. Would he have let The Undertaker retire at a SummerSlam or Survivor Series, mid year, and retire off into the sunset? Yea, we will keep you on retainer. We'll cut a merchandising deal with you. We'll keep you active in some way so that you can make a living and a handsome one at that and still have the benefit of the intellectual property and everything.
"But one of the reasons why Vince would do that is, 'Oh, this is a great WrestleMania for you to come out of retirement and defend the streak, and by the way, I found the person to beat you.' I don't care if Undertaker was 85 years old at the time. If he's alive, if 'The Deadman' is alive, so to speak, then the streak is exploitable and if it's exploitable, the promoter in Vince McMahon wants to exploit it," he continued.
He then connected the decision to have Lesnar beat Undertaker to Reigns eventually dethroning Lesnar. While the two would be in the main event of both WrestleMania 31 and 34, Reigns wouldn't get his definitive win over Lesnar until SummerSlam 2018.
"Brock becomes the successor to the streak, becomes the holy grail, becomes the victory no man can attain and becomes the embodiment of the impossible mountain to climb so that when someone climbs that mountain, when someone beats Brock Lesnar, they are instantly made in the same way that Brock Lesnar is instantly made," Heyman said. "The moment the referee's hand hits three at WrestleMania XXX, signifying Brock had conquered the streak, and we had someone in mind to be the next big thing, the company's next big star, the guy that would pull the wagon, the successor to John Cena, the person to become the one who beat the one in 21-1. We had someone in mind, even at that time. Do you know who that person was? Roman Reigns."