Or will there always be Heyman, Bloodline or other window dressing involved to prop him up when he is an active wrestler? Could he succeed for the first time if tasked with carrying the water?

Roman pre 2020 before Heyman was god awful tier. Please no

Roman is weird. He was allowed to go part time way younger than anyone else. He never made it as a face despite being forced on us. As a heel, he's not a monster. He's just a cheater. I don't think anyone will care about him once he drops that title.
People won't have fond nostalgia for Roman. They won't have respect for him as a guy who worked his butt off because he didn't.

Roman will be remembered like the Wladimir Klitschko of WWE. He'll have this long impressive title run on paper, but he's following a much greater champ (Lennox Lewis/John Cena). Like Wladimir, his matches are boring slow and formulaic.

Roman’s best days was enforcer of the Shield when he didn’t talk. Everything he does today is cringe. Seriously, he’s better off as a bodyguard role

Unless it's for a non title match vs Rock, I don't think Roman is going to wrestle once he loses the title. He is going to go to hollywood after

He has already smashed the entire roster... the only person close to him on the roster is Cody

Face Roman Reigns

I don't know about a mega face turn or anything like that. I think he's part time or gone after this. He's already got one foot out the door. You have money with Rock down the road, a Punk match, and I guess a Cody rematch for the title whenever that change happens.

He'll never be appreciated properly for this heel turn because the IWC is incapable of admitting a change of mind on a guy. A lot of the older fans made their mind up on Roman years ago and even as he successfully changed his entire character people won't admit they dig it.

IMO he nailed it as 'head of the table.' the whole bloodline story deserves a lot of props and he's at the forefront of it. it isn't a story without him being the failed babyface who turns heel and embraces the dark side. they never had the nerve to do this with Cena.

His mic work is not the best but yes, very good.

That promo he did last month when he buried Seth and his title was very good. Of course not the best esp if you compare him to the best talkers but still very good.

Reigns is basically 40 years old.

I expect they transition him out of the main event after Mania, I'd be very surprised if hes still "the face of the company" like that in 12 months.

If he is, it will show wwe is truly out of gas.