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Roman Reigns has become one of the biggest Superstars in WWE over the past eight years. From the rookie in The Shield to locker room leader, Reigns' career has had both high and low points.
Reigns has main evented WrestleMania a record-equalling four consecutive times and was on course to retain the Universal Championship before he was cruelly sidelined back in 2018 when it was made public knowledge that he was suffering from leukemia.
Reigns made his WWE return mere months later and has since been on a steady climb towards the Championship that he never lost, but when Reigns looked as though he could reach for the prize, COVID-19 arrived and took him out of the race.
Reigns may not be a current presence on WWE TV right now, but he is still one of the most popular and well-respected men in the locker room, and here are just five backstage stories that open the door on the man behind The Big Dog.
#5 Roman Reigns and Enzo Amore
By all reports, Roman Reigns is quite a chilled out guy backstage, so when it was made public news that there was an issue between Reigns and former Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore, it was clear that there was more to the story.
Back in 2017, it was reported that Reigns had been forced to kick Enzo Amore off the WWE tour bus whilst the company was in Europe. The former 205 Live Superstar was reportedly talking loudly on his phone and according to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, "He was also heard bragging about how much money he was making from the wrestling business."
Reigns later went on to comment on the incident whilst appearing on the "Off the Board" podcast, by stating that as a locker room leader, he had to make a lot of harsh decisions.
"I swing the sword. If I put the sentence down then I lay it down. If you have heat, that's what a locker room leader does, he speaks up for the rest of the bunch. It's tough when you have so many cooks in the kitchen -- I'm not the only guy who would speak up. But as the man that I am before I was in this business I would have spoken up if something was wrong, to what I am today within our industry. I am a locker room leader. I'd like to think I've been afforded the keys to the car and I drive that thing around every once in a while. But I'm going to take care of it."
#4 The Undertaker wanted to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33
The Undertaker looked as though his career had come to an end following his match against Shane McMahon inside Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania 32. The Deadman shockingly returned to face Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 33, which was interestingly a match that The Undertaker himself was happy to be part of.
The Undertaker claimed that even though he had already been thinking about retirement, he couldn't say no to a match against The Big Dog.
That being said, when The Deadman watched the match back later, he recalled that he was so disappointed with it and was disgusted for Reigns.
"That was one of those times it was tough having the cameras there. That was the first time that I watched that match back. I was so disgusted with it that I didn’t want to watch it back. As I got older... I know when I’m out there and I’m moving slow. I know when my limp is more prominent than it may be. Or when I’m behind in a spot. I just know now."
#3 Roman Reigns' name banned on WWE TV
As already noted, Roman Reigns hasn't been seen on WWE TV since March and was forced to withdraw from his match against Goldberg at WrestleMania since he is considered "high-risk."
The former World Champion's recent battle with leukemia means that he needs to self isolate and despite his reasons, there are rumors that this has lead to some heat in WWE.
Recently, there were reports that Reigns' name was banned backstage by Vince McMahon and he was even edited out of the entire WrestleMania 31 clip that was shown on Monday Night RAW, which led to even more speculation.
Most recent reports have suggested that the backstage feeling with Reigns changes day by day, whilst the man himself has stated that he wants to return to work within WWE but he also knows that he has to protect his family. This has become even more important for the former Champion since it's been revealed that his wife Galina is expecting their second set of twins later this year.
#2 Roman Reigns as the locker room leader
After Roman Reigns was sidelined back in October 2018, the entire WWE locker room stood behind him and shared some inspiring stories about the man behind The Big Dog. One of the most touching tributes came from Aleister Black, who was on NXT at the time but has toured on the main roster with Roman Reigns in the months before his announcement.
Black shared a lengthy tribute on Facebook:
When I started out in wrestling it wasn’t easy to get in as it is now. Back in 2000 wrestling, especially coming from the Netherlands, was still somewhat hidden. People weren’t eager to train you, and you’d have to seek out your training in different countries and finding people that wanted to train you. It wasn’t as easy as paying a school and just going there .I’d like to think that a part of my training enjoyed some classical aspects in the form of respect. Respecting other people’s moves, other people’s characters, and lockerroom etiquettes. Something that to an extend was also found in the Dojo’s that I used to train when doing Pencak Silat or Kickboxing.
Black went on to talk about his move up to the main roster back in 2017 where he was part of a feud with Curt Hawkins and he was able to tour with WWE through Europe and face the former Tag Team Champion regularly.
During the Live events, I’d make sure that the locker rooms were kept clean after the wrestlers were gone, the garbage was taken care of, towels were stacked and that post-match people had water, especially the upper card. Stuff that in my opinion is long forgotten and not practiced anymore, however, I feel that these things are important as they teach about respect and keep you humble, something very much needed in this generation. After a few nights we sat down as I also tried to let people get to know me as it is important for the people that you work with to see you and are able to interact with you, these are your colleagues and the people you work with for hopefully a very long and fulfilling time. During the sit down I got a chance to talk to Roman a little bit and we talked about tattoos, music, his background, and his heritage.
It was as part of this conversation with Reigns that Black recalled that the former World Champion had told him to relax and to stop thinking he had to clean the locker room because he belonged there. He had worked hard enough to get where he was and now was the time to enjoy it.
Despite not knowing Roman very well, despite having limited interactions with Roman I am very thankful for them. At the end of that same tour Roman told us to be thankful and that no matter what match you had, good or bad, the beauty was that we get to do it all over again the next day."
#1 What was Dean Ambrose told to say about Roman Reigns?
Roman Reigns was forced to leave WWE back in October 2018 and in doing so he left his teammates Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose behind. That very night, Rollins and Ambrose won the Tag Team Championships before Ambrose turned heel and became one of the most hated stars in the company given the timing of his heel turn.
Throughout his time as a heel, Ambrose commented on the fact that Reigns was currently out of action with one of the promos even going as far as saying it was deserved.
After Ambrose joined AEW, the former World Champion was able to reveal the truth behind much of what was said in his promos on the Talk is Jericho podcast which included a promo that Ambrose refused to deliver.
“It is the worst line. I’m not going to say it on air, I’ll tell you [Jericho] after we’re done, but I’m not even going to say it on air – that’s how bad it was. It would have been a thing where somebody would’ve had to get fired.”
