Roman Reigns wasn’t always the confident Tribal Chief we see today, and he discussed learning from the time John Cena schooled him on the microphone.
After reigning as Universal Champion for well over 700 days, Roman Reigns has earned his place as Head of the Table. During a recent appearance on Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast, Reigns discussed the art of using microphone skills to control an audience, saying that it’s a skill he’s had to hone over the years.
“Yeah, it’s trial and error learning yourself. I mean, I was a football player, so I watched a lot of film. And early on, I watched all the film, from every step that I take in the ring to the mannerisms to the emotions to the in-ring sh*t talking that I do to when I’m cutting a promo, you know what I mean? Everything is just based off of the experience, the trial and error of knowing what works, what doesn’t, my strengths, how to highlight those, how to camouflage a weakness and eventually work to make that a strength.”
Logan Paul, having just signed a WWE contract in June of 2022, said that he’s also been watching tape of his performances to try to learn. He then noted how one thing he wasn’t ready for when he began appearing in front of a live crowd was the heckling, getting booed by an audience and getting thrown off by that reaction.
The conversation shifted to a particular incident where Roman Reigns “blanked” in the ring during a 2017 promo with John Cena, leading Cena to say the infamous line, “It’s called a promo kid, and if you want to be the Big Dog then you’re gonna have to learn how to do it so go ahead.” Roman Reigns said that the experience of making that mistake in the ring made him a better performer because he learned from it.
“I think just being in that position, and going through that experience made me better. I don’t think it was anything like John specifically. You know what I mean? Like, because I take from everybody I’ve worked with, everyone I’ve competed with, I always try to take something that I learned from them, you know?
“Like you find… it’s like looking at, you know, like if you’re an offensive coordinator, I’m working under you as a you know, a quarterback coach or something and it’s like man, that offense was good. I’m taking everything that I liked from it, then I’m gonna add a little bit to my own playbook.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Logan Paul called working for WWE “mental torment” compared to the world of boxing.
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.