Roman Reigns sat down with ESPN, the multinational sports media conglomerate that acquired the rights to WWE’s premium live events, to promote the big change.
Each decade of the 21st century had various wrestlers sitting atop WWE’s royalty. Since 2020, that nod goes, without a shadow of a doubt, to The Tribal Chief of pro wrestling. He was one of the names instrumental in bringing a change to the business as the Stamford-based promotion’s biggest star, especially for 1,316 days between 2020 and 2024, when he reigned as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
Roman Reigns Discusses The Evolution Of WWE Now That It Has Tied Up With ESPN
Roman Reigns directed praise to ESPN, calling them the leaders of sports. He acknowledged Nick Khan and Paul “Triple H” Levesque, those who he feels have led the way for guys like him to succeed in the ever-thriving wrestling business.
When asked if he feels anything new can be expected with the new partnership with ESPN, Reigns stated that WWE is not in its “final form,” and it will always continue to grow.
“It’s always evolving, ever-changing. But, that’s the kind of pressure we like to put on ourselves – to be able to team up with ESPN. We know we have to get better, bigger. We know we’re going to be reaching a bigger audience.
[…] I think we have the ingredients, but like I said before, as entertainment changes, the newer generations come up and start taking over, I think that kind of stuff happens in real time. That’s the one thing, you have to be authentic and organic about it. If you try to hammer that nail in, it’s going to end up crooked and not in the right place. Sometimes you just have to let it sink in the way it’s going to, so…
There’s a lot of things that are going to happen the next couple of years that we’re not quite sure, but we know we need to stay slightly ahead of the curve, not too far out, but just enough to know what’s happening to make that topical thing. Whatever’s happening in six months. We need to be smart enough and flexible enough to be able to move with it,” Roman Reigns said.
At WWE SummerSlam last weekend, he kicked off Night 1 alongside cousin Jey Uso, as the two scored a huge win over rising stalwarts Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. This was his first match since WrestleMania 41, where he fell to Seth Rollins thanks to Paul Heyman’s betrayal.
Just like what Roman Reigns said about the company’s growth on ESPN, his character is also undergoing changes on-screen. However, his issues with Heyman remain a focal point on WWE TV since the Show of Shows earlier this year. Where things go from here bears watching.