Roman Reigns recently spoke with Brian Fritz of SportingNews.com to discuss winning the Royal Rumble this year, being booed by the fans, if it was Daniel Bryan’s fault and more.
Check out some of the highlights from this very good interview down below:
What was it like earlier this year when the crowd response was what it was and some people were coming down hard on you?
“It was kind of rough to be honest. Someone my age, we didn’t go through the Internet like how it is now. When I was a kid, I was outside sweating and running around. Me and the Uso’s were tearing up the yard or doing yard work for that matter. We didn’t have all these video games and these social media outlets. There weren’t cameras on every single device that you could think of. So it’s a little bit different. As an adult, I’ve always tried to be a good person my whole life so I’ve made good friends and I’ve always built great relationships and been friendly with people. I always think what you do to others will come to you so that’s how I treat people. When you deal with an Internet situation where all these people are attacking you for no real reason at all. You’re just going out there trying to entertain them, trying to give them something to get outside of their life, to get outside their reality and suspend belief for them. And then for them to attack you for no real reason. It’s not like I was trying to hurt anybody. I was just trying to do my thing, make my art the way I want it and have a good time and hopefully it reflects that. It’s just one of those things that once it’s opened up it’s eye-opening. It’s shocking, it’s hurtful but it’s just a part of the world. Just like anything else, any other form of bullying that the world’s dealt with, we’re going to get past it. Strong people are strong for a reason — they can hold that weight. God gave me broad shoulders because I can carry that load. It was a shock and awe factor at first but it’s a lot easier now for sure.”
Why do you think it was so vocal? What it simply because you’re not Daniel Bryan? What do you think it was?
“I think, you know, it has a lot to do with how over Bryan is. To this day he’s just a phenomenal performer. I think everybody who’s ever been in an arena — you don’t even have to be in the ring with them — you have an appreciation for them. Even if you’re not into him, you still have to appreciate him and it was just the fact of what was happening is he was the most over guy we had. He was drawing people and they loved him. And the whole ‘YES’ movement was on fire. But at the same time, as a company, you have to continue to build other stars and build a future. I’m not a believer in that it’s just one guy. I believe in the team. I believe in having a great cast of good people and strong men around us to maximize the product. It just can’t be one person. I think it was a combination of me not being Bryan and just the Internet thing, like all the cool kids were banning against the jock. I don’t know. It was weird. But I think it just became a cool thing to boo me and it still happens a little to this day. It blows my mind but I’m still going to keep grinding and getting better. Anybody that says I have progressed and gotten 1000% better, you’re lying. You’re a bold faced liar.”
What was it like being backstage a few weeks ago when Seth Rollins smashed John Cena’s nose? Were you watching at that point?
“I was actually at home taking a few days off. I wasn’t at Raw that week but it was funny because I’m sitting down on my couch, flipping through the channels and I was like oh, the main event is on, I’ll check that out. Literally two minutes after I put the match on, Seth just whacked him in the face with that knee. As soon as I saw it, I was like that’s a finish right there. All you have to do is show a replay and that’s as devastating a move as any other ones. He definitely has a new weapon in play but if he tries to throw that knee in my face, I’ll break his knee with my forearm.”
You can read the entire interview here.
