Roman Reigns Reacts To John Cena Calling Him WWE’s Greatest Of All Time
John Cena recently praised Roman Reigns heavily, so the “Original Tribal Chief” has given his thoughts on the matter.
In the history of professional wrestling, it is very difficult to narrow it down and pick one person as the greatest pro wrestler of all time. There are many different big names from different eras and companies, so it can be tough for anybody to pick just one person.
When asked for his choice for the Greatest Of All Time (aka The GOAT) in WWE history, former 16-time WWE World Champion John Cena went with the six-time former WWE World Champion Roman Reigns.
Cena explained his decision to Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe by talking about Reigns as a difference-maker in WWE business since he was at the top of the company in the last four years when WWE has gone through another boom period. A lot of records have been broken in recent years in terms of crowd sizes, number of sellouts, and things of that nature, so Cena believes Reigns deserves the credit.
“It’s amazing I’m saying a still active talent with years in front of him is the greatest of all time. But he’s been in it since 2012, I had to work my way up. I started on the bench and then got onto the Saturday program, and then just lost every match. He came in with The Shield in a really high-level spot and never wavered.”
“Even when the fans didn’t like him, he was still in a main event spot. He’s been in a main event lens for over a decade now. And he’s brought through his clock, and you could say whatever forces helped it, but in 2012 we were the stock was trading at 11 bucks, WWE or TKO stocks now at 117, that’s on his shoulders.”
“There isn’t a better indication of, and I know it’s a team effort and nobody does it alone, but that, to me, that’s some serious s**t. And for me, I got to give respect where respect is due. And Joe is smart, passionate about the business, a multi-generational athlete has respect for his family has respect for the locker room has respect for the business. He’s just a very, very smart performer and somebody I respect. He would be my greatest of all time.”
While the two WWE icons have each headlined WrestleManias in the past, they never faced off at WWE’s biggest shows of the year. The biggest match between Roman Reigns and John Cena was the main event of SummerSlam 2021 with Reigns retaining his Universal Title against Cena.
Roman Reigns: “I’m Going To Agree With Him”
During an appearance with Paul Heyman at Bloomberg’s New York Power Players, Roman Reigns gave a thoughtful answer while admitting at the end that he agrees with Cena.
“The numbers don’t lie. I wish I could say, ‘I’m Taylor Swift out there,’ but we have a great team. I have a Wiseman. Business has been really good. It’s one of those weird situations. This is where I would normally be like, ‘Paul, brag about me.’ At the end of the day, it’s subjective.”
“There are some objective metrics involved that we can measure. If there’s 60 people over here that are like, ‘No, Roman Reigns is the GOAT.’ Then there’s two people who go, ‘No way. The Undertaker is the Greatest of All Time.’ How do you argue with those two people that believe in their soul that the Undertaker is? That’s the weird part of our job, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s where objective and subjective meet.”
“It can really be whatever you feel it is. As long as you are connected to whose ever product in WWE you are connected to, I think you have the right to claim that superstar being the greatest of all time, to you. As far as what John said, I kind of witnessed and observed his early reign as WWE’s top guy and face of the company. Nobody knows better about everything that it takes to get to that point and be in that conversation. I guess I’m just going to agree with him.”
Reigns has been off TV for several weeks after Solo Sikoa and The Bloodline took him out with a Powerbomb through a table. It is expected that Cody Rhodes will face Solo Sikoa in a WWE Title match on the September 13th edition of Smackdown which will see the show return to USA Network, so that could be when Reigns makes his triumphant return.