Roman Reigns is heading into WrestleMania 33 and has declared that he will retire The Undertaker in their match. This is Roman Reigns fifth WrestleMania and he has an overall record of 3-1 in the biggest match of the year. If he beats Undertaker this year, he could retire The Undertaker, whose overall record is an amazing 23-1.
Rolling Stone spoke to Roman Reigns about WrestleMania and he looked back at the past matches of the biggest event in WWE history and named a list of his favorite matches in the previous 32 WrestleMania events. In no surprise, two of the four matches that he named included his own relatives, but shockingly, none of them included his cousin Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The first match that Roman Reigns mentioned was the match that many fans consider the best professional wrestling match of all time. That was Randy “Macho Man” Savage vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, which took place at WrestleMania III and stole the show from a card that included Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant.
Roman Reigns said that it was a match that changed the style of professional wrestling, showing that false finishes and near falls could work a crowd into a frenzy. Reigns pointed out that it was the match that most influenced how wrestlers compete today. Roman also said that it was very similar to a WrestleMania match many years later between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker .
The second match Roman Reigns mentioned is one that a lot of fans hated at the time and many look back on in distaste to this day. That came at WrestleMania IX in Las Vegas where his cousin Yokozuna beat Bret “The Hitman” Hart for the world title but Hulk Hogan came out and immediately beat him for it. Roman said it was a cool moment to see Yokozuna win the title even though Hogan ended it quickly.
The third match was the WrestleMania match that started the Attitude Era. That was the WrestleMania XIII match between Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The match saw Hart come in as the face and Austin as the heel but when Stone Cold passed out from the pain rather than submitting, it turned Austin into the biggest face in the company and Hart became a heel on the spot.
There have been a number of fans who would like to see Roman Reigns make a similar heel turn after WrestleMania 33 but it isn’t likely to happen. If it does, Austin vs. Hart shows how that can happen and Roman Reigns admitted that the match impacted the entire WWE.
The final match that Roman Reigns listed as his favorite WrestleMania matches of all time included another cousin – this time Umaga. The match was the Battle of the Billionaires at WrestleMania XXIII between Umaga, with Vince McMahon, against Bobby Lashley, with Donald Trump. Lashley won the match and Trump shaved McMahon bald after the match. Roman Reigns liked that WrestleMania match because of the spectacle.
As for Roman Reigns, he said that he is trying to escalate his career and keep getting better. In his four previous WrestleMania appearances, he appeared twice as a member of The Shield , winning both matches at WrestleMania 29 and WrestleMania 30 .
At WrestleMania 31 , Roman Reigns fought Brock Lesnar for Lesnar’s world title and Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to join the match and he pinned Reigns to win the title. The next year, Roman won the world title by beating Triple H at WrestleMania 32 .
When it comes to WrestleMania 33 , Roman Reigns said that he wants to go out there with The Undertaker and just tear it up and help the fans get lost in the story. Roman said that he has put a lot of responsibility on himself and wants to keep the standard he has set.
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