Why WWE WrestleMania Chaos Didn’t Matter To Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns has reflected on the chaotic road to WWE WrestleMania 40.
At WrestleMania 40, Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns to become the Undisputed WWE Champion, finally finishing the story he had been chasing since his return to the company in 2022. However, the path to the match was anything but straightforward. After Rhodes won the 2024 Royal Rumble, he made his intentions to face Reigns on the Grandest Stage Of Them All clear.
Only weeks later, those plans unexpectedly changed as The American Nightmare seemed to step aside to allow The Rock to challenge Reigns instead. The backlash from fans who wanted to see Rhodes dethrone Reigns forced WWE to once again change course. The Rock turned heel for the first time in decades and sided with The Tribal Chief against Rhodes, while Rhodes was reinstated into the main event of WrestleMania 40.
Looking back on that period in a new interview with Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated, Reigns has claimed that he didn’t care who he needed up facing as long as he was in the main event.
“It didn’t matter to me. I was the main event no matter what. I’m the guy that everyone wanted to dance with. I’m the hot chick. Everybody wanted to take me out. It was one of those things where we just need to get there and defend this thing. It doesn’t matter who it is, they’re trying to stop history from happening. They’re trying to take this off of the pinnacle right now. So it was the same task at hand for me.”
Reigns was then asked if he was disappointed about not being able to face The Great One, given his immense star power, but the star didn’t look at it in that way.
“I never really looked at it like that. It was almost more of this kind of the same sentiment when I got all deep on you, and you said get back into Tribal Chief character. That situation when you zoom out and you see all these family members together. When you’re able to do that with someone from your family, when you’re able to do that with people from your bloodline, there’s just something about that. I don’t know. Maybe you can ask the Kelsey brothers, it’s just this weird carrying such a crazy, huge, main event level moment with so many eyes on it.
“The whole world was watching, especially with the way we have it now. But I wasn’t even looking at him like this is DJ, it was just me and another family member, and I mean that with the utmost love and respect. It’s really hard to even put in words how that can make a man feel and just how proud I am of being able to attempt to articulate this. We’re very fortunate to be a part of it.”
Roman Reigns Believes Match With The Rock Still On The Table
During the same interview, Roman Reigns addressed the possibility of facing The Rock in the future. The Tribal Chief says he’s “sure we can make something happen” if the fans still want to see the bout happen.
H/T to ITR Wrestling for the above transcription.