{"id":163803,"date":"2026-07-01T07:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=163803"},"modified":"2026-07-01T01:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T05:44:08","slug":"wwes-8-best-worst-main-events-reality-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/07\/01\/wwes-8-best-worst-main-events-reality-era\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE Reality Era: 8 Best & Worst Main Events"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WWE Reality Era<\/a> was the shortest of all WWE\u2019s Eras. It was a time of massive change in WWE, as the company moved away from its PG rating. The creation of the WWE Network and the rising popularity of social media changed how the product was presented.<\/p>\n

The lines of reality were blurred, with many programs leaving fans questioning what was real and what wasn\u2019t. Fans had more access to the company than ever before, and WWE used that transparency to drive storylines.<\/p>\n

Because of this transparency, WWE heard about every success and every misstep. When a PLE main event was off the charts, the love came in, but when it didn\u2019t hit the mark, the IWC blew up. It was hard to maintain any level of consistency, with just as many great main events as terrible ones. Let\u2019s take a look at the best and worst of these Reality Era main events and how the world reacted.<\/p>\n

Best and Worst WWE Reality Era Matches:<\/h2>\n

Best: Randy Orton v Batista v Daniel Bryan (WrestleMania 30)<\/a> <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The main event of WrestleMania was a fan-driven match. Daniel Bryan had the backing of the WWE audience, but not the office. Bryan was not seen as a main event player, and when fans realized he was being left out of WrestleMania\u2019s main event, they used their influence to change the narrative. Bryan was thrust into a program for WWE\u2019s top prize, making it one of WrestleMania\u2019s most cathartic main events.<\/p>\n

Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, and Batista were always going to give the world a well-wrestled main event. The contrast in styles presented a great dynamic, but this was always a match driven by emotion. The emotion of Daniel Bryan and the New Orleans crowd took everything to the next level. The Miracle on Bourbon Street was proof that the audience mattered.<\/p>\n

Worst: Triple H v Roman Reigns (WrestleMania 32) <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Roman Reigns project didn\u2019t work well in his early days. The office continued to push the future Tribal Chief to the moon, and nearly every fan rejected it. Everywhere Reigns went, he received negative reactions despite being booked as a top babyface. Nothing was working, and WWE marched ahead anyway with a WrestleMania main event that no one wanted.<\/p>\n

Triple H was past his prime here, and Reigns was green enough that he couldn\u2019t call a match alone. The action was painstakingly slow, and the audience\u2019s anger grew as the contest plodded on. Roman Reigns\u2019 coronation was met with crickets from the Dallas crowd.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Best: Brock Lesnar v Roman Reigns<\/a> (WrestleMania 31) <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Roman Reigns was still not in the good graces of the audience around WrestleMania 31, but the sentiment was softening. The fans knew he was here for the long haul and had begun to accept the face of the company. Of course, it helped when the quality of his matches improved, WrestleMania 31\u2019s main event being a great example.<\/p>\n

Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns smashed one another with the stiffest shots they could. This was not a fancy wrestling match, just two men beating each other into submission. Reigns presented a bigger threat to Brock Lesnar than many had predicted. It was an incredible hoss battle that included the best ending to any WrestleMania match in WWE history.<\/p>\n

Worst: Royal Rumble 2015 <\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n

There wasn\u2019t much that worked with the Royal Rumble in 2015. The WWE Championship triple threat was fantastic, but everything else that followed flat-out sucked. The biggest culprit was the Royal Rumble Match. It was a match with all the potential in the world, but it failed to produce any great moments for the audience.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Daniel Bryan being eliminated halfway through the match turned the fans sour, and it only went downhill from there. The excitement had been sapped from the arena, and the lack of star power as the Royal Rumble entered its final stretch hurt the match. The Royal Rumble was there specifically to get Roman Reigns over, and all others were sacrificed to that. Not even a surprise return from The Rock could save this disaster.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Best: Team Authority v Team Cena (Survivor Series 2014) <\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The babyface versus heel team is the whole dynamic behind the Survivor Series. It is the battle that has been waged since 1987. When the new millennium hit, these matches were few and far between, and the ones that took place weren\u2019t very good. That is, until 2014, when WWE remembered what made the Survivor Series great.<\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: By MEHRSHAD. Sheamus – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=74421150<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The wrestlers in this match were at the top of their game, and the overarching storyline was on point. The babyface team was vying to oust the Authority from power, captivating the audience. This match had everything: a shocking act of betrayal and an all-time performance from Dolph Ziggler. Oh, and there was the unbelievable debut of Sting to ensure the Authority\u2019s loss. This Survivor Series match had everything.<\/p>\n

Worst: Seth Rollins v Brock Lesnar (Battleground 2015) <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nothing ruins a potential show stealer more than when it’s used to further another story. Brock Lesnar was brought back to teach Seth Rollins a lesson in respect, and this match would have been a great way to build Rollins up even more. The workings were there for this contest to be great, but it was shunted aside in favor of pushing The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar\u2019s issues.<\/p>\n

With only 9 minutes given to Rollins and Lesnar, not much could be expected. At the Royal Rumble, they crushed it, so there was an expectation of the same type of match here. Brock Lesnar looked great, but Seth Rollins was made to look like a chump, not putting up a fight against the Beast. Rollins was saved by an interfering Undertaker, not giving Battleground a great finish to hang its hat on.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Best: Seth Rollins v Dean Ambrose<\/a> (Money in the Bank 2015) <\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Seth Rollins captured the WWE Championship, the wrestling world was waiting for Dean Ambrose to get his shot. The Lunatic Fringe was rabid in his quest for revenge on his former stablemate, and it wasn\u2019t too long before he got his chance. Several matches were contested between Rollins and Ambrose, but the apex of their program was one of the best ladder matches in WWE history.<\/p>\n

Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose’s ladder match at Money in the Bank was nothing short of spectacular. It had all the trimmings that fans had come to expect from a match of this magnitude.<\/p>\n

The wrestling was fantastic and included many incredible spots. What took it from good to great was the months of animosity that were built between the two men. Everything about the match had a purpose, and the fans felt that emotion. It was a perfect ladder match with an expertly delivered finish.<\/p>\n

Worst: Sheamus v Roman Reigns (TLC 2015) <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sheamus and Roman Reigns’ mini-program to end 2015 wasn\u2019t well received. The audience had issues with Sheamus being a top guy, as he was there primarily to get Roman Reigns over. Sheamus was an extension of the office, and no one was buying the angle that WWE wasn\u2019t trying to push forward.<\/p>\n

When this TLC main event was booked, there wasn\u2019t any excitement. Even a TLC stipulation couldn\u2019t save this match from producing much excitement. That isn\u2019t to say there was a lack of effort, but it wasn\u2019t a match that clicked on any level. The audience\u2019s malaise with Roman Reigns didn\u2019t help this match secure any fond memories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The WWE Reality Era was the shortest of all WWE\u2019s Eras. It was a time of massive change in WWE, as the company moved away from its PG rating. The creation of the WWE Network and the rising popularity of social media changed how the product was presented. The lines of reality were blurred, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4518,"featured_media":128695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7205,2192,3],"tags":[1432,57,165,58,77,76,75],"class_list":["post-163803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wwe","category-history","category-wrestling","category-wwe-universe","tag-batista","tag-brock-lesnar","tag-john-cena","tag-randy-orton","tag-roman-reigns","tag-seth-rollins","tag-triple-h"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163803"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163849,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163803\/revisions\/163849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}