Roman Reigns has been making enemies out of the entire WWE roster from the moment he crashed onto the scene 12 years ago at Survivor Series.

As part of The Shield, he was an immediate threat and took down everyone put in his path of destruction. Even on his own, he constantly had a target on his back with it being clear he was being positioned as the next big thing in the company.

Now more than ever Reigns finds himself settling scores with several Superstars simultaneously after the tyrannical reign he had as undisputed WWE universal champion.

Although he currently has Solo Sikoa and the rest of The New Bloodline in his crosshairs, that doesn't come close to many of the other excellent feuds he's had over the last dozen years.

The Tribal Chief has been the perfect foil for a number of notable names, both as a babyface and as a heel at various points. He brought the best out of them the same way they played a pivotal role in helping to elevate him to a whole other stratosphere of superstardom.

The following are the five greatest rivalries of Reigns' iconic career.

Honorable Mentions

Cody Rhodes

The year-long build to Rhodes challenging Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 39 was brilliantly done, and fans were convinced The American Nightmare would be the one to dethrone him.

Although it didn't happen that night, his road to redemption made for an even greater moment when he finished his story the subsequent year at The Show of Shows to become champ.

It was the perfect payoff to Reigns' historic title run, and Rhodes was the perfect person for the job.

Braun Strowman

Reigns and Strowman had a handful of run-ins in the fall of 2015 but didn't formally feud until 2017 when the latter had found his footing as a singles star.

Between the then-Big Dog handing him his first singles defeat and The Monster Among Men brutalizing Reigns in all sorts of extreme environments, all of their matches felt like a spectacle.

Sami Zayn

Zayn gave Reigns one of his best stories of his four-year championship reign by starting out as an "Honorary Uce" before later freeing himself of The Bloodline's abuse to challenge for the gold.

Zayn's hometown of Montréal made for an electric atmosphere when they clashed at Elimination Chamber 2023 where he returned to his roots as the ultimate underdog.

Drew McIntyre

Every iteration of the McIntyre-Reigns rivalry dating back to 2019 has been better than the last. Their WrestleMania 35 match was solid albeit unspectacular, while their Survivor Series 2020—with the roles reversed—was significantly stronger.

McIntyre looked poised to end Reigns' run as champ at Clash at the Castle 2022 in Cardiff, Wales before falling short on that occasion as well, which eventually served as the catalyst for the Scot's heel turn.

John Cena

Reigns was far from the performer he is today when he first feuded with Cena in September 2017.

He reigned supreme over The Champ when they went one-on-one at No Mercy that year, but Reigns' evolution into The Tribal Chief made it much more monumental when they rekindled their rivalry heading into SummerSlam 2021.

This is in addition to The Shield being a major thorn in Cena's side from their debut in 2012 into 2013.

5. Jey Uso

Within weeks of Reigns returning to WWE TV in 2020 as a heel and winning the Universal Championship, Jey Uso earned an opportunity at the title and was the first Superstar to challenge him.

This was at a time when Uso had never been booked as anything other than a tag team wrestler, but his brother, Jimmy, being out injured allowed him to showcase his skills as a singles star for a change. Almost overnight, he rose to the occasion both in the ring and on the mic in his many interactions with Reigns.

Their back-to-back bouts for the belt that fall featured fantastic storytelling with Uso barely coming up short on each occasion. Per the stipulation of his second loss to Reigns, he was forced to "fall in line," effectively forming The Bloodline as fans eventually knew it.

Despite being a cohesive unit for nearly three years, that underlying tension lingered and ultimately amounted to Jey breaking away from The Bloodline in the summer of 2023. He was again unsuccessful in dethroning Reigns at SummerSlam that year but became a huge fan favorite in the process, proving he could indeed do it on his own.

Their storyline single-handedly cemented Uso as a fixture toward the top of the card, where he remains to this day.

4. Kevin Owens

Although Kevin Owens and Reigns had a series of matches over the Universal Championship in 2016 and 2017, their rivalry was hardly interesting due to subpar booking.

It wasn't until they switched roles for their feud over the same title in late 2020 that they did their best work together.

This was shortly after Jey had reluctantly aligned with Reigns and gone full-fledged heel. Owens stepped up as The Tribal Chief's next challenger and clicked as a scrappy babyface with a never-say-die attitude despite the empty arena atmosphere during the pandemic period.

Reigns retained in their demolition derby of a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match thanks to an assist from Uso. The same could be said about their rematches on SmackDown inside of a steel cage and at the Royal Rumble in a Last Man Standing contest.

All of their encounters were complete chaos and always ended with The Head of the Table finding a way to win. That was again the case at Survivor Series: WarGames 2022 and at the Royal Rumble 2023, but KO did get a measure of revenge over The Bloodline by beating The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 39.

Owens and Reigns had such a stellar dynamic as opponents that it may not be long before they're back to being at odds, especially considering how The Prizefighter's recent heel turn stemmed from him taking exception to Cody Rhodes teaming with their archrival.

3. Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan, now known as Bryan Danielson in All Elite Wrestling, has been gone from WWE long enough that fans tend to forget he was the first person to push Reigns to his limit and test his mettle as a main event performer.

Bryan and Reigns competed in many six-man tag team matches early on in The Shield's rise, and as soon as The Big Dog branched off into singles competition in 2014, Bryan was a major roadblock standing in his way of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Bryan's unceremonious exit from the 2015 Royal Rumble match made Reigns, the ultimate winner, public enemy number one in the eyes of the audience. That was truly the turning point for The Big Dog as far as fans never accepting completely him as a babyface, at least until recently.

Reigns agreed to put his guaranteed title shot at WrestleMania 31 on the line against Bryan at the inaugural installment of Fastlane, and it was easily the best bout his burgeoning career up to that point.

It was only academic to revisit the rivalry once Reigns transformed into The Tribal Chief years later, and the timing couldn't have been better. Bryan inserted himself into Reigns' road to WrestleMania 37 feud with Edge and was portrayed as the most likable character in the storyline.

Reigns being responsible for Bryan's "banishment" from SmackDown soon after was a fitting farewell for him.

2. Seth Rollins

No one has been more central to the character arc of Reigns in WWE than Seth Rollins.

The two debuted together as The Shield and were among the fastest-rising stars of the modern era along with teammate Dean Ambrose. Rollins betraying his brethren to join The Authority in 2014 kicked off countless stories that are still being told today.

Rollins and Reigns have had their fair share of matches in the last decade and have never ceased to make magic, regardless of their respective character alignment at any given time. Interestingly, for as many matchups as they've been involved in, a lengthy program has always eluded them.

The closest they came was in 2016 when they waged war for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank and again in 2022 at the Royal Rumble. Both bouts established that Reigns is seemingly incapable of beating Rollins whenever it has mattered most one-on-one on big stages.

Rollins refusing to team with Reigns for the men's WarGames match at Survivor Series 2024 means there's plenty more story to tell between them and The Visionary could someday occupy the top spot on this list depending on those next chapters.

1. Brock Lesnar

While not the most consistently compelling, there's no denying the magnitude of the Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns rivalry and how it essentially defined an entire era of WWE—for better or worse.

Reigns' aforementioned falling out with the audience didn't bode well for him when his feud with the former MMA fighter started out in early 2015. Nothing about the buildup was interesting in the slightest, especially with it being a foregone conclusion Lesnar would pass the torch to Reigns at WrestleMania 31 and leave WWE for UFC.

The bout benefited big-time from The Beast Incarnate shockingly announcing his decision to stay days ahead of the event. Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank contract to steal the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Lesnar by pinning Reigns also prolonged the program between Lesnar and Reigns.

Following a few multi-man matches in 2016 and 2017, their next full-fledged feud came in 2018, which wasn't anywhere as enjoyable. None of their three pay-per-view matches that year were well received by fans, and Reigns ending Lesnar's lengthy reign as universal champion was the most predictable path WWE could have taken.

What earns their indelible feud the top spot was their work from SummerSlam 2021 through SummerSlam 2022. Paul Heyman played a key role with it being unknown where his allegiance lay, and that drama made SmackDown can't-miss television for nearly a year.

Although their WrestleMania 38 encounter underwhelmed, they capped off their rivalry in brilliant fashion with a fantastic Last Man Standing match that cemented Reigns' superiority over his longtime adversary.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.