What’s the story?
Recently, Roman Reigns sat down with Brian Campbell of ESPN’s Cheap Heat podcast for an interview in a bonus episode, where he talked about his upcoming match, his opponent Kevin Owens as well as about Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.
In case you didn’t know...
The Cheap Heat podcast is hosted by Brian Campbell and Peter Rosenberg. Roman Reigns was a guest on a special episode of Cheap Heat on January 26 to lead into his Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble.
The heart of the matter
Roman Reigns talked at length about improving himself from an in-ring standpoint, challenging Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, and working with the newly crowned United States Champion, Chris Jericho.
Also read: WWE News: Kevin Owens reveals his dream WrestleMania opponent
As far as bettering himself as an in-ring performer, he stated that he always rises to the occasion that he’s presented with and that his focus is on being healthy and being as good of a performer as he possibly can be. He also intimated that performing in big match situations has helped him grow as a performer.
Reigns was quoted as saying:
"I think any time I'm asked to step up to an occasion, I'm going to rise to that occasion. I think any time you're given a great opportunity, you have to put your head down and focus in on it and that's what I've done in the past couple of years.
I don't really care about winning awards of 'who's the best' and 'who's most improved'.
For me, it's just staying healthy and making all these different towns and entertaining within these shows because, at the end of the day, so many things have to happen for the show to go on."
The Big Dog continued,
"No matter where you're at, if you're as good as you're going to get, you might as well leave. And I think what [has] helped me grow as a performer is that I've been in these big occasions.
I've been in these big matches and had these big moments and I've learned from them and adjusted and progressed."
Campbell asked Reigns what his least favourite finishing move to take was, and he stated that Kevin Owens' pop-up powerbomb was the move
"I think Kevin Owens' popup powerbomb. When he pops you up like that, he's using your momentum and your velocity, and then, he's just putting his power into it as well, so it's one of those situations where it doesn't feel good at all.”
Reigns then stated that he has a lot of respect for the current WWE Universal Champion, but that he was going to beat him at the Royal Rumble:
“I've got a lot of respect for him as a competitor.
The bad part is, I'm just going to pop up over his head, and then, I'm going to Superman punch him and I'm going to spear him and I'm going to take that WWE Universal Championship."
As far as working with Chris Jericho is concerned, Reigns said that it has been a real treat to pick the brain of a true legend within the professional wrestling industry.
"That [has] been a great pleasure, being able to work with him and pick his brain and see his experiences over his time and how much he's still learning.
And that's like proof, if a veteran like Chris Jericho is still learning and getting better, then, there's not anybody in this younger generation that can say anything about being at their peak or 'I'm good to go - I don't need to learn anything else.'"
Brian Campbell then went on to ask Roman his opinion on who was the better and more historically significant performer between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, to which Roman replied by saying:
“I’m a Bret guy. I was a little boy whenever they were around. How could you pick the guy with assless chaps on? Bret was legit...like a competitor...and he looked similar to me.
So, I was like, I don’t know, I was a huge Bret fan. Everything that he did--just the work he put in, just his character, the integrity that he had, what he stood for--he just seemed like a solid guy.”
What’s next?
Roman Reigns will take on Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble on Sunday, January 29th.
Sportskeeda’s take
Roman came off as mostly likeable in the interview. He genuinely seems to have been humbled by the “punishment” he received as a result of his failed wellness policy test back in June 2016.
Regardless of the outcome of the Universal Championship match on Sunday, it will be interesting to see how Roman Reigns makes his way down the proverbial Road to Wrestlemania, with or without the Universal Championship.
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