5 things we found out about Roman Reigns in 2017

The WWE fans know Roman Reigns as a three-time WrestleMania main-eventer, a three-time WWE champion, a one-time Royal Rumble winner and, most recently, a Grand Slam winner.

However, as far as the man himself goes, fans know much less about Reigns, real name Leati Joseph Anoa'I, than they do about other high-profile WWE Superstars.

While some of his fellow performers plaster their social media pages with daily updates, “The Big Dog” lives a more private life and we rarely hear what he gets up to outside of the squared circle.

In this article, we look at five things that we’ve found out about WWE’s most talked-about Superstar over the last 12 months.

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#5 He thinks he’s the best performer in the world

Roman Reigns looks set to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34

Whether he’s hated or adored, Roman Reigns is never ignored, and his recent comments about his ability as an in-ring talent caused quite a stir among wrestling fans.

Speaking to Corey Graves on WWE Network show 'Straight To The Source', Reigns was asked if he is the “top guy” in WWE right now, to which he replied: “Every day of the week. This is the top of the mountain. Point blank … period.”

The three-time WWE champion added that people only have to watch his pay-per-view matches over the last three years for proof that he is “the best performer in the world right now”.

Despite frequent fan backlash, Reigns has main-evented the last three WrestleMania shows – against Brock Lesnar, Triple H and The Undertaker – and is expected to face Lesnar again in the main event of WrestleMania 34.

#4 His football career ended due to a soccer injury

Roman Reigns isn't quite as skilful as Ronaldinho

In the most in-depth interview about his career to date, Roman Reigns was a guest on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast in March 2017.

They discussed a wide range of topics including Reigns’ time as a footballer, where he played for Georgia Tech in college before having short spells with the Minnesota Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL.

He then played in the Canadian Football League for the Edmonton Eskimos, during which time he sustained an ankle injury that would result in the end of his football career.

Reigns revealed to Y2J that the injury came about while he was kicking a soccer ball around “like Pele and Ronaldinho” before practice. Once he was fully healed, the Eskimos cut him and he never played football again.

#3 He no longer cares about fan criticism

Roman Reigns is even more polarizing than John Cena

In January 2014, fans who wanted Daniel Bryan to win the Royal Rumble hijacked the finish to the pay-per-view and roundly booed the eventual winner, Batista, despite him being a babyface.

A year later, the WWE was faced with exactly the same problem. Fans wanted Bryan to win but, once he was eliminated, the match was taken over by a hostile crowd who booed good guy Roman Reigns out of the building when he won.

Reigns was struggling to win over fans as a performer, while in real life he claimed in a media interview just days before the Rumble that the people who boo him only do so because “they’re haters who hate their lives”.

Speaking to Sirius XM in March 2017, he admitted to being very defensive in the past when it came to criticism but said he has “gotten smarter and learned to adjust and adapt”, adding that fans can do whatever they want as long as they show up.

#2 He has two baby boys

Roman Reigns and Galina Becker also have a daughter together

In the crazy world of pro wrestling/sports entertainment, it’s easy to forget when fans are watching storylines play out week by week that the people behind the characters have their own lives to live when they’re not in front of the camera.

Roman Reigns, for example, is the centre of attention every time he steps foot inside the squared circle. The WWE Universe knows every positive and every negative about “The Big Dog” persona and everyone has an opinion about him.

Outside the ring, however, we don’t know quite as much. Reigns is a private guy who, when time allows it, seems to enjoy being away from the spotlight.

That showed in March 2017 when he subtly revealed in an interview that his wife Galina Becker, who fans didn’t even know was pregnant, gave birth to two baby boys in late 2016.

#1 He originally just wanted to be called 'Roman'

'Roman Reigns' definitely sounds better than plain 'Roman'

Roman Reigns is a pretty badass name for a wrestler, but it could have been very different had a relatively unknown performer stayed around in WWE’s developmental brand a few years ago.

Back in 2011, a wrestler called Calvin Raines was making a name for himself in FCW. He was regularly involved in matches with the likes of Seth Rollins and Xavier Woods and he was even an FCW Tag Team champion with Big E.

However, when he left in 2012 and WWE was looking to give Roman Reigns – then known as Leakee – a new name, the ‘Raines’ surname became available again.

“I liked Roman, I wanted Roman only,” the three-time WWE champion said on Talk Is Jericho. But, after taking advice from Corey Graves, he decided to add ‘Raines’ to his surname, with the spelling changed to ‘Reigns’ to make it sound like he was a king.