Roman Reigns has heard plenty about his lighter WWE schedule, but he says anyone criticizing how often he wrestles now is forgetting just how much work he put in to reach this point.
During his appearance on Club Shay Shay, Reigns was asked how he managed to turn WWE fans around after years of getting mixed reactions. His answer was simple: he outworked them. Roman said the schedule fans see today is nothing like the one he lived through during the years when he was establishing himself as WWE’s top guy.
“I just outworked them. I just, every single day people don’t like, they look at it as a highlight reel now, but you know how it is, every single day you putting in work, every live event there was, you know, hundreds. And now with my schedule people will pick on it, but they don’t remember. They don’t remember from, you know, 2012 to 2018 when I was doing 150, 200 shows a year every single year, you know, just working my ass off but staying in the lab, continually getting the reps, conquering my 10,000 hours, you know what I mean? Putting my time in, that’s where I learned how to do everything.”
Reigns actually believes live events remain extremely valuable for younger wrestlers because they give talent the repetition needed to experiment, adjust and learn how to control different crowds.
“And we’re trying to get that back. I think we’re trying to run more live events and they are good. Um, but we’re just at a business model where TV rights are TV rights and there’s just so much money on the line that we got to that point where it’s just like it doesn’t make sense for me to do live events anymore.”
Roman then explained the business calculation behind that decision. With WWE putting enormous value on television and premium live events, Reigns says risking an injury at a smaller untelevised event simply doesn’t make sense anymore.
“What if I got hurt? You know, there’s so much money that’s riding on Mondays and Fridays and our PLEs now that I can’t just go out there and wrestle for, you know, 4,000, 5,000 only, you know, just for those eyes only. Now, I got to conserve it.”
That doesn’t mean Roman thinks house shows are meaningless. In fact, he immediately stressed how important those events were to making him the performer he eventually became.
“Um, but those are, those are the reps that you, they’re critical. I mean, to have a fresh crowd every single night and you can run the same thing.”
Reigns explained that working the same match in different cities allowed him to tweak his pacing, intensity and presentation night after night before taking what worked onto television.
“I’m going to run the same thing I ran last night, but I’m going to change my tempo a little bit. Or I’m going to change my intensity and the inflections of that intensity throughout the match. You know what I mean? And learn how to manage different things or learn how to, you know, like, oh, let me just switch up this little nuance or let me put my signature. Let me add that emote here.”
The comments add some context to the constant discussion surrounding Roman’s WWE schedule. After winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 42, Reigns declared that he was going to put the “part-time” talk to rest and told fans they would see him throughout the summer. WWE also advertised Reigns for a number of dates stretching through the summer and into the fall, including RAW appearances and premium live events.
For Roman, this isn’t about avoiding work. His argument is that he already spent years doing the brutal road schedule that helped turn him into the performer WWE now protects. House shows helped build Roman Reigns, but once the Tribal Chief became one of WWE’s biggest financial assets, the equation changed. Now every appearance comes with a much bigger price tag if something goes wrong.
Do you agree with Roman Reigns that working WWE house shows no longer makes sense for someone in his position, or should top stars still wrestle those events? Leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
