Roman Reigns

Leati Joseph "Joe" Anoaʻi (Samoan pronunciation: [a.noˈaʔ.i] ah-no-AH ee), better known by his ring name Roman Reigns, is an American professional wrestler and former football player. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. He is the leader of the babyface iteration of The Bloodline stable and a member of the Anoaʻi family. Reigns's title reign of 1,316 days as Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion was the fourth-longest world title reign in WWE history and the longest championship reign since 1988. He is widely regarded as one of the best professional wrestlers currently active in the world, and by some as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. After playing college football for Georgia Tech, Anoaʻi started his professional football career with brief off-season stints with the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) in 2007. He then played a full season for the Canadian Football League's (CFL) Edmonton Eskimos in 2008 before his release and retirement from football. He then pursued a career in professional wrestling and was signed by WWE in 2010, reporting to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). Under the ring name Roman Reigns, he made his main roster debut in 2012 as a member of The Shield alongside Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. They teamed together until disbanding in 2014, after which Reigns entered singles competition, though the trio would occasionally reunite until Ambrose left WWE in 2019. Reigns is a six-time world champion in WWE, having held the WWE Championship four times and the WWE Universal Championship twice; he won his fourth WWE Championship during his second Universal Championship reign and as such, was recognized as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. He is also a one-time WWE United States Champion, a one-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion (with Rollins), the 2015 Royal Rumble winner, and the 2014 Superstar of the Year. He tied the WWE record for most eliminations in a Survivor Series match with four in the 2013 event and also previously held the record for most eliminations in a Royal Rumble match with 12 in the 2014 event. Upon winning the Intercontinental Championship, he became the 28th Triple Crown Champion and the 17th Grand Slam Champion. Reigns has headlined numerous pay-per-view events, including WWE's flagship event WrestleMania a record-setting nine times (31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39, and both nights of XL). Additionally, he was ranked at No. 1 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual PWI 500 list of the top 500 singles wrestlers in 2016 and 2022. From 2014 onwards, WWE positioned Reigns as a heroic character and attempted to establish him as their next "face of the company", which was met with intense disapproval by audiences and critics. Following his return from a hiatus in August 2020, he was repackaged as a villainous character portraying a Samoan tribal chief, which was generally met with acclaim.