Back in the days of the old NWA territory system, the NWA World Champion would be booked to travel from territory to territory, defending the title against the territories’ top stars.

Why?

Because the NWA knew that having the champion exclusive to one territory would not only lessen the value of the title, but it would result in fan burnout. This was true, considering that NWA world champions often held the title in excess of two years.

Roman Reigns is close to surpassing the 1,027 day reign of Pedro Morales, which is currently the 5th-longest reign of any world champion in WWE, behind Btuno Sammartino’s first reign, Bob Backlund’s first reign, Sammartino’s second reign, and Hulk Hogan’s first reign.

After Wrestlemania, numerous fans voices their outrage over the finish. In addition, it’s been reported that Vince McMahon has once again become the head of creative, and McMahon favors muscle-bound superstars such as Roman Reigns over leaner superstars such as Cody Rhodes.

It may also be possible that McMahon still holds a grudge against Rhodes for leaving WWE in 2015/16 and venturing to other promotions such as Impact, ROH, NWA, New Japan, and AEW, which is the first serious threat to WWE’s market dominance since the death of WCW.