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WrestleMania co-main-eventer Roman Reigns is anticipating a loud, mixed reaction when he emerges for his WWE Title match against Triple H on Sunday.
“It will be probably both (cheers and boos). I get a pretty good mixed reaction but whatever I’m doing, they seem to be pretty loud. So whether it’s cheers or boos, that’s what one thing I can typically count on. They’re going to be stirred up no matter what,” Reigns told Brian Fritz for Sporting News.
Asked why he thinks he’s fallen into the John Cena mold of getting the mixed reaction as a top babyface act, Reigns said he thinks it’s “just part of it now.”
“We had Daniel Bryan who’s just a phenomenal performer. Everybody was behind him, just a great underdog. And how could you not cheer a guy like that? But then we do have situations like myself and guys like John Cena who do get that mixed reaction. I think it’s just a part of it now. Everybody has an opinion. Everybody has a right to voice their opinion,” Reigns said.
“I think that’s what’s so great about this. It’s not necessarily who’s getting cheered 100 percent or who’s getting booed the whole time. We agree to disagree and we all just have fun and everybody goes in it to get what they want out of this. It’s really just entertainment. It’s a performance. It’s a story that we tell. If you’re down for the roller coaster ride, please come out and have fun. You paid your hard-earned money; let’s go out, make some noise and make it exceptional.”
Reigns did not address his role in contributing the mixed reaction, which leans pro-Reigns at house shows and anti-Reigns at adult-oriented TV tapings and PPVs. Reigns said he’s more focused on sticking to his routine and not worrying about anything else but his match at WM32.
“This isn’t a new thing for me and this week of the year. I’ve been doing this every single week just about. I’ve only missed, I think, two weeks, due to the nose and that was just a month ago or so. But before that, I’ve been on the road five days a week for about 50 weeks this year. It’s kind of like clockwork; I’m just going to stick to what I’ve been doing, stick to my routine, get in the gym, make sure everything’s on point, everything’s healthy, everything feels good. Other than that, I’m ready to roll,” Reigns said.
Last year, Reigns’s family was reportedly upset when he did not win the WWE Title at WM31 in California. He’s expecting even more family members in Texas on Sunday for an anticipated celebration.
“All of my siblings and all of my nieces and nephews will be there. So we’re definitely going to be represented by numbers. It’s going to be a great event. Last year, it was rough. It wasn’t so much the outcome. As long as I’m healthy and I finish and everything’s fine and I’m able to walk out of there and still be a father, a son and a brother, then my family is happy,” Reigns said.
“Last year, it was pretty brutal. It’s not easy to watch your son get thrown on his back a whole bunch of times by Brock Lesnar. He’s on his own level. It was pretty tough for my mom to watch that but we made it through.”
– Reigns’s interview was to promote Snickers as the presenting sponsor of WrestleMania, including their “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” ad campaign.
– Reigns’s college football teammate Vance Walker of the Super Bowl winning Denver Broncos talked to the Denver Post about seeing Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania and he was like playing at Georgia Tech.
“It’s crazy, but it doesn’t surprise me. He’s right where he needs to be. It’s great knowing that I learned from him (in college), but at the same time it doesn’t surprise me knowing who he is,” Walker said.
“The same way he is on the camera, he was the same exact way in college (laughs). He was always pretty funny. He had that leadership quality, you know? He was a funny guy, but he wanted to be successful and be the best. He’d always take care of the unit. We had the D-line and we were always pretty good because of him.”
Walker added that he doesn’t watch WWE as much as he used to, despite his college teammate being a top star, since the guys he used to watch “don’t wrestle anymore.” But, Walker said he tries to catch Reigns whenever he’s wrestling on TV.
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