Former WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns was recently interviewed by ESPN to discuss being named one-half of the cover athletes for the WWE 2K20 video game. Reigns talked about teaming up with The Undertaker at Extreme Rules, Jon Moxley refusing to say certain lines about his leukemia for promos in WWE, and Seth Rollins being vocal online against Moxley’s comments on WWE after leaving.
Here are the highlights:
Teaming up with The Undertaker:
First of all, it was so cool. It was unfortunate what happened out there in the desert [against Goldberg in Saudi Arabia]. It was a tough situation. It was hot as hell out there. Those guys aren’t in the ring all the time. You have to have your wrestling legs under you. Even when I miss a few live events, I can feel it. This is one of those things, the more you do it, the better you are, the better off you are, the better you feel in the ring.
That was just the main focus: Get him out there, and let’s have fun. He was moving good. He felt that high boot, damn near went over everybody’s head. He’s in great shape, he looked good. To be honest, I might be lying if I said there’s gonna be a [better] dream partner out there.
That night was so cool, I don’t think I’ll be able to up that. The only other type of tag situations that have been as meaningful have been within The Shield to me because those are my brothers.
Jon Moxley refusing to say certain lines in WWE about his leukemia:
No. And that’s the thing. If you refuse to say it, you refuse to say it. You didn’t say the stuff, and nothing happened. You didn’t get fired, so you don’t have to do any of that stuff. If you don’t really want to do it, you have to speak up for yourself. That’s the key to this business. That’s a bit contradictory in my mind right there. If you chose not to say that one thing, why can’t you choose to say another thing?
Seth Rollins being vocal against Moxley’s post-WWE comments:
That’s my boy, man. He’s passionate. He’s always been like that, you just don’t always hear it. Seth is strong, he’s hard-headed, he’s stubborn. That’s how he’s always been. He’s an ultra-alpha male. He wants to be the best all the time. That’s why he is where he is. That’s why he’s at that position — because he has that drive.
He is emotional — of course, he is. Because we bust our ass, man. I love this place. I’ll tell you straight-up: I disagree with what [Dean] Ambrose said about the creative process. I love the guy. I love him to death. He’s my brother. And wrestling ain’t gonna stop that. On a personal level, me and that dude can hang out, have a beer or two and just talk. And even when we don’t talk, that’s just our relationship.
When it comes down to it, creative-wise, that’s on you. Communication is communication. When you go in there and you talk to boss, you gotta let him know. He even made comments about the things I had to say, but that was in a different place. I was brand-new.
We’ve worked our asses off for Vince [McMahon] in this company, and he respects that, and he wants to know our opinions. You have to speak up for yourself. I’m in a position now where he listens to everything I have to say, what I’m feeling.
Early on, when you don’t have any equity, when you haven’t put in any time, you should do what the boss says. But once you earn that equity, once you got the keys to the car — which Ambrose was clearly in that position because all three of us [were] — you have to speak up for yourself and do what’s right for you.
Regardless, I love the dude, man. We came from the bottom and got to where we are now, and he’s a huge part of that. No type of business rivalry or any of that crap will ever affect the personal relationship I have with either Seth or Dean. We’re all gonna do our thing. We’re having fun. I’m enjoying where I’m at. I enjoy being with the WWE. I’ll never be anywhere else.
