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Randy Orton
WWE's dependency on veteran star powers to run their prime show of Monday Night Raw, continues, as we kick off the list with Randy Orton. Even after seamless service of almost two decades, The Viper seems to be a well-oiled machine in his 40s.
Currently, he's one half of the Raw Tag Team Champion with Riddle who had competed in a record-setting 437th (the highest by any WWE Superstar) match on the November 29 episode of Raw. His win-loss-draw stat stands at a mind-boggling 229-164-43 as of this writing.
Wrapping up his feud against legendary Edge in early 2021, Randy Orton buried The Fiend Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 37 in what marked an end of an entertaining feud.
Like a true veteran, The Apex Predator has now taken the responsibility of elevating a newbie in Riddle and that will continue for months to follow. Team RK-Bro has also been moving tons of merchandise, proving that Orton is still the 'best for business.'
Edge
The eleven-time world champion is wrestling on borrowed time with a triple fusion surgery in his neck. For the WWE Universe, it's great to have him back on programming as he brings energy like no one else. For the entire 2021, WWE used him as one of the main event attractions, be it on Raw or Smackdown.
Edge returned from a torn triceps at Royal Rumble 2021 and went on to win the 30-Man Rumble match to cement his spot at Wrestlemania 37 main event.
In a show-stealer Triple Threat also featuring Daniel Bryan, he put over Roman Reigns. Then the Master Manipulator jobbed to Reigns in a singles contest at Money in the Bank, proving that he just can't deliver a boring match.
Moving on, the Rated-R Superstar got himself involved in a dream feud with WWE's Architect, Seth Rollins in what many consider to be the best program of 2021.
A trifecta of matches produced by these two will be gems on WWE Network for years to follow. We assume more such blockbusters are waiting from Edge's sleeves as he is now back on the Raw landscape with fresh opportunities waiting for him.
Drew McIntyre
The Scottish Warrior definitely didn't have the time that he enjoyed in 2020 but WWE did continue to treat him as a main-eventer. Following his trade to Smackdown during the draft, it's pretty clear that he could be used as the one to break Roman Reigns' undefeated streak.
Coming back to reality, Drew McIntyre had a solid start in 2021 as he defeated Goldberg to retain his WWE Championship at Royal Rumble. In his biggest title defense, he survived the Elimination Chamber structure in February only to be victimized by The Miz's Money in the Bank cash-in.
McIntyre's title hunt continued through Wrestlemania and beyond against Bobby Lashley in what appeared to be a top feud of Monday Night Raw. After a few losses at the hands of Lashley and a couple of mid-carders, the UK-native had a fresh start on Friday Nights and we believe a better 2022 is waiting for him.
Bobby Lashley
For all the rightful reasons, PWI selected Bobby Lashley in the number 3 spot of their list of top superstars from 2021. This hybrid athlete from Denver, Colorado was already a reckless force in the WWE. But getting rid of Lana and then The Hurt Business allowed him to be a bonafide main-eventer.
Many considered that he was built to job against Drew McIntyre at Wrestlemania 37 but things go in a totally opposite direction as The Scottish Warrior digested a couple of losses to him and allowed him to enjoy his first run with the WWE Championship that continued for almost six months.
WWE protected Lashley so much that he eventually scored a win against another heavily-protected talent in Goldberg at Summerslam en route to becoming the All-Mighty.
Before this WWE title run, Lashley also had a six-month-long reign as the United States Champion who was one of the bests to carry WWE programming through the pandemic era.
Roman Reigns
Since the very beginning of his WWE career, Roman Reigns has been considered as a main-eventer but his game was just upped with a heel-turn since the 2020 summer. Since that shocking return at Summerslam, The Samoan member took himself to a whole new level where one can only dream to be.
Stats show that Roman Reigns hasn't lost a match since December 2019. But his obsession to be on the top was unleashed via the heel-turn. Starting with Kevin Owens, the successful title defenses started for Reigns in 2021.
It was followed by dominant wins over Daniel Bryan, WWE Hall of Famer Edge, Cesaro, John Cena, Finn Balor, and even Brock Lesnar. With Paul Heyman controlling his storylines, each one of the title programs featuring Reigns has been outstanding, to say the least.
Many believe that this Tribal Chief run could be the best WWE storyline in history. There would be debates around this theory but from a business perspective, WWE doesn't have any regrets about keeping him at the top of the food chain.
As a villain, Roman Reigns continued to be the top merchandise mover who's spent 464 days as the reigning Universal Champion. It appears that toppling Brock Lesnar's magic number 503 in terms of the longest singles title reign is only a matter of time for The Head of the Table.
