While Roman Reigns has been treated as a top star since 2014, it wasn’t until SummerSlam 2020 that a majority of the WWE Universe started accepting him as such. At the said event, Reigns finally completed his long-awaited heel turn. Since then, he has been on the run of his career.

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It’s worth noting that The Tribal Chief’s current run isn’t the first one in which he has demonstrated his villainous side. Interestingly, his six-year-long babyface run was packed with subtle and obvious moments of him flaunting his dark side. So, as the longest-reigning Universal Champion keeps outdoing himself, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane and check out 10 instances of him acting like a heel while playing a babyface.

10 Riling Up The Crowd on Post-WrestleMania 33 Edition Of Raw

The Big Dog secured one of his biggest victories to date at WWE WrestleMania 33 when he beat The Undertaker. As if seeing The Deadman lose wasn’t heartbreaking enough, fans also got to witness him tease retirement. That was when it became obvious that Reigns wouldn’t receive a hero’s welcome the following night on Raw.

Fast-forward to the said show, the five-time WrestleMania main-eventer kicked things off to deafening boos. And just when it looked like things couldn’t get more heated, Roman Reigns claimed, “This is my yard now,” to anger the crowd even more. It was something straight out of a boastful heel’s playbook.

9 Losing It On AJ Styles

The Phenomenal One and The Head Of The Table feuded over the WWE Championship following WrestleMania 32. This face vs. face rivalry became complex with the involvement of Styles’ heel buddies, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. And the escalating misunderstanding led to the moment in question.

While Roman Reigns was laid out after a six-man tag match, a mini-brawl broke out between The OC and The Usos, which ended with Styles laying out the twins with chair shots. The Big Uce saw the final moments of the said brawl, prompting him to ruthlessly beat up his challenger around the ring. And this chaotic scene came minutes after Styles refused to attack a worn-out Reigns.

8 Robbing People Of A Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley Match

The term “dream match” gets thrown around a lot these days. However, one match-up that does fit the description is Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley. The thought of seeing these two no-nonsense heavyweights with proven MMA experience going at each other has always intrigued the WWE Universe.

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And even though the fans will get to witness this epic clash at WWE Royal Rumble 2022, they could’ve gotten it much sooner. In the summer of 2018, The Destroyer kept pushing for a match against The Beast but failed to land it after Roman Reigns (who had already faced Lesnar twice earlier that year) took him out of the championship race on the road to SummerSlam.

7 Blindsiding The Undertaker

One trait of an ideal babyface is that they always deal with their opponents head-on. So, it was common for people to expect Roman Reigns to abide by this unwritten rule during his run as the top face of the company. On most days, The Big Dog did so. But March 20, 2017, wasn’t one of those days.

On the said night, Reigns clashed with Braun Strowman. Their bout was interrupted by The Undertaker, who went straight for a face-off with his WrestleMania 33 opponent. After getting interrupted and then taking care of Braun Strowman, The Phenom turned around to eat a huge Spear from the 2015 Royal Rumble winner. Not exactly a babyface move.

6 Throwing A Cinder Block At Seth Rollins

What good is a hero whose anger can get the best of him? Following The Shield’s heartbreaking split in the summer of 2014, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose embarked on a journey of revenge against their ex-ally, Seth Rollins, and the rest of The Authority.

During the aforementioned rivalry, The Big Dog once got way too close to crossing the line. It happened on the August 25, 2014, episode of WWE Raw when the Needle Mover unsuccessfully attempted to take the Kingslayer’s head off by throwing a cinder block at him. To say that Reigns was seeing red that night would be an understatement.

5 Allowing The Shield To Get Him Out Of A Title Defense

Several top babyfaces such as Jeff Hardy, The Undertaker, John Cena, etc. have been at the receiving end of Money in the Bank cash-ins at the worst possible times. Despite that, they tried their best to give their opponents a run for their money.

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Roman Reigns, on the other hand, had different plans on the Raw after SummerSlam 2018. When Strowman announced that he would be challenging The Big Dog following his hard-fought clash against Finn Balor, he got attacked by Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. The reunited Shield didn’t let the match start and laid out The Monster Among Men to close the show. And thus, Reigns was able to escape with his newly-won Universal Championship.

4 Entering The 2017 Royal Rumble Match At #30

Roman Reigns entered the 2017 Royal Rumble match as the surprise 30th entrant. Having already competed in a World Championship contest earlier in the night, The Big Dog’s involvement in the 30-man spectacle wasn’t expected nor anticipated.

Reigns entered the bout to roaring boos. Moreover, the fact that he eliminated The Undertaker didn’t sit well with the WWE Universe either. The five-time World Champion was attracting so much heat that his elimination at the hands of Randy Orton (a heel) earned the latter a mega-pop from the crowd.

3 Beating The Answer Out Of Buddy Murphy

This was more of an anti-hero act than it was heelish. One of WWE’s hottest angles during the summer of 2020 involved Roman Reigns trying to hunt down his mystery attacker. In doing so, his path crossed with Buddy Murphy.

The Head of the Table strongly believed that Murphy was aware of the attacker’s identity. So, he asked him nicely but didn’t get the answer he was looking for. So, he did what his cousin, The Rock did in Fast & Furious 6 and beat the answer out of him.

2 Spoiling Edge’s Emotional Comeback Match

Edge made his surprise return to in-ring action after nearly nine years at WWE Royal Rumble 2020. The ovation he got from the crowd once his iconic theme song started playing in the stadium was huge. So, it was clear from the get-go that whoever eliminated him would get booed out of the building.

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However, the problem surfaced when The Rated-R Superstar ended up in the final three along with two other top babyfaces, Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns. This is when The Tribal Chief took the heat and put a dent in Edge’s road to WrestleMania 36.

1 Nearly Murdering Braun Strowman

Reigns and Strowman’s 2017 feud was extremely chaotic. It was filled with wild brawls and hard-hitting matches. And this rivalry peaked at Great Balls of Fire after The Monster Among Men had defeated Reigns in an Ambulance Match.

Not in the mood to take the loss sportingly, Reigns launched a heinous post-match attack on his opponent. He put him into the back of the ambulance and then violently rammed the vehicle into a trailer. A significant portion of the WWE Universe was convinced that night that Reigns had finally embraced his dark side.