It will be far more difficult for Reigns to take the top spot.
He could realistically unseat John Cena for the third spot, though the idea of heel jumping a beloved babyface and overall swell guy may be difficult to imagine.
As great as he has been as a heel, as much success as he has had, and as engaging and captivating as The Bloodline saga has been, Reigns would probably need that one great run as a fan-favorite to solidify himself alongside Austin and Hogan in the top three.
Then again, that is what makes what Reigns is doing right now so extraordinary.
WWE has, with the exception of the early days of the Ruthless Aggression Era, always been a company that lives and breathes on the central babyface. The times that a heel has been at the center of the company, at least post-expansion, were the leaner years of the early 1990s and the post-boom early 2000s.
Reigns has bucked that trend. He has proven to be a villain the company can build its entire broadcast television show around and not only will people watch, but they will make wrestling the most viewed show of the night.
They will flock to arenas and gigantic football stadiums to see him perform. They will buy merchandise and relive his most important moments on YouTube and other social media platforms.
What he has accomplished as a detestable, manipulative villain is right out of 1980s soap opera. He is the JR Ewing of WWE, a guy who is detested even by his own family but at the same time, so charismatic and engaging that you cannot help but want to see what comes next.
Still, despite being the exception to a well-established rule, it will be difficult for him to jump the top two.
That aforementioned expansion? Hogan made that possible. Despite a deservedly sullied reputation, there is no denying the extent to which Hulkamania swept the wrestling world and made it possible for Vince McMahon to take pro wrestling out of New York and turn it into a global phenomenon.
Hogan was a powerhouse during the Federation years and became a pop culture phenomenon at that.
Austin, on the other hand, brought the company back from the brink of annihilation during the Monday Night Wars. He embodied the attitude that would define an era and was the rebel without a cause that WWE and McMahon needed to stave off Eric Bischoff and WCW.
Like Hogan, he became a pop culture star. Austin 3:16 shirts were in every store and even those who did not watch wrestling, considered it phony or had no idea what it even was were aware of ol' "Stone Cold."
It is the historical significance of those two men that make it difficult to imagine Reigns managing to take the top spot, even if the quality of his best work is arguably better than that of his peers.
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