Roman Reigns Talks Working With Rollins And Ambrose, Coming Full Circle With Dusty Rhodes
WWE Tag Team Champion Roman Reigns joined Doug Mortman and Dave Lagreca on SiriusXM's Busted Open. You can hear Busted Open on Sports Zone; Sirius 92, XM 208 and on the app. They sent us these highlights from the interview:
Going against the Rhodes family: "Not only with the rich tradition in my family but our group we have a lot of pride in what we do, we worked hard this whole year to set a standard and for guys like Cody (Rhodes) and Dustin (Rhodes) being Goldust. Cody ran his mouth when he shouldn't and things happened. He got fired but on the flip side its crazy because Goldust got the opportunity and now they get a second chance so unfortunately there second chance is running head to head against the Shield and that's a problem for everybody so I wouldn't be surprised if this Sunday at Battleground, it will be renamed the Rhodes retirement party."
The rise to the main stage: "It's been a great opportunity. You put with me with a couple guys like Seth (Rollins) and Dean (Ambrose) and it just worked. They have so much experience coming in, they wrestled all over the country and parts of the world in independent promotions so to bring that kind of attitude and that kind of experience and being paired with a guy like me, I more like a thoroughbred and a natural and I don't need too much experience, you can explain on what I might run into and I'll have a plan for it. I didn't need much time to set up to the occasion but it definitely helps when you have guys that have been doing it later then you. Seth and Dean have been wrestling longer then me but they are the same type of pedigree and they have the same kind of attitude, there alpha males, we want to rule the world as crazy as that sounds and that's the type of attitude that we bring. We bow down to no man."
Imaging the future: "Right now, we are building the foundation. We are just laying down the building blocks but the special stuff, that's going too happened in a couple years. What we are doing now is really cool, it's been exciting but there's so much to do in the future, there's so many ways to spin things, there's so much competition like when the Shield breaks up then when competition bumped up a hundred percent because the type of guys that myself, Dean and Seth are, we are going to bring it to each other like we don't know each other and like we are pure enemies and that's how competitive we are as a group and then you make as individuals, it's going to get worse. It's been a special year and it's still coming and if you're into it now, just wait and keep watching."
The plan after going undrafted in the NFL, going to the CFL and going to Florida: "Going into the draft, I knew what I did. I saw my body of work as a defensive tackle. I know if I had the opportunity to get into a camp, going through OTA's, do a full summer, be there for a full day of camp and go through all of the pre-season games, I knew that I was a good enough football player and teammate to make a team, I could had made the team better but I didn't get that opportunity for certain reasons so I did take the chance to go up to Canada and prolong my football career but it just didn't work. At that point, I was just kind of beat up and when it was over and just ready to move on. Before I played football, there was a point in my life where I wanted to wrestle. Then it became that I wanted to play football and if I don't want to do that, I'll wrestle. So it's always been those two and now all I want to do is wrestle. That's it! That's all I want to do."
The youth movement in the WWE: "I'll say out with the old and in with the new. We are hungry; we are trying to do it. You get your chance, do your thing and expect a younger line to come after your pride and that's what I'm doing. We are looking to take over the whole territory. We want to be the king of the mountain; you can look at it as harsh and be like: "Hell Yeah. Competition, we are going to get better" and if you don't look at it like that then you might want to buy my shirt. But then again, you don't have to buy my shirt, you don't have to be a fan, I'll spear you if you don't like me, if you like me, if you love me, if you hate me, anybody can catch a spear."
Growing up with a rich family legacy: "It's funny there's a lot of fans that were fans through the attitude era, the Monday Night Wars but for me, I'm only watching WWE, I'm not watching WCW. None of my family wrestlers over there so it made me a very specific fan and I've only been into the one company and I was right because our company won but it was a very interesting childhood when you have that many males in your family that are superstars and successful and they did there things, they were making towns, they were all over the world, we literally have ten men in my family that have seen the entire world, it's a very blessed feeling. I'm from a very prestigious family and my goal is to not only to represent it but to push it, push the level and raise the bar of what this family can do."
Any fan incidents with their introductions: "Actually somebody smacked the heck out of my arm the other night as I was coming down. It's one of those deals where I get it, we are extremely pumped that the fans are excited to see us and they are part of the entrance and they get to feel us up close, it not like: "I'm like this guy" when you're in the first row and you are watching the ring, you are fifteen feet away where you can't really get a feel for a guy unless he is walking right past you and you can touch him so guy was a little too touchy and he really smacked my arm and the back of neck and he was just pumped and maybe had a little too much to drink or something, I don't know but it was just a little too much but it did piss me off for a split second because I'm on the edge anyway when I'm going out there and I'm ready to take anyone out at that point."
Talking about the Susan G. Komen Foundation in the WWE: "It's one of the strongest things as a company that we are able to do to team up with Susan G. Komen to fight breast cancer if there is anything in the world that a man could do is trying to help women and trying to create a healthier woman for this world because without them, we are done, man. It's a great opportunity for the WWE to help and to push the Susan G. Komen in the right direction. We touch so many lives across the world so many billions of people know about us so to have the opportunity to push the Susan G. Komen foundation out to our fans is a great opportunity."
Coming full circle with Dusty Rhodes: "Anyone that has a relationship with Dusty (Rhodes) knows he's a crazy character, man. He's a good dude, he is one of the best of all time, he has helped all of us tremendously with his experience with his knowledge and he's teaching but that doesn't change the fact that I am going to beat the ever living crap out of his kids, it's going to be "hard times". We have a good understanding of the "American Dream" and we are thankful for him but its business as usual and what's best for business is the Rhodes retirement party this Sunday at Battleground. It's going down."