Roman Reigns Has Become Everything Vince McMahon Wanted Says Ex-WWE Champion
A former WWE rival of Roman Reigns has stated that the “Tribal Chief” is what Vince McMahon wanted him to be.
When Roman Reigns won his first Royal Rumble in 2015 to become a main eventer in WWE, the fans booed him even though The Rock was there to raise his hand to try to encourage fans to support him.
In the years that followed, Reigns headlined many shows, including WrestleManias, where the fans booed him loudly. It was the fans’ way of telling WWE that they would not get behind this guy as WWE’s “next John Cena,” the top babyface in the company.
In late August 2020, Roman Reigns, aligned with Paul Heyman, began a heel run that would dominate WWE for the next four years. Reigns was the “Tribal Chief” who led The Bloodline stable to tremendous success, and WWE grew into a bigger company, thanks in part to the Bloodline storyline that revolved around Reigns.
Nic Nemeth had an impressive 19-year WWE run as Dolph Ziggler, which ended in 2023, and he will likely be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame someday. When Nemeth was in WWE, he worked with Reigns many times and was there when fans rejected Reigns as the company’s top babyface.
While speaking about Roman Reigns on Busted Open Radio, which Nemeth co-hosts, Nemeth talked about how much Reigns has improved.
“I knew Roman when he was good. Now, he’s incredible. I’m blown away, because for years, I was like, ‘Alright, we’re going with this guy. He’s okay. This is fine.’
And then watching him absolutely just bust out of that and become this unstoppable force, I’m very impressed with him.”
Vince McMahon Had A Vision For Roman Reigns In WWE
For the first two years of Roman Reigns’ run as WWE’s Tribal Chief, Vince McMahon, the company’s Chairman, was still calling the shots creatively. In July 2022, Vince “retired” due to his numerous transgressions, and although he returned in early 2023, he was removed from WWE in January 2024. With McMahon out of the picture, his son-in-law, WWE’s Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, has been credited with the booking of Reigns since July 2022.
As Nemeth continued speaking about Roman Reigns, he referenced his former boss, McMahon, and how Reigns had evolved into what McMahon had envisioned over a decade ago.
“Slowly but surely, after those years go by, he has become everything that the boss thought he would be, and then some. He’s next-level with his character work.”
In his current role, Roman Reigns is a top babyface in WWE who will face Bronson Reed at WWE Crown Jewel on October 11th. It’s going to be an Australian Street Fight.
Here’s the lineup for WWE Crown Jewel.
* Men’s Crown Jewel Championship: Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes vs. World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins
* Women’s Crown Jewel Championship: WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton vs. Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer
* John Cena vs. AJ Styles
* Australian Street Fight: Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed
* Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky vs. Kabuki Warriors – AJ Styles & Kairi Sane
You can watch WWE Crown Jewel, STREAMING LIVE from Perth on Saturday, October 11th at 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT on the ESPN App in the United States and on Netflix everywhere else.