Roman Reigns Confirms New Deal With WWE, Discusses Current Schedule

Roman Reigns has spoken of recently signing a new WWE contract, and the logic behind his reduced schedule with the company.

‘The Head Of The Table’ is currently on an iconic run of over 700 days as World Champion, including unifying the major titles to become Undisputed WWE Universal Champion in a match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38.

Over the last few months Roman Reigns has significantly reduced his schedule with WWE, rarely appearing on live events and not being a part of every single episode of Friday Night SmackDown or Premium Live event.

This had led to some talk that Reigns was ready to step away from the company altogether, and that working less events was a way to gradually move him away from some of the focus a title holder would normally have.

However, in a recent interview with Jimmy Traina on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast, ‘The Tribal Chief’ confirmed that he has signed a new deal with WWE.

Yeah, I don’t really like to give specifics… especially….there are timelines, different ways to play with these things.

Roman Reigns also confirmed that part of the reason for his reduced schedule is so that he can spend more time with his family, something the full-time schedule did not allow.

The main thing is, when you’ve been on the road for almost ten years straight, and someone who has been at the highest level, the main event level, I’ve ran a full schedule for a long time. Even before we went to FOX, it changed to where it was SmackDown on Friday, two live events on Saturday and Sunday, and the occasional Monday Night Raw.

That’s a four-night schedule, which isn’t as bad as it used to be. We used to do Friday, Saturday, Sunday live events, Monday Night Raw, tape SmackDown on Tuesday. We were only getting a day and a half. This is before private travel, buses, and all that. Fly out Wednesday morning, get half of Wednesday, you get home and you’re tired. Half of Wednesday, then you have Thursday and are trying to handle personal life and family and everything that comes with that. Then you’re back out on Friday.

For me, it was trying to balance everything. Someone who has five children, we’re in a critical portion of their lives where they are so young and this is where we build these relationships and bonds and they get to know who their dad is. For me, it was extremely important that I can build my fatherhood as the priority and the number one hat that I wear. In WWE, Vince (McMahon) and everybody was very good about accommodating that and making sure to keep me in the WWE family.

Explaining some more of the logic, Roman Reigns commented that making himself less accessible by not being on every show can make an appearance seem more special for everyone.

The main thing is, no, we’re not going to be on every single pay-per-view, but anything that I am on, which will be all the major ones and a couple of the other ones that fall in-between the big four and the Saudis. I’ll always support those with TV to build the story and rivalry going forward. Compared to what I did, technically, compared to a full-time, on everything, you only get a day and a half a week, yeah, it’s part-time compared to what I usually run.

I’m an annual character on WWE television. It’s done well so far. The reactions, it makes everything feel more special if you’re not as attainable or available. It puts a little mystique around you. Pretty much all of the houses have done well. The actual reaction, the decibel level is still very high. I couldn’t have planned for it to go any better. Hopefully, we’ll continue to build that.

I’ve done it to where, I could do it every single week, that’s no problem. At the same time, if the quality is high, the quantity doesn’t have to be crazy.

Roman Reigns will be in action when he defends the gold against Drew McIntyre at Clash At The Castle on 3rd September.

With thanks to Fightful for the transcription.