As he sits in a dark hotel room on very little sleep, mere hours after Monday Night Raw where he battled a group of superstars who are all vying for his championship, Roman Reigns is finding out what it means to be the champ and sitting atop of the mountain.
Reigns has never been down this road before. He’s no longer the hunter. He is now the hunted. After 8 months of chasing the title he nearly won at last year’s WrestleMania, Reigns finally grabbed the brass ring last month and won the coveted championship in front of a Philadelphia crowd.
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Now Reigns must defend his title against 29 other WWE Superstars in Sunday’s Royal Rumble. That can be a lot to prepare for and handle especially when you’ve got the WWE Chairman Vince McMahon stacking the deck against you.
Luckily for us, Reigns took a moment to discuss his journey to the top, his family, life on the road, being “the man” and what lies ahead.
Feeling The Love
CraveOnline: You’ve always had a lot of supporters but now it seems you have less critics and an even bigger following. How does it feel to get all of that love now from the WWE Universe?
Roman Reigns: It’s success and hard work. If you really enjoy something and you have a lot of passion for what you’re doing, you put your heart out there and people see you’re having fun, I think it’s kind of a sparkplug and that’s what people want. They want that chain reaction and to feel a part of something. I think they seem to really enjoy myself this year and I busted my ass at the same time. It’s been a crazy year. It’s not like football or baseball. It’s not just a 16-week process. This is a 52-week process. They’ve seen me grow, mature and develop over the course of the year and I’m proud of that. I’m proud to say that the “Roman Empire” is growing every single week and I’m going to continue that.
Winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Roman Reigns: Damn [laughs]. It was an overwhelming satisfaction. If you ever have some glory, to feel that moment, that’s what it felt like. It felt like hitting pay dirt and scoring that winning touchdown, you know what I mean? Strip, sack, scoop and score to win the game in overtime. I’m going to Disney World. I wish I had a camera in my face because I would have said it. For me, it didn’t even feel real because it really was my daughter’s birthday. Right now, I haven’t been home in 12 days. I’m sitting in my dark hotel room. I just woke up. I didn’t get to sleep until about 4 in the morning so there are a lot of things that go into this life. That’s why we’re so passionate about this business. We really live it every single day. It’s not just a job; it’s a lifestyle. It’s a way of life for us. For me, it was just an overwhelming feeling like God was tugging on some strings to make all of this line up. It felt like it made too much sense to make any sense.
Who was the first call you made after you won it?
My wife and daughter. My little girl was already asleep. She was passed out on the couch. She actually watched the whole show and three-fourths of the main event and then knocked out, bless her heart. By the time I got out there, she was struggling, my wife said. But she watched a good bit of it but thank God for DVR.
Starting the Royal Rumble as the No. 1 entrant
CraveOnline: We found out on Raw that you’re going to be the No. 1 entrant in the 30-man Royal Rumble to defend your WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Is fatigue a factor in a match like that?
Roman Reigns: Yeah. Anytime you’re out there in between those ropes, you always have to worry about fatigue. If you think about it, people get tired just doing cardio. You get tired doing cardio just by yourself. Now imagine running around, picking somebody up, picking you up, trying to pin you, trying to hold you down, it gets very tiring. Any time you involve 29 other competitors and unfortunately for me, they’re all going to be gunning for me because this is a lot different. This is the first time ever we’re having the champion defend his title. For me, it’s a huge responsibility to come in there fully prepared but the WWE is not giving me a lot of time to prepare, you know what I mean? With the schedule that we run, just the nature of the business and being at the top, the top part of the office has it out for me. They’re going to make it extremely hard for me. Either way I’m going to dig deep. You’ve seen me get knocked down. You’ve seen me spit out blood but I pick myself up and I’ll keep going.
Feuding with Vince McMahon
CraveOnline: You’re feuding with the legendary Vince McMahon. What’s it like to work with him and to see him come out on camera as your foe?
Roman Reigns: It’s cool. It’s totally different. It’s totally different than being in there conversing with any other superstar or any “bad guy.” He is probably going to be the best “bad guy” of all-time. He’s as good as it gets when it comes to being a jerk. It was an absolute pleasure just to be able to tell my grandkids, “Yep. I Superman Punched Vince McMahon right in the face twice.” You can put that on my mantle.
“I’m not John Cena. I want to be Roman Reigns. I want to do things my way.”
You’re “the man” now and you’re running with the ball. Do you feel pressure to be the face of WWE or are you embracing it?
I think there is pressure in anything we do in life. As a man, I feel pressure to provide and create a lifestyle and a future for my family. When it comes to representing the WWE, I don’t like calling myself the “face of WWE” because we have so many faces and so many superstars. We are a team, we’re a roster and we’re a locker room. It absolutely takes every man to make this ship sail. At the end of the day, all I can be is me. I’m not John Cena. In my 30 years, I’ve never been John Cena. I don’t even think about becoming him. I just want to be. I want to be Roman Reigns. I want to do things my way. I think that’s why I’m in the deep water with Vince McMahon and The Authority. I don’t even think we’re saying The Authority anymore. I think I busted that whole crew up. That’s all I can be. It’s just me representing myself and my family to the fullest.
Facing Brock Lesnar
“He tries to throw me as far as he can and I’m trying to rip his face off and break his ribs.”
CraveOnline: Last night you speared Brock Lesnar and it brought back memories of your physical and brutal main event match at WrestleMania last year. Is it different being in the ring with Lesnar compared to other WWE Superstars?
Roman Reigns: No because for me I have a chemistry with about everyone that I’m in there with. It doesn’t change but it’s a little bit different if that makes sense. If I’m in there with Bray Wyatt, we have chemistry. If I’m in there with Big Show, we have chemistry. I feel a fighting style and the way I go out there and do my thing, mixes well with a lot of WWE Superstars and the way they do their thing. It’s very simple [laughs] with the way me and Brock [Lesnar] do our battles. We hit really hard. He tries to throw me as far as he can and I’m trying to rip his face apart and break his ribs. It’s a brutal contest anytime him and I step into the ring. As you saw last night, you didn’t see any playing around. I went to the red button immediately and sometimes with him, you got to double-tap or triple that button. That’s probably what you’re going to see on Sunday.
CraveOnline: When you’re not in the ring and you’re on the road, what are you doing? Do you have any hobbies or guilty pleasures?
Roman Reigns: I’ve been on the road for over 3 years; the main thing when you’re on the road is you have to keep yourself comfortable. Make yourself feel like you’re at home because you’re not so you have to treat yourself a little bit and create a process that is going to help you to be able to do this every week. For me it’s not just traveling comfortable. I’m not in a bus or anything like that. I like to always have an SUV so whomever I’m traveling with we can always be comfortable. It’s important that you book a decent hotel because we spend a lot of time in these places so you have to be comfortable and treat yourself and take care of yourself. My body is the only body I have. This body has to carry me through and push through hopefully many, many more years to come.
You want to find a good gym. You want to eat and eat right but at the same time, if you’re dieting 24/7 and 52 weeks a year, you know I’ve never met a happy diet. You ever met a dude that is super shredded? He’s usually not cool at all. He’s usually not a nice guy because he’s so irritable because he’s been torturing himself for weeks so you got to have a guilty pleasure. Mine is I love to go eat some sushi with my family and friends and just hang out, have some beers and drink some sake. I’m actually on a little bit of a tip right now, unfiltered sake. So just a cold beer, a plate full of sashimi and all kinds of specialty rolls, that’s my example of a good time.
That sounds like “date night” with my wife and I, just sushi and beers.
That’s “date night”, that’s out with the boys, that’s where I spend my money just on hanging out and having dinner with my family.
Peyton Manning or Tom Brady?
CraveOnline: It’s the NFL conference championship week. Are you a Tom Brady guy or a Peyton Manning guy?
Roman Reigns: I’m a Brady and a Manning guy. What I like is when they play each other. I honestly think they’re possibly the two best ever especially [Tom] Brady if he snags another one. How many does Peyton [ManningI have? One? Yeah but if you’ve ever heard anything on the inside about him he seems cool and he seems like a great leader and it’s obvious by his stats and the career numbers he has put up. But I think Tom [Brady], he’s just won so many and he’s done it in some different ways with a different clientele. He’s done it with amazing squads like he had when they were almost undefeated and he’s done it when they barely squeaked into the playoffs and had to do the Wild-Card thing. I think in our lifetime we’ve seen two great quarterbacks and Tom Brady might be the best one ever but I think what pushes that is the rivalry between those great quarterbacks.
The Future
“I’m carrying the title all over the world…”
CraveOnline: Now what’s the ultimate goal for you and the dream scenario with this WWE World Heavyweight Championship run?
Roman Reigns: Well, I’ve been defending it and having big championship fights every single night, all the way from the tiniest little town in Ohio to India. I’m carrying the title all over the world at this point and soon will take it to Germany hopefully if I can get through this Sunday. Right now the goal is to get through Sunday and take out 29 men or however many. Hopefully somebody can help me out [laughs]. Can somebody else throw somebody else over the top rope? It would be nice if I didn’t have to throw all 29 out but that’s what I’m willing to do and if I can get through that then I can do anything.
WWE Royal Rumble is live on WWE Network Sunday January 24th from Amway Arena in Orlando, FL. For the first time in WWE history, the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Roman Reigns, must defend his title in the 30-Superstar Royal Rumble Match.
Photos courtesy of WWE.
Joshua Caudill is a writer for CraveOnline Sports, a surfing enthusiast, an unhealthy sports fanatic, and an expert on all things Patrick Swayze. You can follow him on Twitter @JoshuaCaudill85 or “like”CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
