Roman Reigns Reveals Surprisingly Low Pay When He First Signed with WWE

Roman Reigns had very humble beginnings when it came to his wrestling career, as he has now revealed just how little he used to make when he started out in the business.

While speaking to ESPN, Roman Reigns talked about how much wrestling has changed since he first started. He said that when he began years ago, he was only making $500 a week while training in a small, dirty, dusty warehouse in Tampa. Now, the training takes place in a full performance center with seven to ten rings available at all times and the facilities are top-notch.

“Well it’s rough. I mean, when I started, this was years ago, I was making $500 a week in a dirty little dusty Tampa warehouse. Now, it’s a complete performance center. There’s got to be seven to ten rings ready to go at all times. I mean, the facilities are second to none.”

The OTC mentioned that newer wrestlers now come in and earn more money, but that’s how growth works. As the business improves, the starting point gets better too. Even then, he said the job is rough.

Roman Reigns compared wrestling to football, saying he played football since he was seven. In football, if you’re good, you win around 70 to 75 percent of the time. But in wrestling, every time he hits the mat, he loses 100 percent of the time and it always hurts. When someone throws him down, it doesn’t feel good. While wrestling involves creating magic for the audience, falling down is very real and always painful.

“The guys come in and make more money. But that’s how it works. You know, as we grow, as we get bigger and better, the foundation, the starting point’s going to lift up as well. But it’s rough.

I’ve never— the way I explain it, I played football since I was seven years old. If you’re a good football player, you’re winning maybe 70 to 75 percent of the snaps. So you’re doing well, you know what I mean?

Every single time that I fall down on the mat, hit that canvas, I lose 100 percent of the time. It hurts every single time. Some big brother picks you up and throws you down, it does not feel good. There’s a lot of things that we can, you know, make the magic, but when you fall down, you just fall down.”

The Tribal Chief worked hard to become one of the biggest stars in WWE and fans feel he more than deserves it now. Considering the fact he made just $500 a week when he started his wrestling career in 2010, it’s really inspirational to see how far he has come.

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