Roman Reigns on John Cena, SummerSlam, being WWE’s best storyteller | “Out of Character”
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
Before facing off against John Cena at SummerSlam this weekend, Roman Reigns stepped "Out of Character."
WWE’s Universal champ joined me on this week’s show for a wide-ranging conversation covering his thoughts on Cena returning, how he has grown since their most recent encounter, finding his voice on-screen and more.
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The last time Roman wrestled against John Cena in a high-profile singles match was in 2017. That might’ve been only a few years ago, but things were very different then.
Reigns was still a babyface getting mixed reactions from the crowd, "Infinity War" had yet to be released in theaters, and the thought of a global pandemic forcing everyone to stay inside for a year would've sounded like a bizarre episode of "Black Mirror."
Now, though, Roman is doing the best work of his career as a heel, "Suicide Squad" starring John Cena is the big superhero movie, and their matchup in a few days has become WWE's most anticipated title match in years.
That amount of pressure might faze some performers — but not Reigns.
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"The Head of the Table" remained calm and collected talking about his SummerSlam opponent on this week’s show:
RS: What do you think about John Cena coming back for a match against you at SummerSlam?
REIGNS: "I think it's a brilliant idea. If I was him, I'd do the same thing. If I had a couple of movies to promote and I wanted to make an impact, I'd find the biggest star in sports entertainment, and I'd try to pick a fight.
"I think it's a very clever, very business-savvy idea he had. It's just not going to go the way he wants it."
RS: How much would you say you’ve grown as a performer since the last time you and John faced off?
REIGNS: "Tenfold, totally different people.
"I had to go through everything that I've gone through, and that whole portion of it in 2017 was a big part of the process, too.
"I mean, kudos to John … that's the impact of being a huge superstar, a megastar, is you create that urgency for other competitors and other performers and other athletes to feel the need to step their game up. That was all a part of my journey to get to this point now, along with many other critical steps that had to be made."
RS: When I see you now, compared to then — I went back and watched that promo battle — as strong of a competitor as you were, you're so much more comfortable now than you were in 2017.
REIGNS: "Yeah, I think. That's kind of one thing as an athlete, you know, that's what I've been my whole life.
"I've never had much trouble finding my footing within the ring and the physical aspect of the performance, but I think [as with anything], finding your voice is a whole different monster, and it's probably more difficult, especially when you're dealing with a very large-scale, public-speaking scenario like we do.
"Being on a Friday Night SmackDown or a Monday Night Raw, doing it in front of millions of people and then a whole globe of people watching — it can be intimidating at times.
"But I think with everything, you take your experiences, you take that passion to get better at anything that you're doing, and that drives you to be the very best, and hopefully you can make some waves and gain some ground and get better at it."
RS: What you just said right there about everyone watching you and having to get comfortable with public speaking on TV, I think a lot of fans of not just wrestling but every entertainment medium underestimate the basic nerves that go into that.
There are millions of people watching, and I think a lot of times, people can be so critical when they're watching a movie or a TV show or pro wrestling, forgetting that there are people behind those characters who are trying to break through actual nerves that every human being has.
REIGNS: "Yeah, I mean, it's very real. Like within the Olympics, you know, it's been going on for the past couple of weeks. Just watching these athletes conduct interviews after, even the ones that are very well-spoken, they kind of say the same stuff, you know what I mean?
"And a lot of it's great stuff! Giving praise to God. It's all very important stuff, but you very rarely see that groundbreaking household personality take place without taking a lot of time and a lot of development.
"Then also understanding the art of selling and the art of pitching something and promoting something and getting people to buy in to something. Some people just have it, and then some people, it does take some time to learn."
RS: Absolutely. When I'm not filming this show, I feel like I'm very talkative. I have no problem coming up with something to say. But when I'm placed with the top guy in WWE, who's the Universal Champion, sometimes I can find myself being a blubber of words, so I totally get that. There's always those nerves that are going to be behind you.
Do you think beating John Cena is important in terms of continuing to establish the dominance of your "Head of the Table" persona?
REIGNS: "Yeah, I think so. Just right off the bat, obviously, if I don't beat him, I lose the Universal Championship, and that throws a huge wrench in the whole game plan and much more, you know, what we're trying to do going forward.
"And I think also, what's special about this run that I'm on and the stories that I’ve told in just under a year now, I have made the Universal Championship, the most important championship in WWE, the most important championship in sports entertainment.
"When you put as much equity and as much value as I have on that championship and really placed it at the pinnacle of this industry and showcase the juice that comes with it — the power, the respect, the money, everything. I mean everything.
"If you're a superstar who wants to perform in a wrestling ring and on the WWE stage especially, you should be gunning for the Universal Championship. So, for me, it's tied into my character and the stories that I tell on Friday nights, very much so.
"I think if for some act of God were to happen, and I did lose … it would change the whole dynamic of what I'm doing."
RS: I think it would change the whole dynamic of WWE in general. I know there's multiple champions, but I think your reign is the most important thing in WWE right now because there’s so much emphasis placed on it.
It's also cool for me to see fans talk now about how they'd be OK with you holding the title for the next few years without losing it. To go from like people being like, "Oh, no, Roman is being shoved down our throats," to, "Don't take the title off of Roman Reigns for a few years," is really interesting. And I think that you keeping the title is very important to WWE in general right now.
REIGNS: "And it's 2021, and you're saying that!
"We have a very fast-food-oriented audience nowadays. It’s a ‘what have you done for me lately’ situation. Everybody wants kind of some change as soon as they feel like they've gotten the portion that they were looking for.
"So for me to be at almost a year now and for it still to be interesting, for it to still be compelling, it just goes into not just the performance but just the hard work and the brainstorming and everything that goes into being able to develop these type of stories.
"That's what I hang my hat on right now: I'm the best storyteller in sports entertainment today.
"That's all entertainment is. It's storytelling, that's all. I mean, we live in a world of storytelling now, with social media. Hell, on Instagram, you literally have stories, and people want to know, like, by the minute, what's going on. Like, ‘Look at these eggs I just cooked. It's great!’
"To be able to do that on the highest level and consistently do that — can’t nobody else say it but me."
Watch Roman Reigns defend the Universal Championship LIVE on Peacock at 8 p.m. ET Saturday.
For more with "The Head of the Table," watch this week’s full episode of "Out of Character with Ryan Satin."
Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief.
