– Roman Reigns recently spoke with Brian Fritz of SportingNews.com. The full interview is at this link. Below are highlights:
BF: Do you find that itโs the younger women that are really attracted to you or is it middle aged women? I tend to think itโs the cougars.
RR: Eh, I think a little bit of both. Definitely probably the older grown women, I think. Iโm not a young looking man. I like to think Iโm a young, spry man but Iโm 30 now. Iโve got a couple of grays in my beard and maybe a little salt and pepper in my hair. If I let my hair down and go through it, youโd see a good bit of grays. Maybe from the stress of the road and the crazy business Iโm in. Yeah, I think that may be a fair assumption. I like to think .. Iโm not an old man now. Iโm not losing my touch with, you know, the youth, the hipsters these days. Iโm not an old man yet. 30 ainโt bad.
BF: You talk about social media and how much it can help with our lifestyles but it also gives the audience more of an opportunity to be closer to celebrities like yourself and also have their voice be heard. What was it like earlier this year when the crowd response was what it was and some people were coming down hard on you?
RR: It was kind of rough to be honest. Someone my age, we didnโt go through the Internet like how it is now. When I was a kid, I was outside sweating and running around. Me and the Usoโs were tearing up the yard or doing yard work for that matter. We didnโt have all these video games and these social media outlets. There werenโt cameras on every single device that you could think of. So itโs a little bit different. As an adult, Iโve always tried to be a good person my whole life so Iโve made good friends and Iโve always built great relationships and been friendly with people. I always think what you do to others will come to you so thatโs how I treat people. When you deal with an Internet situation where all these people are attacking you for no real reason at all. Youโre just going out there trying to entertain them, trying to give them something to get outside of their life, to get outside their reality and suspend belief for them. And then for them to attack you for no real reason. Itโs not like I was trying to hurt anybody. I was just trying to do my thing, make my art the way I want it and have a good time and hopefully it reflects that. Itโs just one of those things that once itโs opened up itโs eye-opening. Itโs shocking, itโs hurtful but itโs just a part of the world. Just like anything else, any other form of bullying that the worldโs dealt with, weโre going to get past it. Strong people are strong for a reason โ they can hold that weight. God gave me broad shoulders because I can carry that load. It was a shock and awe factor at first but itโs a lot easier now for sure.
BF: Go back to this past weekend at the incident that happened at a show in British Columbia (Canada). You got hit in the head by a Money in the Bank briefcase by a fan (during a match with Bray Wyatt). Did you know exactly what had happened when you got hit with it?
RR: No. To be honest, I thought Bray hit me in the head with the kendo stick. I was about to fire up pretty good and then I saw that briefcase go down. I donโt want to bring light to this situation or play it down because it was absolutely wrong. Thereโs no place for that โฆ but it didnโt hurt. If you see the video, once I realized what had happened, you can see I clearly stand up and Iโm taken out of the moment because Iโm furious for being disrespected in that manner. It was a plastic replica briefcase. It didnโt hurt. The show went on and I think thatโs the most important thing was to continue doing what we were doing. Myself and Bray set out to entertain Victoria that night and thatโs what we continued to do. At the same time, the only thing I have to say about that is thereโs just no room for that. You ruined the show for everybody and when it comes down to it, the dude was 31 years old. Iโm just going to say โ he was 31 years old.
BF: Last thing โ what was it like being backstage a few weeks ago when Seth Rollins smashed John Cenaโs nose? Were you watching at that point?
RR: I was actually at home taking a few days off. I wasnโt at Raw that week but it was funny because Iโm sitting down on my couch, flipping through the channels and I was like oh, the main event is on, Iโll check that out. Literally two minutes after I put the match on, Seth just whacked him in the face with that knee. As soon as I saw it, I was like thatโs a finish right there. All you have to do is show a replay and thatโs as devastating a move as any other ones. He definitely has a new weapon in play but if he tries to throw that knee in my face, Iโll break his knee with my forearm.
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