While some might believe “suffering succotash” is Roman Reigns’ worst promo, he thinks an earlier one takes the cake!
As Head of the Table, Roman Reigns is no stranger to controlling the microphone as he rules atop the WWE as its longest reigning Universal Champion. However, on a recent episode of Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast, he detailed some times when he was less confident cutting promos in front of the live WWE crowds. Between his infamous “blanking” that led to him being schooled by John Cena to his uttering “sufferin’ succotash,” Roman Reigns has had plenty of promos that weren’t well received by fans.
“I mean, I’ve had just some crappy promos that you know, you get in early, you don’t have any equity. I want to say something right now. I ain’t saying it, you know what I mean? But 10 years ago, Vince is like ‘You’re saying this,’ and it’s highlighted, then you’re gonna say it, and I said some some crazy stuff, which still follows.
“Like the the suffering succotash, I don’t even remember, I just remember suffering succotash. And it was like, literally eight years ago, and it will still be brought up. I mean, I’ve delivered some really good work over the past few years. And they’ll still be like suffering succotash. So it’s just one of those deals.”
While that promo might be infamous, Roman Reigns believes his promo at TLC 2014 is actually his worst. On that occasion, he returned from a hernia injury to lay waste to a number of WWE Superstars before declaring himself as a participant in the upcoming Royal Rumble. However, the promo is memorable for Roman Reigns mispronouncing the word “declare” as he stumbled over his words and then staring blankly into the camera as he attempted to remember the rest of his lines.
“And then I came back from, I think it was my hernia injury early on. And I came back and the Rumble was coming up pretty soon. And I did a run-in, beat up some people, and then I did a promo backstage, and I was supposed to be declaring for the Royal Rumble. And when I hit that declare, I forget how I flubbed it. But when I did, I just said, like I flubbed the clip. And I just looked right in the camera.
“It was… we were in Cleveland, and I remember, yeah, it was bad. And I was like, because it was a pretty dope segment of me coming in and beating everybody up. I think I like, speared Big Show. It was really cool. And then I’m supposed to have this, like I’m declaring for the Royal Rumble and I’m gonna win it, go to WrestleMania, you know, the whole nine, and I just… yeah.”
Roman Reigns then went on to speak about how having confidence as a more seasoned performer helps him move on when he makes mistakes these days, which is something that’s come with practice and years of experience speaking to WWE crowds.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit IMPAULSIVE and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.