Jim Ross Doubts Roman Reigns Will Be Remembered As WWE’s GOAT

Jim Ross says Roman Reigns has earned a WWE Hall of Fame résumé, but he isn’t ready to call the Tribal Chief the greatest professional wrestler of all time.

Ross addressed the topic on the latest episode of Grilling JR with Conrad Thompson, in a conversation that also explored Paul Heyman’s outsized influence on the careers of some of WWE’s top stars. The discussion was sparked by remarks Thompson recently made on 83 Weeks, where he argued Reigns was pushed hard by WWE management rather than embraced organically by the audience, and that his career only reached elite status once Heyman entered the picture as his advocate.

Ross didn’t fully co-sign that theory, but he made clear just how much he values Heyman’s ability to elevate talent, comparing him to one of the greatest managers in wrestling history. “Paul Heyman is invaluable to getting talent over. He’s the Bobby Heenan of this generation, as it relates to bringing a focus to the individual that he’s managing,” Ross said. He also pointed out that Heyman’s career choices are deliberate — the longtime advocate hasn’t managed a tag team in years because his energy is best spent on a single marquee star, whether that’s Brock Lesnar or Reigns.

According to Ross, a huge chunk of Heyman’s value never actually makes it to television. He described Heyman’s behind-the-scenes work on promos, psychology and overall presentation as just as critical as anything fans see on camera, crediting him with helping mold Lesnar’s legendary run. Still, Ross was careful to note that Heyman has always had elite raw material to work with — Lesnar chief among them — and that part of Heyman’s genius is protecting and amplifying stars who are already special, since their success is directly tied to his own bottom line.

When the conversation circled back to Reigns specifically, Ross praised him as a franchise player for WWE without going as far as anointing him wrestling’s all-time best. “I love the kid. I think he’s great for the business. I think he’s great for WWE. He looks like a champion. He represents well, but I don’t know what you mean by the greatest of all time or whatever. I don’t know he’ll ever be considered greatest of all time, but he’s always going to be considered as someone that had a great run, and has had a Hall of Fame career without question,” Ross said.

Notably, Ross’ take carves out a middle ground between two extremes that often dominate this debate — the idea that Reigns was purely a manufactured push, and the idea that his Tribal Chief run stands alongside the very best to ever do it. Instead, Ross frames Heyman as a crucial accelerant on an already legitimate main-event talent rather than the sole reason for Reigns’ success.

The Reigns-Heyman pairing dates back to 2020, when Reigns’ character transformation kicked off the Tribal Chief era that redefined his run atop WWE. Heyman was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2024, and Reigns most recently retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Seth Rollins in the SummerSlam Night Two main event.

The GOAT conversation in wrestling is rarely settled, and Ross’ comments are unlikely to close the book on where Reigns ultimately lands in that debate. But with a Hall of Fame résumé already secured, the more interesting question going forward may be less about legacy labels and more about how much longer this version of the Tribal Chief era has left to run.