Roman Reigns Has “Redefined The Industry” Says Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman is never short of praise for his Tribal Chief Roman Reigns.

Roman Reigns has been nothing short of a phenomenon since returning from a short hiatus in 2020 with a whole new attitude and Paul Heyman as his Special Counsel.

Since then Reigns has hit the highest of highs with three WrestleMania main event wins in a row but he is currently fighting for his life as the majority of his Bloodline has deserted him. He will put his WWE Universal Championship on the line against Jey Uso at SummerSlam but perhaps even more importantly, he will also put his title of Tribal Chief on the line with his family’s future at stake.

Speaking on ESPN’s First Take, Paul Heyman explained how he and Roman Reigns acknowledge the past and the great WWE Champions in history but noted that when Reigns got a grip on the Universal Title that became the biggest prize in the company:

“Roman Reigns? He’s completely redefined the industry. He’s in a different genre than anybody else is. By the way, we do acknowledge the past. Shall I do it for you, sir? See this photo right here? Bruno Sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham, Bob Backlund, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena, Brock Lesnar. Go down the list, Roman Reigns.

“See this one right here? Universal Heavyweight Championship, it was the created championship, did not have the lineage of Sammartino, Morales, Superstar Billy Graham, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, names go down the list. A created championship, 500 days held by Brock Lesnar, started to get a little prestige, never in the class of the WWE Championship.

“Roman Reigns becomes the Universal Heavyweight Champion, and everybody forgets about the WWE title. And this becomes the title and WWE. This becomes the premier attraction. This becomes the Super Bowl ring. This becomes what Tom Brady is after. This is what the title becomes in WWE. Roman Reigns looks over and he says, ‘Wow, I want them both, I am The Tribal Chief, I want the history and I want the future.’ What does he do? He merges the two champions.”

How long has Roman Reigns been Universal Champion?

Roman Reigns has held the Universal Championship since August 30th, 2020 when he defeated The Fiend Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match that he entered into late, only signing his contract to accept the match on the way to the ring.

For well over 1,000 days, Reigns has made the title his own and now boasts the fifth-longest world title reign in WWE history. The Universal Championship has only been in existence since SummerSlam 2016 which means Reigns has held the title for 42% of the time that it has been active.

Roman Reigns added the WWE Championship to his collection to unify the championships at WrestleMania 38 and he now has the longest reign of that title in 35 years and is closing in on 500 days as champion but he’ll have to defeat Jey Uso at SummerSlam to reach that milestone.