Roman Reigns made his debut on the October 31, 2012 episode of WWE NXT by defeating CJ Parker.
Roman Reigns made his main roster television debut on November 18, 2012 at Survivor Series alongside Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, assaulting Ryback during the triple threat main event for the WWE Championship, allowing CM Punk to retain the title. The trio declared themselves The Shield and vowed to rally against "injustice", while also denying working for Punk, even though they would routinely emerge from the crowd to attack Punk's adversaries, including Ryback and WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). This led to a six-man tag team Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 16, in which Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins defeated Team Hell No and Ryback in their debut match. The Shield continued to aid Punk in January 2013, attacking both Ryback and The Rock. On the January 28 episode of Raw, it was revealed that Punk and his manager Paul Heyman had been paying The Shield and Brad Maddox to work for them.
The Shield then indistinctly ended their association with Punk while beginning a feud with John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus that directed to a six-man tag match on February 17 at Elimination Chamber, which The Shield won. The Shield then made their WrestleMania debut, where they defeated Sheamus, Randy Orton and Big Show at WrestleMania 29 in April. The following night on Raw, The Shield attempted to attack The Undertaker, but they were stopped by Team Hell No. This set up a six-man tag team match on the April 22 episode of Raw, which The Shield won. On the May 13 episode of Raw, The Shield's undefeated streak in televised six-man tag team matches ended in a disqualification loss in an elimination tag team match against Cena, Kane and Bryan.
On May 19 at Extreme Rules, Reigns and Rollins defeated Team Hell No in a tornado tag team match to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. On the June 14 episode of SmackDown, The Shield's unpinned/unsubmitted streak in televised six-man tag team matches came to an end at the hands of Team Hell No and Randy Orton, when Bryan submitted Rollins. Reigns and Rollins defeated Bryan and Orton at Payback to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship. Further successful title defenses followed against The Usos at Money in the Bank and The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil) at Night of Champions.
In August, The Shield began working for chief operating officer Triple H and The Authority. On the October 14 episode of Raw, Reigns and Rollins lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to Cody Rhodes and Goldust in a no disqualification match, following interference from Big Show. At Hell in a Cell on October 27, Reigns and Rollins failed to regain the tag team title in a triple threat tag team match. The first seeds of dissension were sown in The Shield (especially between Ambrose and Reigns) with Ambrose's boasting of being the only member left with a championship. At Survivor Series on November 24, Reigns was the sole survivor for his team in the traditional five-on-five elimination tag team match after eliminating four opponents. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 15, The Shield were defeated by CM Punk in a 3-on-1 handicap match, after Reigns accidentally speared Ambrose, allowing him to be pinned. On January 26, 2014, Reigns entered the Royal Rumble match at number 15 and set the then-record for most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble with 12, as he eliminated both his Shield teammates, and was the runner-up in the match after being eliminated by Batista. The next night on Raw, The Shield competed in a six-man tag team match against Daniel Bryan, Sheamus and John Cena, with all three members of the winning team qualifying for the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which The Shield lost via disqualification after The Wyatt Family interfered and attacked Cena, Bryan and Sheamus. A six-man tag team match pitting The Shield against The Wyatt Family on February 24 at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view was arranged, in which The Shield lost after Ambrose abandoned the match mid-way through, creating further tension between the team.
In March, The Shield came out to seemingly attack Jerry Lawler, only to attack Kane instead, turning all three men into fan favorites in the process. Over the next few weeks, The Shield continued exchanging assaults with Kane, who was joined by The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg), leading to a match between the two teams on April 6 at WrestleMania XXX, which The Shield won. The feud with Kane also prompted The Shield to sever ties with Triple H, who reformed Evolution to counter them. The Shield then defeated Evolution at both Extreme Rules on May 4 and Payback on June 1. The following night on Raw, Triple H initiated his "plan B" which involved Rollins turning on The Shield and aligning himself with Triple H and The Authority.
Following Rollins's betrayal, Reigns would briefly continue teaming with Ambrose, before embarking on a singles run and being quickly placed into world title contention. After winning a battle royal, Reigns was inserted into a ladder match for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank, but failed to win the title during the main event match. His second consecutive pay-per-view main event was at Battleground in July, where Reigns again unsuccessfully challenged for the title, this time in a fatal four-way match (also involving Kane, Randy Orton and defending champion John Cena). Following the event, Reigns began a feud with Orton, culminating in a match at SummerSlam in August, which Reigns won.
The next month, a singles match was set up between Reigns and Rollins for Night of Champions on September 21, but Reigns developed a legit incarcerated hernia which required surgery prior to Night of Champions and, as a result, Rollins was declared the winner via forfeit, while Reigns was ruled out of action indefinitely. Reigns returned to WWE television on the December 8 episode of Raw, accepting the 2014 "Superstar of the Year" Slammy Award. On December 14 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, when Big Show interfered in John Cena's match against Seth Rollins, Reigns attacked both Big Show and Rollins, helping Cena win. This started a feud between Reigns and Big Show, in which Reigns defeated him multiple times by countout and disqualification. On January 25, 2015, Reigns, entering at number 19, won the 2015 Royal Rumble match by single-handedly eliminating the final three competitors: Big Show, Kane and lastly Rusev. After doing so, Reigns was booed heavily by the crowd, despite portraying a heroic character. On the February 2 episode of Raw, Reigns suffered his first pinfall loss in a singles match on the main roster when Big Show defeated him after interference from Rollins. Reigns was then forced to defend his WrestleMania title shot against Daniel Bryan in the main event of Fastlane on February 22 and succeeded in doing so after beating Bryan via pinfall. On March 29 at WrestleMania 31, Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract while Reigns's main event match with Brock Lesnar was in progress, turning it into a triple threat, which Reigns lost when he was pinned by Rollins.
In April, Reigns re-ignited his feud with Big Show, which culminated on April 26 in a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules, where Reigns defeated Show. On May 17 at Payback, Reigns once again failed to win the world title from Rollins in a fatal four-way main event that also involved Orton and Ambrose. On June 14 at Money in the Bank, Reigns competed in the Money in the Bank ladder match, which he failed to win after Bray Wyatt interfered and attacked him. On July 17 at Battleground, Wyatt defeated Reigns after former Wyatt Family member Luke Harper attacked Reigns. On the August 6 episode of SmackDown, Wyatt accepted Reigns's challenge to a tag team match at SummerSlam, with Reigns and Ambrose facing Wyatt and Harper. Reigns pinned Wyatt at the event on August 23 and the following night on Raw in a rematch, which ended via disqualification after Reigns and Ambrose were attacked by Wyatt's new ally, the debuting Braun Strowman. On September 20 at Night of Champions, Reigns and Ambrose teamed with Chris Jericho, but were defeated by Wyatt, Harper and Strowman. The feud between Reigns and Wyatt ended after their Hell in a Cell match at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event on October 25, in which Reigns was victorious.
On the October 26 episode of Raw, Reigns won a fatal four-way match (also involving Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens) to become the number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. However, then champion Seth Rollins legitimately injured his knee on November 4 and vacated the title the following day, which led to a tournament to crown a new champion. Reigns defeated Big Show in the first round, Cesaro in the quarterfinals, Alberto Del Rio in the semifinals and Dean Ambrose in the finals at Survivor Series on November 22 to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Triple H attempted to offer congratulations, but Reigns attacked him with a spear and Sheamus then cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and pinned Reigns, thus ending Reigns's reign at only 5 minutes. On December 13, Reigns failed to regain the title from Sheamus in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs following interference on Sheamus' behalf by fellow League of Nations members Alberto Del Rio and Rusev, but subsequently Reigns would attack the trio and also Triple H, who came out to stop him.
The next night on Raw, Vince McMahon granted Reigns a title rematch against Sheamus (with Reigns's career on the line), which Reigns won after overcoming McMahon, Del Rio and Rusev's interferences to regain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Reigns was then slated to defend his title in the Royal Rumble match on January 24, 2016, where Reigns scored a total of five eliminations after entering first, heading backstage for much of the match after an attack by The League of Nations and was eliminated upon his return by eventual winner Triple H, thus losing the world title and lasting nearly an hour (the longest out of everyone in the match). At Fastlane on February 22, Reigns pinned Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match also involving Brock Lesnar to receive a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H at WrestleMania 32 on April 3, where he defeated Triple H in the main event to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion for a third time. For this third world title reign, Reigns had two successful televised title defenses in May against AJ Styles, first at Payback and then Extreme Rules. Right after the Extreme Rules match against Styles at the latter event, Reigns was attacked by a returning Seth Rollins.
At Money in the Bank on June 19, Reigns was defeated by Rollins, marking his first clean loss on the main roster and ending his title reign at 77 days. On June 21, Reigns was suspended for 30 days for his first violation of WWE's Wellness Program.
On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Reigns was drafted to the Raw brand. Despite Reigns's suspension, WWE continued to advertise Reigns as part of the Battleground main event, and went on to acknowledge Reigns's suspension on television. On July 24 at Battleground, Reigns made his televised return, facing Rollins and Dean Ambrose (whom Rollins dropped the title to at Money in the Bank after Ambrose cashed-in his Money in the Bank contract) for the now-renamed WWE Championship, but Ambrose successfully retained the championship when he pinned Reigns. The following night on Raw, Reigns also failed to contend for the newly announced WWE Universal Championship against Rollins at SummerSlam, as he lost to the debuting Finn Bálor after earlier winning a fatal four-way match that involved Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn and Sheamus.
In August, Reigns began a feud with United States Champion Rusev, provoking a title match between the two at SummerSlam. At the event on August 21, Reigns and Rusev brawled before the match began, leading to the match being declared a no contest. In a rematch at Clash of Champions in September, Reigns would defeat Rusev to win the United States Championship, and retained the title against Rusev in a Hell in a Cell match at the titular event on October 30 to end their feud. Reigns was later announced as a member for Team Raw in the traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match on November 20 alongside Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman which Team Raw lost after Reigns was the last man to be eliminated by Bray Wyatt. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, Reigns faced Universal Champion Kevin Owens, but lost via disqualification when Chris Jericho attacked Owens to prevent Reigns from winning the match and the title. On the January 9, 2017 episode of Raw, Reigns lost the United States Championship to Jericho in a handicap match also involving Owens ending his reign at 106 days.
This led to a no disqualification rematch with Owens at the Royal Rumble on January 29 that saw Jericho being suspended above the ring in a shark cage, where Reigns lost after Braun Strowman interfered. Later in the event, Reigns entered at number 30 in the Royal Rumble match, eliminating Bray Wyatt, Chris Jericho and The Undertaker before being last eliminated by Randy Orton. At Fastlane on March 5, Reigns defeated Strowman, giving Strowman his first pinfall loss on the main roster. The following night on Raw, Reigns was chokeslammed by The Undertaker after they both joined forces to attack Strowman. This led to a No Holds Barred match between Reigns and Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 on April 2, which Reigns won in his third consecutive WrestleMania main event. The next night on Raw, Reigns opened the show to ten minutes of severe boos and chants from the crowd, attempting to stop him from speaking, before simply stating "This is my yard now" and leaving the ring. Reigns then resumed his feud with Strowman, after Strowman kayfabe injured Reigns' shoulder. A match was set up between the two at Payback on April 30, which Reigns lost.
Following Strowman's legit elbow injury, Reigns set his sights back on newly Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, which led Raw General Manager Kurt Angle to schedule a Universal Championship number one contender's Extreme Rules fatal five-way match for Extreme Rules on June 4 between Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe and Seth Rollins that Reigns failed to win. On the June 19 episode of Raw, Reigns challenged whoever would be the WWE Universal Champion at SummerSlam, but later that night Strowman returned in an ambulance and cost Reigns his match with Joe, before attacking and challenged him to an ambulance match at Great Balls of Fire on July 9. Reigns lost the match at the event, but subsequently attacked and locked Strowman inside the ambulance before driving it into a production truck. At SummerSlam on August 20, Reigns was pinned by Brock Lesnar in a WWE Universal Championship match also involving Strowman and Joe. After a brief feud with John Cena, Reigns defeated him at No Mercy on September 24 and the next night on Raw described it as the biggest win in his career.
In October, due to mutual issues with The Miz, The Miztourage (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) and Cesaro and Sheamus, all three members of The Shield eventually decided to reform in order to combat the aforementioned alliance. Reigns was due to team with Rollins and Ambrose at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on October 22, but over an illness concern Kurt Angle would take his place. At Survivor Series on November 19, The Shield defeated The New Day in a six-man tag team match. The following night on Raw, Reigns defeated The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship, thus becoming the twenty-eighth Triple Crown and seventeenth Grand Slam champion, the second member of The Shield after Ambrose to achieve the Grand Slam. Following his title win, Reigns would successfully defend the title against Elias, Jason Jordan, Cesaro and Samoa Joe before losing it back to The Miz on the 25th Anniversary of Raw on January 22, 2018, ending his reign at 63 days.
Reigns participated in the annual Royal Rumble match at the namesake pay-per-view on January 28, but failed to win the match after being last eliminated by Shinsuke Nakamura. After defeating Bray Wyatt on the February 5 episode of Raw, Reigns qualified for the Elimination Chamber match, which he won, earning the right to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34. At WrestleMania, Reigns failed to win the championship from Lesnar after suffering six F-5's and bleeding during the course of the match. They had a rematch for the championship at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this time inside a steel cage, where Reigns failed to win the title again after spearing Lesnar through the cage and thus accidentally giving the win to Lesnar as he escaped the cage first per the match rules.
After defeating Samoa Joe at Backlash and Jinder Mahal at Money in the Bank, Reigns then entered a feud with Bobby Lashley, where both men believed that they were the rightful challenger to Lesnar's championship. This set up a match at Extreme Rules, where Lashley was victorious. The following night on Raw, two triple threat matches were set to determine Lesnar's challenger for SummerSlam. Reigns and Lashley won their respective matches, setting up a number one contender's match between the two the following week, which Reigns won. At SummerSlam, Reigns successfully defeated Lesnar and won the Universal Championship for the first time in his career, ending Lesnar's title reign at 504 days. Reigns went on to reignite his feud with Braun Strowman, who was the Money in the Bank holder. During the feud, Rollins and Ambrose assisted Reigns to retain the title, so Strowman allied with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in order to counter them. Reigns then faced Strowman at Hell in a Cell in the namesake match, which ended in a no contest after Brock Lesnar returned and attacked both men. On October 6 at Super Show-Down, The Shield defeated Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre in a six-man tag team match before losing to them in a rematch on Raw two nights later.
Following the Super Show-Down event, a triple threat match between Reigns, Strowman and Lesnar for the Universal Championship was scheduled for Crown Jewel event. However, on October 22, Reigns relinquished the title and announced his hiatus on Raw, revealing that his leukemia had returned after 11 years of privately battling it and being in remission. On February 25, 2019, Reigns made his return to Raw, revealing that his leukemia is once again in remission to a huge ovation from the crowd. He was joined on stage by Rollins, before the two embraced. Later in the night, Reigns and Rollins would appear to assist Ambrose from an attack by Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Elias and Baron Corbin, hinting a possible reunion. The following week on Raw, Ambrose assisted Reigns and Rollins from another attack by the four, before the trio performed their signature pose, officially reuniting the group for the third time. The Shield defeated the team of McIntyre, Lashley and Corbin at Fastlane. On the March 25 episode of Raw, Reigns accepted a challenge from McIntyre for a match at WrestleMania 35. Subsequent to accepting the challenge, Reigns and McIntyre began brawling in the ring. At the event, Reigns defeated McIntyre.
During the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, Reigns was drafted to the SmackDown brand on the April 16 episode of SmackDown, with WWE's announcers describing Reigns as "SmackDown’s greatest ever acquisition", as well as the future of SmackDown and WWE. During the episode, Reigns attacked Elias and performed a Superman Punch on Vince McMahon. The following week, Shane McMahon challenged Reigns to a fight for attacking his father. Reigns came out and was attacked from behind by Elias, who assisted Shane in beating up Reigns. Elias then challenged Reigns to a match at Money in the Bank which Reigns accepted and also won. On the May 20 episode of Raw, Reigns, who appeared via the wild card rule, was interrupted by Shane, who was still bothered by Reigns' attack on his father. Reigns then challenged Shane to a match at Super Showdown, which the latter accepted. At Super Showdown in June, Reigns lost to McMahon after interference from McIntyre. Three weeks later, Reigns defeated McIntyre at Stomping Grounds, despite interference from McMahon. The following night on Raw, Reigns was saved by The Undertaker from an assault from McMahon and McIntyre. Reigns and Undertaker teamed up to defeat McMahon and McIntyre in a no holds barred tag team match at Extreme Rules.
On the July 30 episode of SmackDown, Reigns was about to announce his SummerSlam opponent when all of a sudden, an unidentified person pushed lighting equipment on top of Reigns backstage. The attacker was originally alleged to be Samoa Joe due to their previous rivalry, but he was proven innocent during a hit and run on Reigns in which Joe was a witness. Buddy Murphy then became a suspect/witness as he was spotted in the background in the footage of the original attack, prompting Reigns to force Murphy to reveal that the attacker was Erick Rowan. Reigns would then defeat Murphy in a match one week later. On that same night, Rowan and his tag team partner Daniel Bryan then forced Murphy to reveal that he was lying and they conducted their own investigation to find out that Reigns' attacker was a man that looked like Rowan. However, Reigns found additional footage that showed Rowan pushing over the equipment. Rowan then admitted it was him and admitted he was responsible for the hit and run as well. This caused Bryan and Rowan to split due to Rowan lying, and a match between Reigns and Rowan was scheduled for Clash of Champions. On the September 10 episode of SmackDown, Reigns and Rowan had a brawl around the arena that ended with Rowan knocking Reigns out with a jib camera. Their match at Clash of Champions then became a No Disqualification match, where Rowan defeated Reigns with help from a returning Luke Harper. Subsequently, Reigns teamed with Bryan to defeat Rowan and Harper at Hell in a Cell in a tornado tag team match. At Crown Jewel later that month, Reigns was part of Team Hogan (alongside Rusev, Ricochet, Shorty G, and Ali), defeating Team Flair (Randy Orton, King Corbin, Bobby Lashley, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Drew McIntyre). The following month at Survivor Series, Reigns captained Team SmackDown to a victory over Team Raw and Team NXT in a 5-on-5-on-5 tag team elimination match, being the sole survivor. During the match, Corbin caused Mustafa Ali to be eliminated. Reigns responded, spearing Corbin and allowing him to be eliminated. On the following episode of SmackDown, Reigns defeated Robert Roode. After fending off Corbin and Dolph Ziggler, Reigns flipped an announce table onto Roode. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 15, Reigns was defeated by Corbin in a TLC match following interference from Ziggler and The Revival. At the Royal Rumble on January 26, 2020, Reigns defeated Corbin in a falls count anywhere match, after receiving assistance from The Usos. Later that night, he entered the Royal Rumble match, but was the last competitor eliminated by eventual winner Drew McIntyre. The following month at Super ShowDown, Reigns defeated Corbin in a steel cage match to end their feud. The following night on SmackDown, Reigns challenged Goldberg for the Universal Championship, leading to a match between the two being set up for WrestleMania 36. However, on April 3, it was announced that Braun Strowman would replace Reigns at the event, after Reigns opted to pull out of the event amid medical concerns.
On August 23, at SummerSlam, Reigns made his return by attacking "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman after their Universal Championship match. On the following SmackDown, Reigns aligned himself with Paul Heyman, turning heel for the first time since 2014; he also refused to sign the contract for the planned no holds barred triple threat match between himself, Wyatt and Strowman, claiming that he was unsatisfied with the contract, but would be part of the match nonetheless. At Payback, Reigns did not show up at the start of the match, which at first took place as a one-on-one no holds barred match between Wyatt and Strowman; later into the match, after Wyatt and Strowman had destroyed the ring while fighting, Reigns showed up with Heyman and finally signed the match contract, joining the match midway, attacking the two with a steel chair and pinning Strowman to regain the Universal Championship, cementing his heel turn. Reigns would then attack his cousin Jey Uso on the September 25 episode of SmackDown. In his first championship defense at Clash of Champions, Reigns retained the title against Jey Uso after Jimmy Uso threw in the towel. On the following episode of SmackDown, a celebration ceremony was held to crown Reigns as the tribal chief, but Reigns refused to be named as such because Jey did not acknowledge him; Reigns would then call out Jey to the ring. After Jey continued to eye the Universal Championship, Reigns gave Jey another title shot at Hell in a Cell with "the highest stakes of any match in WWE history," which Jey accepted. The match was confirmed as a Hell in a Cell match the next day. The following week, Reigns stated he wanted to hear Jey say "I quit," turning the match into the first-ever "I Quit" match contested inside the Hell in a Cell structure. At the event on October 25, Reigns retained the title against Jey.
On the following episode of SmackDown, Reigns and Jey addressed the match, and Jey stated that he despised Reigns for his actions, however, Reigns stated he did what he had to do. Reigns then gave Jey until the end of the night to fall in line and take orders or be exiled from the family. Later that night, Jey faced Daniel Bryan in a Survivor Series qualifier match for Team SmackDown. Reigns came out midway through the match and watched on from ringside. After Jey defeated Bryan, Jey finally accepted Reigns as the Tribal Chief. Jey then attacked a defenseless Bryan and put him through an announce table, which pleased Reigns. At Survivor Series on November 22, Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre in a champion versus champion match.
Reigns then began a new feud with Kevin Owens, after Reigns perceived Owens to be disrespecting his family. Reigns successfully defended the title against Owens in a TLC match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 20 and a Last Man Standing match at the 2021 Royal Rumble on January 31. Reigns also successfully defended the title against Daniel Bryan at Elimination Chamber in less than two minutes after the latter won an Elimination Chamber match for a title opportunity earlier in the night. Reigns successfully defended the title against Bryan at Fastlane with Edge as special guest enforcer for that match. In the main event of night two of WrestleMania 37 on April 11, Reigns defeated Bryan and Edge in a triple threat match to retain the Universal Championship after assistance from Jey Uso.
On April 30, after debuting new entrance music, Reigns defeated Bryan in a 'title versus career' match to retain the title, in which Bryan was banished from SmackDown. At WrestleMania Backlash, Reigns defeated Cesaro by a submission. After the match, Jey Uso and Seth Rollins both attacked Cesaro by breaking his arm. Afterwards, Reigns initiated a rivalry with Rey Mysterio, after Reigns brutalized Rey's son Dominik. The two faced off for the championship in a Hell in a Cell match on the June 18 episode of SmackDown, with Reigns emerging as the victor. On the June 25 episode of SmackDown, while addressing his victory over Mysterio, Reigns was attacked by the returning Edge, leading to a title match between the two at Money in the Bank, where Reigns retained after assistance by Seth Rollins. After the match, Reigns was confronted by a returning John Cena. Over the following weeks, Cena challenged Reigns for a title match at SummerSlam, and after initially rejecting Cena's challenge, a match was made official for the two at the event. At the event, Reigns defeated Cena to retain the title, but afterwards was confronted by a returning Brock Lesnar.
Shortly after, Reigns would begin feuding with Finn Bálor. The two would eventually face each other for the Universal Championship on the September 3 episode of SmackDown, but Reigns would retain the title following interference from The Usos. Following the match, a red light appeared over Bálor, teasing the return of his Demon King persona. On the following episode of SmackDown, Bálor appeared as his Demon King persona for the first time since June 2019 and subsequently it was announced that he would face Reigns in a rematch for the championship at Extreme Rules. At the event, Reigns would defeat The Demon. On October 21, at Crown Jewel, Reigns successfully defended his title against Brock Lesnar with the help of his cousins The Usos. On November 8, it was announced that Reigns would face WWE Champion Big E at Survivor Series. At the event, Reigns would defeat Big E.
On the December 17 episode of SmackDown, Reigns confronted Heyman about his relationship with Lesnar. After Heyman told Reigns he was trying to protect him from the former champion, Reigns turned on Heyman and fired him. Reigns then knocked Heyman out with a Superman punch, but before he could inflict further damage on his now former advocate, Lesnar came out to confront him. After attacking the Usos with F-5’s on the floor, Lesnar entered the ring where Reigns began assaulting him with a steel chair. The Universal Champion would then be on the receiving end of two F-5’s from Lesnar as the show ended. Reigns was then scheduled to defend his title against Lesnar at the Day 1 event on January 1, 2022, but the match was canceled as a result of illness. On January 16, Reigns surpassed Lesnar's 503-day reign to become the longest reigning Universal Champion, in turn having the sixth longest world championship reign in the company's history. On January 29, at the Royal Rumble, Reigns lost to Seth Rollins via disqualification, therefore retaining the Universal Championship. Later that same night, he interfered in the WWE Championship match between Lesnar and Bobby Lashley, reuniting with Heyman to cause the upset victory for Lashley to regain the championship. On the February 4 episode of SmackDown, Goldberg would make his return to challenge Reigns to a match at Elimination Chamber for the title a match two years in the making after their match at WrestleMania 36 was called off due to Reigns taking a hiatus. At the event, Reigns defeated Goldberg via technical submission to retain the title. At WrestleMania 38, he pinned Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship for a fourth time and also became the first superstar to hold both the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship simultaneously. On the June 17 episode of SmackDown, Reigns successfully defended the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Riddle, however after the match he was attacked by a returning Brock Lesnar to renew their rivalry and set up a Last Man Standing match at SummerSlam, which Reigns won, ending their feud. At Clash at the Castle, Reigns successfully retained the titles against Drew McIntyre following interference from the debuting Solo Sikoa. At Crown Jewel on November 5, Reigns successfully retained the titles against Logan Paul. Three weeks later at Survivor Series WarGames on November 26, Reigns along with The Usos, Sami Zayn and Solo Sikoa defeated McIntyre, Owens and The Brawling Brutes in a WarGames match. At the Royal Rumble on January 28, 2023, Reigns successfully defended the titles against Kevin Owens for the fourth time. At Elimination Chamber on February 18, Reigns successfully retained the titles against Sami Zayn, after Zayn turned face on the Bloodline at the Rumble. At WrestleMania 39, on Night Two of the event, Reigns successfully retained the titles against Rhodes after interference from Sikoa. At Night of Champions, Reigns and Sikoa unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. During the match, The Usos interfered and accidentally attacked Sikoa while aiming for Zayn. The subsequent sequence of events culminated in Jimmy Uso attacking Reigns, and The Usos walking away from The Bloodline. At Money in the Bank on July 1, Reigns and Sikoa faced The Usos in a "Bloodline Civil War" tag team match, where Reigns was pinned by Jey, marking his first pinfall loss since December 2019. At SummerSlam, a returning Jimmy, who was injured by Reigns weeks back, betrayed Jey to allow Reigns to pick up the win to stay as champion and the Tribal Chief. At Crown Jewel on November 4, Reigns successfully defended the titles against LA Knight. At the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2024, Reigns defeated Knight, Randy Orton and AJ Styles, who Reigns pinned, to retain the titles in a fatal four-way match. On night one of WrestleMania XL, Reigns and The Rock won a tag team match against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins to enforce Bloodline Rules for Reigns' title match against 2024 Royal Rumble winner Rhodes on night two. During the match the next night, Reigns lost the title to Rhodes, ending his record setting Universal Championship reign at 1,316 days and ending his WWE Championship reign at 735 days.
After losing the titles, Reigns took time off from television and Sikoa was appointed as the leader of The Bloodline. The formation changed when Jimmy was kicked out of the group and Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, the sons of Haku, as well as Jacob Fatu, were included into the stable. On the April 26 episode of SmackDown, Paul Heyman informed fans that Reigns voluntarily withdrew from the 2024 WWE Draft. After weeks of bypassing Reigns' orders in storyline and ousting Heyman from the group, Sikoa removed Reigns from the leadership of The Bloodline and the group altogether. On August 3, Reigns made his return at SummerSlam, attacking Sikoa and helping Rhodes retain his title in a Bloodline Rules match, turning face for the first time since 2020. After several encounters with the Bloodline, the latter of which he was triple powerbombed through a table, taking him out for several weeks, Reigns would return again to defend Cody Rhodes from an attack on the Bloodline following his retaining of the Undisputed Championship against Sikoa. Later that evening, Nick Aldis would draw up a contract for a tag match between the Bloodline (specifically Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu) and the team of Reigns and Rhodes. After some deliberation, both men would accept, setting the match for Bad Blood. At the event, Reigns and Rhodes were victorious with Reigns pinning Sikoa following interference from the returning Jimmy Uso.