The 5 likeliest challengers for Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 37

Roman Reigns has an iron grip on the WWE Championship that seems almost certain to remian heading into Wrestlemania 37. Who should challenge Reigns at the biggest show of the year?

Ever since Roman Reigns returned to Smackdown and won the WWE Championship in August of this year, he has become the MVP of WWE programming. His presence and excellent promo work  has helped make Smackdown the best bit of WWE programming since the glory days of Smackdown in 2016. With that in mind, it seems almost certain that Roman Reigns will enter Wrestlemania as WWE Champion.

That begs a few questions: Who will Reigns face, and how likely are they to win?

The following is a list of the 5 competitors that appear likeliest to challenge Reigns, along with an assessment on how likely they are to challenge and how likely they would be to win.

Jey Uso 

The punching bag of the current WWE champion has already failed to defeat Roman Reigns on two separate occasions, with the second rendering him a servant of Reigns. But could Jey reassert himself in the face of Reigns’ mistreatment, and challenge for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania?

Likelihood of challenging: Very low. Jey will eventually stand up for himself, but it doesn’t have to happen here, and it doesn’t even have to be by challenging for the title. Additionally, Jey was a great challenger, but that doesn’t mean he’d make a great champion. But recent months have proved Jey can hold his own in the main event, and after everything Reigns has put him through, Jey standing tall with the title at Wrestlemania would be an incredibly gratifying moment.

Likelihood of winning: 100 percent. In the unlikely event Jey did challenge Reigns at Mania, he would have to win.

Daniel Bryan 

After coming out of retirement, Daniel Bryan has remained an elite professional wrestler. Could Bryan step up to Reigns in an effort to claim his fifth WWE Championship?

Likelihood of challenging: Very low. Bryan would be able to hold up his end of the bargain in both the feud leading up to Wrestlemania and the match itself, and could do wonders either putting over Reigns or winning one last world title. But Bryan’s past injury issues, along with already being a made man and having limited history with Reigns, work against the probability of him being Reigns’ opponent at Wrestlemania.

Likelihood of winning: Decent. Bryan definitely doesn’t need to win, and Reigns could keep his run atop going after picking up a big victory at Wrestlemania. But giving Bryan one last run with the title, hopefully, a full one, would be a good story, and Bryan would be an excellent champion.

Brock Lesnar 

Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns main-evented Wrestlemania 31 and 34, and Reigns was unable to win either time. Could it be time to finish the Lesnar/Reigns Wrestlemania trilogy?

Likelihood of challenging: Decent, although still more unlikely than likely. WWE has been loathing to use part-timers during the quarantine. Lesnar and Reigns have also fought plenty: this would be their 7th big matchup in a half-decade. But there’s evidence that the opposition to part-timers is lifting, given a recent Goldberg interview, and this Reigns/Lesnar matchup would flip both the face/heel dynamic and the services of Paul Heyman. Reigns has also never defeated Lesnar cleanly, needing a distraction to earn his only victory over Lesnar; Reigns could further solidify himself as champion by defeating the black stain on his record.

Likelihood of winning: Practically zero. Bringing in Lesnar to fight Reigns only makes sense if it’s to put over Reigns once and for all.

Goldberg

At Wrestlemania 36 earlier this year, Goldberg was supposed to defend the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. However, Reigns took a leave of absence once WWE went to quarantine. Now that the Big Dog is back,  WWE is teasing that match actually taking place, via a Goldberg interview on The Bump where he called out Reigns. It seems certain, then, that a match with Reigns will take place soon. But will it be at Wrestlemania?

Likelihood of challenging: Pretty good, but not certain if it’s at Wrestlemania. As noted above, a Goldberg match soon is practically a given, but when it occurs is not. Because WWE is teasing the match this early, there’s a real good chance the match would occur at the Royal Rumble, or some other pre-Wrestlemania event. A Goldberg match would not feature the methodical storytelling that has become the hallmark of Reigns’ main event matches, but breaking things up with a quick, heavy-hitting match would be a nice change of pace. But that doesn’t have to happen at Wrestlemania, and there are more exciting and impactful options.

Likelihood of winning: Practically zero. Goldberg has one massively surprising world title victory earlier this year. But that was specifically so Goldberg could put over Reigns. The logical outcome here would be Reigns winning decisively, retaining his title and further establishing himself as WWE’s top star.

Big E

By far the most popular option among WWE’s fanbase is Big E following in his stablemate’s Kofi Kingston’s footsteps and win the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania. Will WWE follow through on this desire?

Likelihood of challenging: Good, but not certain. He has the most popular support, has been split from New Day in the draft as a singles guy, and while Smackdown has a talented roster, there’s not another option that would work nearly as well as Big E. There was also an interesting interaction between him and Heyman on Talking Smack where Heyman urged Big E to follow the same path as Reigns. But they could always have Big E win later, and besides, there’s no guarantee Big E can capture the same spontaneous energy as Kofimania did.

Likelihood of winning: Very likely. This feels like it would be a coronation of Big E as a main event star if it occurred, but I wouldn’t say it’s certain Big E wins, especially if the scenario listed above occurs where the push doesn’t resonate with fans as Wrestlemania approaches.