Why Roman Reigns Needs To Win The 2025 WWE Royal Rumble

Zack Heydorn | Jan 31, 2025

WWE.com

CM Punk, John Cena, and now Roman Reigns. The Big Dog and The Tribal Chief is back in the Royal Rumble and his presence alone makes him a favorite to walk away from the match a winner.

All week long, we've made arguments as to who should win the Royal Rumble this year and the argument for Reigns is the easiest. Like the other stars we've discussed, Reigns has many storylines that need a Rumble win to progress. Plus, he's the biggest star in WWE and that has to count for something.

MORE: Why CM Punk Needs To Win The 2025 WWE Royal Rumble

This is a new series on The Takedown on SI that analyzes potential winners of the big match this year. Let's look now at Roman Reigns.

Roman Reigns Needs To Win The 2025 WWE Royal Rumble

Thanks to a definitive win over Solo Sikoa on the first-ever episode of WWE Raw on Netflix, Roman Reigns is once again the Tribal Chief in WWE. Now that the Ula Fala is around his neck again, he's turned his attention directly to regaining the WWE Championship and has said winning the Royal Rumble is the way he'll earn his opportunity at the championship at WrestleMania.

Throughout the years when Roman Reigns has called his shot, he hasn't missed. Sure, he's missed here and there, but generally speaking, he's been a character who has regularly made good on whatever he sets his mind to.

With that in mind, winning the Royal Rumble means the most for him. He's put his credibility on the line and given that he just vanquished the evil Solo Sikoa, it's smart to keep his momentum moving forward, which means Reigns should make good on the promises he puts out there.

That's the storyline reason for Reigns to win.

The business reason is much simpler, but also more compelling. It's Roman Reigns. Reigns is the biggest star that WWE has access to on a semi-regular basis not named The Rock, so you know he's going to occupy one of the WrestleMania main events when the craziness rolls into Las Vegas in mid-April. A Reigns Royal Rumble victory is the cleanest way to get him into that slot.

Reigns as the Royal Rumble winner also gives WWE the most intriguing possibilities for potential match-ups. If Reigns wins the Rumble, he's guaranteed a title shot at WrestleMania -- I'm not breaking any news there. That means we could get Reigns vs. Cody 3, Reigns vs. Gunther for the first time, Reigns vs. CM Punk if somehow Punk becomes WWE World Heavyweight Champion between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, or Reigns vs. Jacob Fatu -- maybe Fatu shocks the world and defeats Cody to win the championship?

Some of those options are long shots, but they're possible with Reigns as the Rumble winner. Also, with Reigns as your Rumble winner, you eliminate issues that other potential winners bring to the table.

MORE: 4 Facts About Roman Reigns' Impressive WWE Royal Rumble Resume

Take John Cena, for example. He famously admitted that he hadn't won a singles match in over 2,000 days. And yet he'll stroll into the Royal Rumble and pull off a massive win? It seems a bit far-fetched.

Same thing with CM Punk. With all of the inner-match feuds that Punk has going on next to him in the Rumble match -- Drew, Seth, Reigns, Cena -- he's going to overcome all of those obstacles at once? Super Punk? Ehh. Not sure about that one.

Finally, Reigns hasn't been in or won the Royal Rumble in years. When he did win it, it was a mess of epic proportions. WWE gets a chance to rewrite that narrative here. They can do the Roman Reigns Royal Rumble victory right and fire the 2015 match into the sun for good.

It's 2025. Reigns is as popular as ever. Let the big dog eat.

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