Roman Reigns' WWE Year in Review: Full Breakdown and Grade for 2017 | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Reigns had three instances that proved historically significant to him, his career and WWE as a whole in 2017.

The first came at WrestleMania, where he defeated The Undertaker in what appeared to be The Deadman's final match. The contest was hardly up to the level each man has become accustomed to, but the meaningfulness of the moment superseded everything that came before it.

After years of speculation as to which Superstar would be the one to get the nod, it was Reigns. And as he stood tall, looking almost remorseful for ending the icon so many fans had looked up to, it was clear he was the leader of this generation of WWE performers.

Months later, he reunited with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose to reform The Shield.

While not as historic in the grand scheme of things, the return of the faction represented the culmination of WWE's plan some three years earlier to split up the Superstars and let them establish themselves individually before bringing them back together again.

It was shortly after that reunion that Reigns once again etched his name into the history books.

Reigns became the ninth Superstar in WWE history to win the coveted Grand Slam Championship, meaning he has won every major title available, including the "Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, either the Raw (formerly WWE) or SmackDown Tag Team Championship and either active heavyweight title—as in, WWE Championship or, now, the Universal Championship."

When he defeated The Miz on the November 20 episode of Raw, Reigns joined Ambrose, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Daniel Bryan, Eddie Guerrero, The Miz, The Big Show and Edge on the list of Superstars to have accomplished that feat.

All things considered, 2017 was another banner year for Reigns, and one that was historically significant.