What Roman Reigns Life Was Like Before His Rise To Fame

These days, Roman Reigns is one of WWE's most popular wrestlers and may soon be expanding into the world of Hollywood. However, there was a time when Reigns lived a far less glamorous life, despite his famous family and a promising collegiate football career.

Reigns was born Leati Joseph Anoa'i in Pensacola, Florida, on May 25, 1985. His father, Sika Anoaʻi, was one half of the Wild Samoans tag team, and many other members of the family were deeply ingrained in the industry as well. However, it was a working class upbringing for Reigns, and he was the youngest of four children in his family.

Rather than looking to follow in his father's footsteps, Reigns took a cue from his older brother, Matt, and pursued football from an early age. After building his reputation in high school, Anoa'i went on to play football at Georgia Tech, where he became a teammate of future NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson. During his college days, many of those who played with Anoa'i believed that he was bound for the NFL, but his life and career would take a few unexpected turns.

Anoa'i went undrafted in the 2007 NFL draft, but he was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as a free agent. Because of his team-mandated physical, Anoa'i learned some life-changing news: he had a type of cancer known as chronic myeloid leukemia. He began treatment right away and found himself in remission not long after, but having missed out on months of training, Anoa'i was not on an NFL roster by the time the season began.

After this, Anoa'i played in the Canadian Football League for a brief time, but he was eventually released there as well. It was at this point that the future Reigns began working as an office furniture installer for a company that his sister owned. At the time, Anoa'i was working with two of his cousins that he was close with, but they would soon leave to join WWE's developmental territory. Today, they're known as Jimmy and Jey Uso.

Years later, Reigns credited a single conversation with his father for convincing him not to settle for a job building furniture. After that, he made the decision to pursue wrestling.

In 2010, Anoa'i made his way to Florida Championship Wrestling, WWE's developmental brand prior to the creation of NXT. However, he was still a long way from main eventing stadiums. Anoa'i wrestled under the name Leakee in the early days, but the company decided on the name Roman Reigns around the same time the transition was made to NXT.

After spending just a couple of years learning the ropes, Reigns was brought up to the WWE main roster in 2012 as a member of a new faction called The Shield. The group quickly picked up steam and became popular with fans, but when the decision was made to break The Shield up in 2014 and begin pushing Reigns as a singles star, there was a backlash.

For various reasons, fans rejected Reigns just as they had once pushed back on the rise of his cousin, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. WWE's then CEO and booker Vince McMahon held firm, continuing to feature Reigns as a babyface at the top of the card.

In October 2018, Reigns made a shocking announcement on "WWE Raw," revealing that he was battling CML for the second time. After relinquishing the world championship, Reigns spent several months in treatment and returned in February, building straight into a reunion of The Shield. This served as a turning point for the fan reaction to Reigns, but there were even greater heights to come.

After taking some time off during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reigns returned to WWE in August 2020. His comeback was particularly surprising as it featured Reigns turning heel for the first time since the original run of The Shield. This was the beginning of The Bloodline, and Reigns' turn at the top of that faction would solidify his place among the most respected wrestlers of his day.

Now a babyface once again, Reigns has earned the admiration of most wrestling fans despite working a part-time schedule. After picking up a few movie roles here and there over the years, Reigns now seems to be eyeing a more impactful move to film, possibly following in the footsteps of The Rock.