Roman Reigns On How He Has Changed Since Getting Booed At The 2015 Royal Rumble

Ahead of the Royal Rumble in San Antonio, Texas, Roman Reigns sat down with Brian Campbell of ESPN’s Cheap Heat podcast. Highlights from the interview, which you can listen to here, are as follows:

What he loves about Royal Rumble weekend:

The whole year is for this. It’s not just a quarterly thing; we go 52 weeks a year. From a company standpoint, to the fans, there’s a lot of sacrifices to be able to make it to all these events, and for them to show up, this is why we love our fans. I’m sure you know this, some of the most hardcore fans that travel. Its’ not always a home game, so they have to pick up and fly, which takes money, so we’re very grateful for their sacrifices, which is why we try to give them that huge experience, that Royal Rumble, on the road to WrestleMania; with WrestleMania weekend and Axxess, it’s not just a regular Raw or 3 hour show, or Live Event, it’s literally a situation where we take over a city, and Royal Rumble is becoming that way. We know a lot of exciting things are happening that weekend as well with NXT, so I am looking forward to being in the Alamo Dome, in San Antonio for the Rumble.

How he has changed since being booed at the 2015 Royal Rumble:

I think it just pushed me. Any time as a performer and you are in a live situation, it’s going to trigger emotions. Anybody who is dedicated, and wants to get better at their craft and wants to be the very best in the business is going to use that as motivation. Some people look at that as a negative, not me. At the end of the day, an amount of people are screaming and booing their lungs out so I must be doing something right. Something about the Royal Rumble, I have the elimination record, been in there a couple times, so they better keep me out of there. If I am a WWE Superstar, the last thing I want to hear is coming into the Royal Rumble is Roman Reigns.

The importance of his feud with AJ Styles:

You know, I think anytime I am asked to step up into an occasion, I am going to rise above it. Anytime you are given an opportunity, you have to put your head down and just focus on it. That is what I have done the last couple of years. I don’t really care about winning awards, or who is the best, to me, it’s just staying healthy and making all these different talents entertaining with all these different shows. At the end of the day, so many things happen, so you know, travel has to be right, health has to be right, the ring has to be set up right, the ring has to get to the show. There’s so many little things that have to come together. At the end of the day, when it comes down to your performance, it becomes natural, and it shouldn’t be a thing where you stress about it because you waited all day to do it, so for me, I’m at the point now where I really try to take advantage of the time that I am out there because I have waited the entire time to get to the show, I want to see the people after the match. That is why for me, no matter where you are at. If you are as good as you are going to get, you mine as well leave. What has been beneficial for me is that I have been in these big matches, I have learned and grown from them. That’s my goal, to be well-rounded. It was a weird situation with me and AJ, but I think I am a good enough athlete, and I understand the showmanship part of it, the psychology, the performance, I can wrestle against anybody and have a 5-star match. It doesn’t matter. I’m at the perfect size where I can be the smaller guy, or the big guy, either way it’s to my advantage. Regardless it’s all about fun, that’s what it’s all about. Sometimes we lose track when it comes to entertainment, it’s about smiling, having fun and learning to grow.