Roman Reigns Names His Favorite WWE WrestleMania Moment – “My Life Changed”
Roman Reigns has built an incredible legacy at WrestleMania, and when asked about his favorite moment, he’s going with a big match from his career.
In the main event of WrestleMania 42 on Sunday, April 19th, the 2026 Royal Rumble winner, Roman Reigns, will challenge the World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk for the biggest prize on the Raw brand.
For Reigns, it will be his 11th WrestleMania main event match, which is an all-time record that may be tough to beat because the 40-year-old Reigns still has many years ahead of him.
During an interview on ESPN’s First Take, Roman Reigns was asked about his favorite WrestleMania moment. For that, Reigns went back to his first WrestleMania main event in 2015 when he challenged Brock Lesnar for the WWE Title. It was Roman’s first time in the WrestleMania main event, and it ended with Seth Rollins cashing in Money in the Bank and pinning Reigns to leave with the WWE Title.
“It wasn’t my first one, but WrestleMania 31, when I faced Brock (Lesnar) and Seth (Rollins) cashed in. It didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but from that moment on, that showed me the importance of the main event of WrestleMania. My life changed. It was completely different after that night. The whole world looked at me differently.”
When ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith asked how the whole world looked at him differently, Reigns responded.
“I was a legitimate superstar at that point. I got the rub from Brock Lesnar. He was the greatest combat athlete at the time. He had done everything that he had done. And essentially using him as a platform for me – a stepping stone. It put me in a different stratosphere and it hasn’t been the same since.”
Roman Reigns Had Another Message For CM Punk
In a promo that he shared on social media, Roman Reigns blasted CM Punk for a number of things he has said in the past.
“You’ve defended the title three times. You’ve had it, what, the whole year? You’re not a fighting champion. You’re not even a fighter, we’ve seen how that went.
Coddled? By management? Because I’m money and they’ve known that since the beginning, I told them? I’m an unsigned billion dollar check, go back and find it, it’s in the archives. You don’t have that type of confidence because you’re not the type of man I am. You’re not cut from the same fabric as me.
It blows my mind that you think we’re f**king equals. In which way? It’s only gonna take the first couple of minutes for the whole world to see there’s no way we could ever be on the same level.
Coddled.’ The whole industry coddles you just by having you in it. You talk about the old timers, those were tough guys. We’ve seen what happens when you try to be a tough guy.”
Reigns would go on to call Punk’s career an embarrassment.
“We put our whole reputation, the whole art form on the line for you because, what? 100,000 internet marks loved you from the beginning? Let’s go back to your journey days when you were on the indies. It was the s**ts. An embarrassment.
There’s not a legend in my family that respects you. You’re the reason we don’t let marks in the business. Keep my f**king name out your mouth.
On Sunday, it ends for you.”
You can watch WrestleMania 42 streaming live on Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT on ESPN in the United States and Netflix everywhere else.
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