Is Roman Reigns a Babyface or a Heel?

Roman Reigns is a powerhouse in the world of professional wrestling. Born in Pensacola, Florida in 1985, Reigns comes from a legendary lineage, the Anoaʻi family, a dynasty that boasts wrestling icons like Rikishi, The Usos, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Following in their footsteps, Reigns began his wrestling career in 2010, honing his skills in WWE's developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling. He made his WWE Main Roster debut in 2012 as a member of The Shield alongside Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. The three superstars became the hottest prospect in all of professional wrestling before splitting up in 2014. Since then, Reigns went on a singles career as The Big Dog and The Tribal Chief, establishing his place at The Head of the Table of professional wrestling.

Reigns accolades speak for themselves. He is the only wrestler to have headlined WrestleMania 9 times. He has defeated The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, John Cena, Goldberg, Randy Orton and many more legends. He is a Royal Rumble winner, two-time Sole Survivor, formerly held the record for the most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble, and has had the longest world title reign since 1988. Speaking of his title galore, Reigns is a 4-time WWE Champion, 2-time Universal Champion, and a former WWE Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, and a Tag Team Champion.

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Is Roman Reigns Heel or Face?

Roman Reigns is currently a babyface in WWE as OTC. Since 2020, he has been the biggest heel in all of professional wrestling. However, he lost his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania XL and then went on an indefinite hiatus. Behind his back, Solo Sikoa assumed the leadership of The Bloodline and kicked out Reigns' loyal Jimmy Uso and Paul Heyman. Therefore, upon his return, Reigns set his eyes on Sikoa, and also paid due respect to Rhodes, turning babyface for the first time in four years.

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Roman Reigns On-Screen Character History

Roman Reigns did not have many character shifts on the WWE programming. However, every time he turned a heel or a face, it marked a significant shift in the dynamic landscape of professional wrestling.

Heel Turn - Debut as The Shield (October 2012)

The debut of The Shield is one of the major turning points in the history of WWE. At Survivor Series 2012, Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose made their debuts and alarmed the roster. They were a total menace to all wrestlers and did not shy away from attacking legends like Kane, The Big Show, Randy Orton, and even the likes of The Undertaker and Reigns’ cousin The Rock. Reigns even won the WWE Tag Team Championship during this run. The Shield started working for The Authority as well.

Face Turn - The Big Dog (March 2014)

In March 2014, The Shield turned their back on the Authority and established themselves as fan-favorite. However, their new union wasn’t a long one, as Rollins grabbed a chair and pierced it right through the hearts of his former brethren to join The Authority. Then became a two-year long journey of Reigns to take down The Authority for good. He won the Royal Rumble 2015 but was defeated at WrestleMania due to Rollins’ heist of the century. Reigns finally won the title at Survivor Series for the first time and then at RAW before losing it at Royal Rumble 2016. At WrestleMania 32, he defeated Triple H to end the chapter of The Authority.

As The Big Dog, he would then go on to win the Intercontinental Championship and the United States Championship in the next two years while defeating The Undertaker at WrestleMania and losing to Brock Lesnar. In 2018, Reigns won the Universal Championship but had to relinquish it due to leukemia. He made a triumphant return in 2019 and reunited with The Shield for their last matches before Ambrose left the company. In 2020, Reigns was scheduled to challenge The Goldberg for the Universal Championship but had to forego due to the global pandemic.

Heel Turn - The Tribal Cheif (August 2020)

Roman Reigns made his return at SummerSlam 2020. There, he attacked Braun Strowman and the Universal Champion The Fiend. He joined hands with Paul Heyman, and next week employed dirty tactics to become the champion, turning heel for the first time since 2014. He would then go on to defend the gold against his brother Jey Uso and making him fall to his side by force. This marked the beginning of The Bloodline which would eventually include Jimmy Uso, Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn, and The Rock over a period of time.

Reigns held the title for 1316 days. During his reign, he retained the gold against the likes of Uso, Strowman, Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan, Edge, Cesaro, Rey Mysterio, John Cena, Finn Balor, Brock Lesnar, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Goldberg, Riddle, Drew McIntyre, Logan Paul, Cody Rhodes, LA Knight and Randy Orton. He finally lost the belt to Cody Rhodes and went away from the programming.

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Face Turn - OTC (August 2024)

While Roman Reigns was away from the WWE programming, Solo Sikoa became the new leader of The Bloodline. He kicked out Jimmy Uso and admitted Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa and Jacob Fatu as the new members. However, he openly waged war against the previous Bloodline after kicking out the Wiseman Paul Heyman from the group. At SummerSlam 2024, Sikoa challenged Cody Rhodes for the title but was unsuccessful after Roman Reigns made his return and turned babyface to cost Sikoa the match.