WWE superstar and current Universal champion Roman Reigns recently spoke with ESPN to hype this weekend’s WrestleMania 38 pay-per-view, where the Tribal Chief defends the gold against WWE champion Brock Lesnar in a win-or-take all situation. Highlights from the interview are below.
Why he decided to not wrestle during the Performance Center Era of COVID-19:
“We didn’t have enough information [about COVID-19]. We didn’t have a proper protocol for protection. I think I made the very smart choice in stepping back and kind of game planning and figuring this thing out and seeing where it went.”
On his alignment with Paul Heyman and how he wanted to be viewed as the most powerful superstar of all time:
“I just kept going back to ‘power. I just want to be viewed as the most powerful superstar of all time, when it comes to WWE and sports entertainment. I just really wanted to convey this portrait of strength. Almost like a Mafia-style power. Not only is it respect, but they fear me.”
ESPN added that “Reigns and Heyman said they might not have returned to WWE unless they were given permission by WWE CEO Vince McMahon to execute this story in a mostly unscripted fashion.”