Roman Reigns On Kevin Owens Headbutting Vince McMahon, Cherishing His Matches With AJ Styles
Just ahead of Sunday's WWE No Mercy pay-per-view, WWE Superstar Roman Reigns was a guest on CBS Sports' In This Corner podcast. Among other things, Reigns discussed the buzzworthy SmackDown Live segment with Kevin Owens and Vince McMahon and working with current WWE United States Champion AJ Styles.
On the subject of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon getting color on SmackDown Live, Reigns claimed to be inspired by McMahon's passion and noted that all WWE Superstars want to have that career-defining moment with McMahon.
"I think it's one of those situations where it's a leading by example. When you see the CEO, your boss, out there getting shoot headbutted and thrown around at his age, it comes back to that word 'passion' that we talked about. You don't have to. Let's be honest, does he really have to be out there doing that stuff? And I've been in there and done some physicality with him, but never just a straight [headbutt]. You can watch that back. There is no sports entertainment in there. Do you know what I mean? There was nothing pulled. There's no way to disguise that.
"Kevin, K.O.'s good, he's a really good [pro] wrestler, but if he can somehow work that, I've got to sit him down and talk to him. I just think it kind of sets the tone and it makes everybody motivated because I've been out there with the boss. K.O. [has] been out there with the boss. People want to be out there with him, man. It says something. It elevates you and that's what it's all about, riding this escalator and generally growing, and progressing, and seeing your star rise. And sometimes, the boss has to come out there and help that situation."
As for Styles, Reigns put over Styles, saying that the feud was "special" and noted that he would be happy to wrestle 'The Phenomenal One' for the rest of his pro wrestling career.
"It's hard for me to rank [all-time best opponents]. Do you know what I mean? Like, because I have such a deep respect for all the guys that I'm out there with and for me to rank them, I'd feel weird about that. But I think both AJ and I know what we had going on and we can both say that it was special. And I'll wrestle AJ for the rest of my life. I'll go out on a limb and say that I would have no problems being in that ring with him if you're like, 'hey, that's the only person you're going to wrestle,' I'd be like, 'well, thank you! That's easy.' I mean, it really is. If you don't know by now, if you didn't know AJ before his coming to the WWE, there's a reason why he's in the WWE. There's a reason why he's used the way he's used and it was an absolute pleasure to be in the ring with him."
Reigns added, "it was one of those situations I honestly cherish and I'll never forget those matches we had. I thought our chemistry was incredible from day one in the [Royal] Rumble. Do you know what I mean? And we had no clue of each other outside just being in that ring and dancing with each other and it was magic. Hopefully, one day, we'll do it again. He's over there on the blue side and that's important because with his leadership, his tenure, being all around the world and having a deep respect for this business. And like we talked about before, that passion, you can't fake that."
Check out the podcast here. If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit In This Corner with an H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription.
Source: In This Corner