Jim Ross reveals the real reason why WWE did not sign Roman Reigns in 2006

Being an Anoa'i has its perks, as you may have imagined, as the WWE officials will always have an eye on the up-and-coming talent in the legendary family. It's unsurprising to note that Roman Reigns also had the attention of the WWE scouts way before he was signed.

Jim Ross, who had a long-tenured run with the WWE and was also involved with talent recruitment, revealed during a recent edition of his Grilling JR podcast that he had kept close tabs on Roman Reigns for a long time.

Roman Reigns was in contention to get signed by WWE in 2006, when the former Shield member was still playing Football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets team.

JR revealed that WWE passed up the opportunity to sign up Roman Reigns as the company felt that it was too soon to get the Anoa'i family member into the WWE fold. The WWE believed that Roman Reigns first had to get Football out of his system. JR explained:

"He changed his body immensely, he was a 300-pound nose tackle for Georgia Tech there in the ACC, and before [John] Laurinaitis took over talent reactions, he was certainly on my radar. And we were all aware [of him], Michael Hayes, different guys, because Hayes was close with the Samoans. He has Football to get out of his system, and I encouraged that, quite frankly. You don't want somebody to come in and not be sure that they're at the right place for them. So if he got a chance at Football, and he didn't make it for whatever reason, then he gets it out of his system, and then here we go."

Jim Ross' explains the Roman Reigns-Ken Shamrock analogy

Jim Ross compared Roman Reigns' case to Ken Shamrock. The former UFC Champion was also a victim of the same ideology wherein he couldn't get MMA out of his system.

"Same analogy I'd use for Ken Shamrock, who could not get MMA out of his system. And he was getting over like a son of a gun in WWE, at least he was in my eyes, then all of a sudden he's, he keeps talking about these fights. 'I could do this in three fights.' So finally it was just a matter of, 'You need to go get this out of your system. Then we'll bring you back.'" H/t WrestleZone

Roman Reigns would eventually get signed by WWE in 2010, and the rest, as they say, is history. The reigning Universal Champion is currently enjoying the best phase of his professional career as the Head of the Table on SmackDown, and he is expected to be the focal point of the WWE product heading into WrestleMania.