Roman Reigns’ WWE Champion Era Begins With Signature WrestleMania Win

Sorry, WWE Universe. Roman Reigns is your new WWE champion, whether you like it or not.

Sunday’s WrestleMania 32 main event had the feeling of inevitability surrounding it, as both the oddsmakers and observers believed Reigns finally would get his moment and walk out with the title. But Reign’s detractors — and there are many — were hoping for some surprise swerve that would change all that. Maybe Seth Rollins would show up. Maybe the WWE would find some way to make Reigns a heel who fans could have an excuse to boo.

None of that happened.

In what was an exhaustive WrestleMania at times, the over four-and-a-half-hour main card concluded with Reigns holding the belt high after he turned a potential sledgehammer to the face from Triple H into a spear, which was enough for the three count.

There weren’t really any big moments in the match, except for Reign’s spear to Triple H’s wife Stephanie McMahon.

https://vine.co/v/ij93gir7Fmw

That certainly qualified for a WrestleMania moment, but that was about it. It wasn’t anything close to Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin beating up the League of Nations, or John Cena and The Rock returning, or Shane McMahon’s jump from the top of Hell in a Cell.

The moment of Reigns overcoming The Authority and winning the title should have been enough. It was for Daniel Bryan. But the fans’ distaste for Reigns and no real swerve in the match meant that had no chance of happening.

It’s hard to remember a time when fans liked Reigns, but it wasn’t too long ago. He was part of The Shield, a heel group for which fans loved to cheer. But it became apparent the WWE had high hopes for Reigns and started to push him hard. That was met with immediate backlash within the WWE Universe, and that probably won’t change after Sunday.

You can boo all you want, but Reigns is the champion.

The Reigns Era has begun.

Click to read NESN.com’s WrestleMania 32 live blog >>

Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@WrestleMania