Daniel Bryan Says Roman Reigns Doesn't Wrestle With His Heart

Daniel Bryan has his eyes set on Roman Reigns and the Universal Title. He needs to win the Royal Rumble to make sure he can clinch that WrestleMania spot, and he has a lot to prove in the process.

During Talking Smack, Paul Heyman admitted that Roman Reigns is “screwed” he is faces Daniel Bryan while the Planet’s Champion is on his best day. This is a legitimate worry that Heyman has for the Tribal Chief.

Bryan also believes that he has one up on Roman Reigns as well. He’s not in WWE for the glory or adulation. He loves pro wrestling and has a huge passion for the sport. This led to Bryan saying that Roman Reigns has a passionateless approach.

“There are a couple things that you got wrong, and it has to do with motivation and what drives me. I am not interested in glory. I’m not interested in the adulation of the fans, despite all the ‘yes chants.'”

Advertising

Advertising

“Do you know what I loved? I loved when we were at the Performance Center, wrestling in front of zero people with zero noise, just wrestling. Do you know what made people love me? I don’t know if you remember the 2015 Royal Rumble? I don’t know if you remember that? I lost, very quickly. That’s the one that Roman Reigns won. It was in Philadelphia. I was in the ring for maybe 5 minutes. 5 minutes total in that Royal Rumble, but when Roman Reigns won, everybody booed. The Rock congratulated him. The Rock saying, ‘oh man, you’re the man,’ and The Rock putting Roman over, people booed.”

“I have a theory as to why that is, and it’s this. I think you’re right, Roman Reigns might be the best right now. He’s performing at a whole different level than everybody else, but he doesn’t wrestle with his heart. It’s a façade, always has been.”

“He came out there when he debuted in this company wearing a vest, a bulletproof vest so you couldn’t see his heart. I have a theory that why they connected with me, this happens every night, I put my heart out there. That happened on SmackDown, right. I’ve been wrestling for 21 years, Paul. You go out there and you’ve been out there for 30 minutes,45 minutes, a lot of guys that have been in this business as long as I have, they’d get on the apron.”

“I get in there with a chance to fight The Miz, who I absolutely hate, and there’s no place in the world I’d rather be. So the big difference is not about who’s the best or who wants glory, it’s who’s willing to go out there and fight with heart.”

Roman Reigns is still Head of the Table, and he is set to take on Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble in a last man standing match. Daniel Bryan will be paying close attention to that contest because it could directly determine a lot about his own creative direction.

Keep checking back with Ringside News as we continue providing extensive coverage throughout the Royal Rumble event.