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  • 6 months ago
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00:00Breaking news this morning, WrestleMania will become a part of ESPN's new direct-to-consumer streaming service starting in 2026, thanks to an agreement between the WWE and ESPN.
00:14The deal includes two-night events like WrestleMania and SummerSlam, plus other WWE premium live events.
00:21WWE will produce the events for ESPN platforms, which will serve as their exclusive U.S. domestic home.
00:30My goodness.
00:31WWE superstar Roman Reigns with us now.
00:33See you, bro.
00:34How exciting is this?
00:36Your reaction to the news?
00:38It's almost like the news cycle in itself.
00:41It's always something new for us.
00:43It seems to always be bigger and better.
00:45You know, I think Nick Khan has done a great job.
00:48Paul LeBest has done a great job of leading us.
00:51And the proof is in the pudding.
00:52We just keep leveling up, and this is no different.
00:55What does it mean for the fans of the WWE in your estimation?
00:58I think it's a chance to continue to grow.
01:00I mean, anytime you can team up with a platform like ESPN, I mean, you guys are the, you know, sports media leaders.
01:07Nobody does it better than you guys.
01:09So, to help us tell these stories, to help us reach and have as much attention, it's an obvious partnership.
01:17So, it's huge for our fan base.
01:18Anytime we can grow, you know, our art form, our, you know, form of sports and entertainment, it's always going to benefit our fans.
01:26Go ahead, Lewis, because I know you're a big fan.
01:28No, no, no, I'm a Roman Drains fan because, like, I'm a football guy.
01:33And, like, I think it's the electricity in the arenas that you guys perform in.
01:40Like, compare and contrast that to your time in football, whether it be at Georgia Tech, whether it be in your stints in the NFL, the CFL.
01:47Like, what are the similarities?
01:49Because, you know, people look at wrestling sometimes as just a form of entertainment, but there's tremendous athleticism out there.
01:55A lot of former football players, as well, I was talking to you about Bill Goldberg.
01:58What is that like for you?
01:59How do you compare those two disciplines?
02:02It used to be a lot different.
02:03But, I mean, now the fact that we've continued to grow, it used to be only arenas, but now it's stadiums.
02:10So, in that regard, it's no different than football.
02:12You know, you have that outdoor feeling, you have that same energy, but there's something about the wrestling, you know, audience, the sports entertainment crowd.
02:22It's almost like bringing in, you know, some of the tradition of soccer, you know, international football, and then mixing it with just how, you know, big our American football is.
02:33So, our crowds are, there's nothing like it.
02:36You'll see all kinds of chants.
02:37They sing with you.
02:38It's just a different experience.
02:40It's so much more interactive than you'll ever.
02:42The loyalty of the fans also is exceptional.
02:45I'm just wondering about how do you think y'all have been able to pull that off?
02:47I mean, we love our football.
02:48We love our basketball.
02:49We see arenas.
02:50We see stadiums packed, and everybody's looking forward to the live action.
02:54But, like, WrestleMania, SummerSlims, I mean, to see these crowds and to see how rabid they are, how do you believe y'all have been able to pull off that level, such a rabid following, such an allure to your sport like this?
03:09I think it just comes back to the passion of what you're doing.
03:11And I think when people see the people who are doing what they're doing, having fun, enjoying it, trying to level it up, trying to bring more attention to it, it's contagious.
03:20You know what I mean?
03:21So, that's just something that we've always had.
03:23We've always had people who love doing what we do.
03:26And if you don't have that type of dedication, that type of passion towards this type of performing arts, the return eventually is there.
03:35But you've got to go through hell in order to get to the big show.
03:39You get to get to my spot.
03:40Right.
03:40I'm a journeyman.
03:41You know what I mean?
03:42This is a blue – this used to be a blue-collar form of entertainment.
03:45I mean, running the roads, rental cars, hotels, the whole nine, 300 days on the road to be able to push it to where we're at.
03:56You know, just sitting there, knocking on the mainstream, almost there, pushing to get better, even keeping it.
04:02Maybe we are there, but that's what I continue to tell myself, to push myself.
04:05So, yeah, I mean, it's just getting bigger and bigger.
04:08I want to go back to the partnership, and I know you mentioned Paul Levesque and obviously Nick Khan.
04:12Because what I find so interesting, especially with the WWE fans, is how loyal they are, right, which you talked about.
04:18And to me, this partnership for both ESPN and the WWE, it's about the fans, right?
04:23This direct-to-consumer, more access, more events, et cetera.
04:27Anything new that we can expect with this partnership?
04:30100%.
04:31Like we said, we're just continually trying to get better.
04:34We don't think we're in our final form at all, and it's entertainment, so it's just always evolving.
04:40It's ever-changing, but that's the type of pressure we like to put on ourselves.
04:45To be able to team up with an ESPN, we know we have to get better.
04:49We know we have to get bigger.
04:50We know we're going to be reaching a bigger audience.
04:53So I think that's just, without being said, we're going to make it bigger.
04:56Star power.
04:57That matters.
04:58You know something about it because you're one of the new preeminent stars.
05:01I mean, I go back to the days, my man.
05:03It ain't just Hulk Hogan, God rest his soul.
05:05It ain't just Randy Macho, man.
05:07I used to love the Road Warriors, the Nature Boy, Ric Flair, and I loved Goldberg's introduction and stuff like that.
05:13I'm looking at today's.
05:17Nothing has diminished.
05:18The popularity hasn't gone anywhere.
05:21But if there is something that you think is missing that could take y'all to another level, is there that such thing out there?
05:28Or do y'all think y'all have the ingredients and you just got to continue to push it forward?
05:32I think we have the ingredients.
05:33But like I said before, as entertainment changes, as the newer generations come up and start taking over, I think that type of stuff happens in real time.
05:42That's the one thing that you have to be, is you have to be authentic and organic about it.
05:46And if you try to just, you know, hammer that nail in, it's going to end up crooked and not in the right place.
05:51So sometimes you just got to let it sink in the way it's going to.
05:53So there's a lot of things that are going to happen in the next couple of years that we're not quite sure.
05:57But 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.
06:05Whatever's happening in six months, we need to be smart enough and flexible enough to be able to move with it.
06:11Crazy question, y'all.
06:12Crazy question.
06:13I'm going to lie.
06:13I got to ask this.
06:15You know, the talent is the talent.
06:17You know, the wrestlers are the wrestlers.
06:19But how much does the managers play a role in the success of the WWE?
06:28Paul Heyman, for example, you understand, my nemesis, that guy, you understand.
06:32I've never seen anybody that master's being hated as much as him.
06:35He's just the best.
06:36He's unbrewed.
06:37He's unbrewed.
06:37How much does that contribute to the success of the WWE, your estimation?
06:43I think it's everything.
06:44I mean, you know, just the other night, we ended on heat.
06:47You know what I mean?
06:47And so everybody's mad at the situation.
06:50I think that drives forward, you know, from a weekly stand.
06:53This is episodic.
06:54So we need to have next week ready.
06:55You know, we need to have that bacon.
06:57And that's a part of it.
06:58It's good versus evil is kind of the way we started.
07:01In 2025, there's a lot of gray area.
07:03But I still think the best matchups are when the good guy goes against the bad guy.
07:07When it's a universally hated bad guy against a universally loved good guy.
07:12It just makes such a magic.
07:14The villain and the hero.
07:15We all want that.
07:15Let me just stop you for one second, though, Raymond, because let me decode what Stephen
07:20A just asked you.
07:21He's been lobbying for quite some time.
07:24Was he interviewing?
07:25Let's just get to the crux of it.
07:26Because I don't have a wise man.
07:29He has been lobbying for quite some time to be a manager in the WWE.
07:32In case you didn't know, this man right here, one of the faces of ESPN.
07:37Now we have this wonderful partnership between the WWE and ESPN.
07:41Do you think now might be the right time for Stephen A to level up in his career?
07:46Something tells me the bridge was made specifically for you.
07:50Were you behind this essay?
07:53I wish I was, but I was not.
07:56The geniuses that run this company along with the great Nick Khan, because he is great.
08:02I mean, they have all the more to do with it.
08:03But I must say, when I think about Paul Heyman, I do feel like there's room for someone else
08:10to step up in there.
08:11There is room.
08:12I completely agree.
08:13He's a piece of trash.
08:14Oh, yeah.
08:16We're not on the same page anymore.
08:18Last time I was here, we were like this, and it's not like that anymore.
08:21So there's definitely a job over there.
08:23There's some space to be filled, if you know what I mean.
08:24Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:25You know, that is intriguing.
08:26I mean, I have jobs.
08:27I'm a very busy man.
08:28You've got a lot of jobs.
08:29But that brings on great experience, and that's what we need, is we need a little bit of wisdom.
08:33Somebody to counsel.
08:33Somebody that we can tap into and say, what would you do about this?
08:35I don't know how much wisdom you're going to get.
08:37That's love.
08:39You'll definitely get a lot of personality.
08:41I'm teasing you, Stephen A.
08:43What about the commitment to the development?
08:47You know, Triple H was talking about that a little bit, about all the guys that are in the program now.
08:53It seems like it is a big machine that is professional wrestling.
08:57You talked about the fact that, look, you were a journeyman.
09:00It's been a long journey for you to reach to the level of superstardom you've reached.
09:04I don't think people overall have a respect or really maybe even a knowledge for how hard it is to do what you guys do.
09:12On a night in, night out, you know, event in, event out type basis.
09:17Can you speak to that just a little bit about what you go through?
09:20Well, it's rough.
09:21I mean, when I started, this was years ago, I was making $500 a week in a dirty little dusty Tampa warehouse.
09:28Now it's a complete performance center.
09:30There's got to be seven to ten rings ready to go at all times.
09:34I mean, the facilities are second to none.
09:37The guys come in and make more money.
09:39But that's how it works.
09:40You know, as we grow, as we get bigger and better, the foundation, the starting point is going to, you know, lift up as well.
09:47But it's rough.
09:48I've never, the way I explain it, I've played football since I was seven years old.
09:53If you're a good football player, you're winning maybe 70 to 75% of the snaps.
09:59So you're doing well.
10:00You know what I mean?
10:01Every single time that I fall down on the mat, hit that canvas, I lose 100% of the time.
10:06It hurts every single time.
10:08If the big brother picks you up and throws you down, it does not feel good.
10:11There's a lot of things that we can, you know, make the magic.
10:15But when you fall down, you just fall down.
10:17So, yeah, that's the thing.
10:19The journey is both relatable and aspirational.
10:21But you did get the win at SummerSlam.
10:23And I look forward to seeing these SummerSlam events on ESPN platform.
10:27So, Roman Reigns, thank you so much for being with us.
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