Roman Reigns Lost to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40 — Is He Retiring?
"He’s going to go on a whole new story now that’s going to blow people’s minds. He’s going to take it to a whole other level.”
Published April 8 2024, 2:54 p.m. ET
After 1,316 days, Roman Reigns is no longer the WWE Universal Champion. On the second night of WrestleMania 40, Cody Rhodes finally finished the story and defeated Roman.
Now that Roman isn't wearing the belt, will we be seeing The Tribal Chief more or less often? Is Roman done with professional wrestling? Keep reading for all of the details.
Is Roman Reign retiring from wrestling?
Yes, Roman did say that he was retiring. In the A&E documentary on the WWE Superstar that aired on March 31, 2024, the performer said, “You guys better cherish these moments, 'cause once I lose the WWE Undisputed championship, I'm calling it quits.”
It’s extremely important to remember this aired the week before WrestleMania. Roman was just building up the match. It’s commonplace for pro wrestlers to claim they’re going to retire if they lose. It's sometimes a match stipulation.
Terry Funk, one of the greatest pro wrestlers, had seven different retirement matches from 1983 until 2015. He didn’t retire after any of them. He actually wrestled until 2017. He passed away in 2023 and never technically retired.
The WWE press conferences tend to let you know what’s going to happen with your favorite wrestlers.
Professional wrestling is in a wonderful era and performers like Roman are one of the reasons why. The blurring of reality and storyline has never been greater but every once in a while, the truth is clear. That happened following Roman’s loss to Cody during the post-show press conference.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the Chief Content Officer of WWE, spoke for 30 minutes following the event. He talked about Roman’s future and said, “There’s a lot of banter about the greatest of all time. You can make arguments for a lot of people in that and there’s a lot of metrics that you can measure that by, or opinions, whatever that is. If he is not the, he is one of, absolutely, for certain, the greatest of all time."
In addition to gushing about one of WWE’s biggest names, Paul also teased that Roman’s new story is something to look forward to. “I can’t say enough good stuff about him and to do what he did with Cody Rhodes and complete, it’s not completing the, it’s just getting to the end of that chapter. He’s going to go on a whole new story now that’s going to blow people’s minds. He’s going to take it to a whole other level. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for him.”
Roman isn't on TV as much as other wrestlers due to his contract.
Roman isn’t on television as much as guys like Cody, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, or most of the other WWE superstars because he's working on a part-time contract. He spoke about it on the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast in August 2022. “For me, it was trying to balance everything. It was extremely important that I can build my fatherhood as the priority and the number one hat that I wear.”
In addition to helping Roman spend more time with his family, it has also made him more valuable when he does wrestle. “It’s done well so far. The reactions, it makes everything feel more special if you’re not as attainable or available. It puts a little mystique around you.”