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| WWE: Inside Roman Reigns' 3 years as world wrestling entertainment champion | | |  Los Angeles
NEW DELHI, Mar 31: World Wrestling Entertainment has had plenty of dominant characters over the past 50 years, but Roman Reigns continues to set his own path.
When Reigns faces Cody Rhodes on Sunday in the main event of WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, it will be his 944th consecutive day as champion, the sixth-longest title reign in the company's history.
"You set goals and have visions of where you view yourself and what you'd like to accomplish. But, I couldn't have written the past three years any better," Reigns said during an interview with The Associated Press. "It feels good to come from a wrestling family that has been performers for a long time. To represent such a prestigious title reign at the tippity top of the mountain, there's no comparison."
Reigns has a combination few sports entertainers can match - charisma, athletic ability, family pedigree and real-life experiences where he beat the odds. That has also made Reigns a beloved and respected heel (bad guy). Fans cheer when Reigns demands them to "acknowledge me" when speaking in the middle of the ring.
That wasn't always the case. Reigns entered WWE in 2012 but was a polarizing figure among fans for a long time because majority owner Vince McMahon had tried to position him as a champion and a babyface (good guy). Fans passionately resented Reigns because his rise to the top felt forced.
That changed in the fall of 2018 when Reigns- whose real name is Joe Anoa'i - announced he was stepping away due to a recurrence of leukemia. Anoa'i, an All-ACC defensive tackle at Georgia Tech, was first diagnosed in 2007 after signing a free-agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings. He went into remission two years later.
After four months of treatment, Reigns returned in February 2019. He was scheduled for the main event during 2020?s WrestleMania but pulled out due to health concerns at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Even though the show occurred in the Orlando training center and no fans were in attendance, Reigns was immunocompromised, and his wife was pregnant with twins.
"There was always that struggle, and I don't blame them," Reigns said of his relationship with fans. "Everything we're doing now and how it is displayed - the character work, the personality, the storylines, all of that the information we're giving our fans, we're keeping everything as logical as you can in a wrestling show."
When Reigns returned to WWE events in August 2020, not only had he found a way to tap into becoming a heel, but it was with Paul Heyman by his side. Heyman had a long partnership with Brock Lesnar and different stints creating storylines for WWE, and he and Reigns spent months developing a way to reboot his character.
Reigns would win the Universal Championship for the second time less than two weeks after returning. He added the WWE belt by defeating Lesnar at last year's WrestleMania to become the Undisputed Champion. |
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