Roman Reigns has heard all the criticism about his lighter WWE schedule, but according to the Tribal Chief, there’s a reason fans don’t see him working house shows anymore—and it has a lot to do with how WWE does business today.
Speaking on Club Shay Shay, Reigns was asked how he eventually won over fans after years of being rejected. He said there wasn’t any shortcut to it. Instead, he spent years grinding through an exhausting WWE schedule, wrestling as many as 150 to 200 matches a year between 2012 and 2018.
“I just outworked them. Every single day… Every live event, there was hundreds. And now with my schedule, people will pick on it, but they don’t remember. They don’t remember from 2012 to 2018, when I was doing 150, 200 shows a year, every single year… just working my ass off, but staying in the lab, continually getting the reps… That’s where I learned how to do everything.”
Reigns said he’d actually like to see WWE run more live events because they’re incredibly valuable for developing talent. The problem, he explained, is that the company’s priorities have changed. With billions tied up in television rights, streaming deals and premium live events, WWE simply isn’t willing to risk one of its biggest stars getting hurt at a non-televised show.
“We’re trying to get that back. I think we’re trying to run more live events, and they are good. 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. 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, just for those eyes only. Right now, I gotta conserve it.”
Even so, Reigns believes house shows remain one of the best learning tools in wrestling. He explained that working in front of a different crowd every night allowed him to tweak everything from his pacing to his facial expressions and crowd interaction before taking those lessons onto live television.
“Those are the reps… they’re critical. To have a fresh crowd every single night… I’m gonna run the same thing I ran last night, but I’m gonna change my tempo a little bit… or let me put my signature… let me add that emote here. You can just tinker with things… and then go do a semblance of that… on a Monday.”
When Shannon Sharpe asked whether those skills came from veteran advice or simply experience, Reigns said legends like The Undertaker could point younger wrestlers in the right direction, but eventually everyone has to figure it out for themselves.
“For the most part, even if they taught me, it was still trial and error. Because at the end of the day, you gotta go out there, you gotta go through the curtain and put it into play… Taker can sit with you… and give you great advice, but if you don’t go out there and produce it and execute it right, it’s just not gonna match up.”
For Reigns, the issue isn’t whether house shows matter—they absolutely do. The difference is that WWE’s business has evolved to the point where protecting its biggest attractions for television and premium live events now outweighs putting them on the road several extra nights a week.
Do you think WWE is making the right call by keeping Roman Reigns off house shows, or should top stars still work live events regularly? Let us know in the comments below.
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.
