Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman were guests on Tuesday’s First Take and discussed Reigns’ match against Jey Uso this Saturday at SummerSlam while also reflecting on his success as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. His title reign has reached 1,066 consecutive days as of today, starting with him initially winning the Universal Championship at the Payback pay-per-view in 2020. He’d then unify it with the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 38 in April 2022 and has since been referred to as the Undisputed Champion even though he still carries around the original two titles (as well as a third one awarded to him after eclipsing 1,000 consecutive days as champion).ย
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But while Paul Heyman expounded on Reigns’ many accomplishments, “The Tribal Chief” openly acknowledged that the Universal title means more to him. He affectionately referred to it as “my baby.” Heyman pointed out that the Universal title didn’t have the same decades-long lineage as the WWE Championship, but that Reigns made it more important than the decades-old title.ย
Paul Heyman Explains How Roman Reigns Made the Universal Championship Matter More Than The WWE Championship
“Roman Reigns becomes the universal heavyweight champion and everybody forgets about the WWE title and this becomes the title in WWE,” Heyman said. “This becomes the premier attraction. This becomes the Super Bowl ring. This becomes what Tom Brady is after. And we don’t have to give half to Gisele (Bundchen)’s attorneys. This is what the title becomes in WWE. Roman Reigns looks over and he says, wow, I want them both. I’m the Tribal Chief. I want the history and I want the future. What does he do? He merges the two championships.
“Just so we were clear that that’s my baby right there,” Reigns said, pointing to the Universal Championship. “I did that. I made that and then I took that (the WWE Championship) and made it what it is.”
Cody Rhodes Endorses Jey Uso to Beat Roman Reigns
Jey Uso will be challenging Roman Reigns for both his undisputed championship and the position of “Tribal Chief” in a Tribal Combat Rules match in the main event of SummerSlam. Cody Rhodes, the last person who posed a real threat to Reigns’ record-breaking run, endorsed the idea of Jey winning in a new interview with Uproxx this week.
“I think whoever is in the position who pins Roman Reigns and leaves with the WWE Undisputed Championship, it’s almost a moment that I can’t tell you how that will feel or I can’t tell you how that will look until we see it, because I think it’s just starting to dawn on people how significant it could be,” Rhodes said.ย
“If that is Jey Uso, hats off to him, amazing. Not a shred of jealousy in my body,” he continued. “That is as pure and good a man as you can find.”
Rhodes will be in action at the show as well, taking on Brock Lesnar. Stay tuned for full coverage of SummerSlam this Saturday!ย
