I measure popularity in this day and age by crowd reactions (not just entrances but crowd engagement during matches and segments and moments) and how much the crowd gaf, social media buzz and brand recognition to casuals, merch sales, and general interest in what the wrestler is doing and buzz surrounding their matches and programs. I don't like to look at ticket sales because I think its outdated to say people pay money to go see 1 guy although it does help if say Cena or HHH is advertised to appear, or ratings because they aren't a good way to measure starpower as has been proven for the last decade, plus both need a lot of context if you're gonna bring them up. And I don't like to look at "crossover appeal" either cuz nowadays either WWE forges a lot of that, or you only see it happen to legends so its not fair to compare current guys to them in that regard.
Compare Reigns' Google Trends figures to Randy, who had his whole RKO meme thing in 2014, and who's continually one of the most recognized faces and names in the industry:
Compare his figures to Dean Ambrose, someone who I actually prefer over Roman and someone who I feel like is a massively over top draw and one of the most popular guys in the company, but with someone with a Foley type ceiling popularity wise:
And finally, compare him to the golden boy face of the company John Cena, who's popularity tremendously outranks everyone, and yet Reigns holds his own during certain periods:
Roman was also #3 in merch sales over the course of 2015, and considering how many months out of that year he was in the midcard, and how he was competing with Cena and the part timer legends, that's still pretty impressive.
I also look at Youtube video views:
This is the #15 most viewed WWE video on Youtube:
#28 - #30:
#42:
When you're consistently in the top 50 most viewed videos for WWE's Youtube channel (which is probably the main source for people to catch up on WWE content), and you're up there in views among vids featuring Cena, Taker, Brock, Mysterio, etc. and the usual odd stuff (Multi man matches, sexy thumbnails) it's hard to ignore that.
And finally just from personal experience, I know a lot of casual fans / non-watchers who know Reigns by name, and that kids can't get enough of him. I also read something about a marketability study among fans that ranked John Cena, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns as the top 5 in likability and marketability. With the tactical vest, the attire, the gloves, the hair, the cool taunts moves and expressions, Reigns has a lot more attributable aspects to his character, branding, and image than the average wrestler, and it makes sense that he can be more marketed and sold more easily. Granted a lot of his popularity has to do with just the way he's been booked, but the same can be said for every star in the history of the company.
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This is neglecting the fact that WWE themselves pick who appears in these commercials in the first place. If WWE still had a sponsorship with Chef Boyardee you damn right he would have appeared in a commercial or two (if these types of commercials with celeb sponsors for non-sports household brands even exist anymore) And this is WWE having an advertising partnership with Chef Boyardee, not Chef Boyardee having a sponsorship deal with Foley. There was a string of these in the AE: 
wasn't trying to hurt your feelings it's just the truth
