The Undertaker praises Roman Reigns: What an 'amazing run' as WWE champion

Originally posted on F4WOnline.com | By Joseph Currier | Last updated 4/16/24

The Undertaker is amazed at the "phenomenal" run Roman Reigns had as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.

After 1,316 days as WWE's top champion, Reigns was dethroned by Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 40 night two. Undertaker played a role in the match, making a cameo appearance as he helped Rhodes fend off interference by The Bloodline. Undertaker laid out The Rock with a chokeslam.

On his Six Feet Under podcast, Undertaker was asked what the environment was like backstage after the match. He said it was a little hectic because people were coming back at different times and from different places, but there were a lot of emotional moments.

Undertaker praised the run Reigns had as champion. Though it isn't the longest reign in WWE history, Undertaker explained why he doesn't feel the comparison to past eras is fair:

There was a lot of really emotional moments backstage. You can imagine Roman coming back and after just -- what an amazing run as champion. I mean, it really -- If you look at it and put it in today's market -- what a phenomenal run. It's not going to go down in the record books as the longest World title run. But when you look at it in actuality with as much coverage, as much media, as much exposure that you have now -- I mean, you have to go back to someone like [Bob] Backlund's run and [Hulk] Hogan's early run. They didn't have social media. They didn't have as much live TV or they didn't wrestle at all on TV.

Bruno Sammartino, Backlund, and Hogan are the three wrestlers with longer WWE World title runs than Reigns.

Reigns hasn't appeared on WWE television since his WrestleMania loss. Changes were made to The Bloodline last week with the debuting Tama Tonga getting added to the group and Jimmy Uso being kicked out.

Undertaker, who had struggled to come to grips with his retirement, said on Six Feet Under that his involvement with WrestleMania 40 provided closure on his in-ring career and made him a fan of wrestling again.