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00:00:10i'm the only constant here everybody can be roaming against anybody at this point
00:00:16they're all fighting over it got the fans the only thing that's not debatable is
00:00:22that i'm the mainstay
00:00:25it's hard for me to just sit back and like let it surround me and saturate me too much because
00:00:32i'm just always focused on what's the next thing
00:00:41did i know exactly the journey we're going to take to get there no but i always knew what the
00:00:45destination is i think i'm in a very unique situation to where art meets business that
00:00:53no matter what we do i'm gonna make it to where i'm very happy hello everyone you are looking
00:01:00live at the t-mobile arena on the strip in las vegas welcome to the wrestlemania 40 kickoff show
00:01:08from the very beginning my dad always taught me that when you come around this ring it's only
00:01:14about money it's only about drawing money
00:01:17are you ready
00:01:21and i've always taken a position to protect my family and lift them and make it better than
00:01:26it ever was but i just feel like in this moment it's even more than that
00:01:31i don't care what anybody thinks
00:01:35i'm gonna take this business to a whole nother level
00:01:51large vegas
00:01:54good
00:01:58acknowledge me
00:02:01you
00:02:11When you talk about Roman, I see a very cool, calm, collected guy with a good head on his
00:02:17shoulders. He's going to navigate the waters as they come to him and play the game the
00:02:24way it needs to be played. The only thing that could stop him is him himself. Man, that
00:02:30bloodline, those Samoans, that's a wrestling dynasty. That was definitely something that
00:02:35I think fueled me to continue to push and strive for a different level of greatness.
00:02:39There they are, the wild Samoans. That's what I want. That respect.
00:02:47I'm going to fall out of college. I'm going to be a star there. Then I'm going to go to
00:02:50the NFL and be a star there. If you think that's what it is until life stops everything. For
00:02:57a lot of people, you very easily could feel sorry for yourself and just start on a downhill
00:03:02slide. For him, he made it a bump in the road. The great ones have that it factor and Roman
00:03:08Reigns has the name, the it factor, the whole package. You know that he's going to be a star.
00:03:15I saw all those qualities from that guy that's going to carry the company forward. But the
00:03:21minute the audience became aware that he was meant to be the guy, they started to push back on him.
00:03:30He went through the fire. He got scarred and charred by the fire and he learned Roman can't be something
00:03:36he's not. And finally, it's just like, I'm doing it my own way. I just really feel like this is
00:03:42what I'm hoping, hands down, the best work I've ever done.
00:03:47The WWE fans are like, this is what we've been waiting for.
00:03:51Acknowledge me!
00:03:54It's an all-win lifestyle, what we do. You have to believe it. You have to be in it.
00:04:00It's not a switch. It just is who I am.
00:04:02To know where he's come from and what he's had to overcome is very special.
00:04:07This whole industry, this whole business works off of me.
00:04:10He is selling out arenas at a pace that could only be rivaled in the attitude area.
00:04:16I really don't think a few years ago he would have been ready to be where he's at now.
00:04:20I had to go through all these different life experiences, go through those trials and errors,
00:04:24make it through the fire. It took a lot of some days weathering the storm and then some days playing
00:04:30in the rain.
00:04:33I took all of that
00:04:41to become
00:04:43what I am now.
00:05:02Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul Heyman.
00:05:07I serve as special counsel and the wise man to the tribal chief Roman Reigns,
00:05:13which means the opinion you're about to hear is quite biased.
00:05:17But just because it's biased doesn't make it wrong.
00:05:23One of the most dominant champions of recent memory.
00:05:28All four faces on the Mount Rushmore of greats lead to one man.
00:05:38Roman Reigns.
00:05:40You can ask any of the greatest champions of the modern era.
00:05:46All of them legends, all of them generational talents.
00:05:50I'm talking about people like the phenom, the undertaker, the nature boy, Rick Blair,
00:05:58the heartbreak kid, Shawn Michaels, the Texas rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
00:06:05The game, the game, Triple H, John Cena.
00:06:12The champ is here!
00:06:15Even the immortal Hulk Hogan, all of them, to the man, each and every single one of them,
00:06:29that's a silly sleigh, dude.
00:06:33Acknowledges your tribal chief, Roman Reigns.
00:06:40Oh, no, it's the last one, two, he's got out!
00:06:49There have been a lot of guys over the years, over the last 30 or 40 years,
00:06:54that have been handed the ball, and everything's about a run,
00:06:57and how long and how powerful your run is.
00:06:59Everybody has a certain run that they have as a champion, or as the main guy, the it guy.
00:07:06And Roman tells a story, Roman has placement, he has timing,
00:07:11and everything he does means huge things.
00:07:14So, give me him all day long.
00:07:18I mean, if I was in my prime right now, I'd love to work with him.
00:07:25Everything is methodical, everything has purpose, and that comes with knowing what your character is.
00:07:33You're trying to capture people's imagination.
00:07:38That's what you do, they have to believe in you, and people believe in Roman.
00:07:43Whether they like him, they don't like him, they believe in him.
00:07:55We just know how damn good we are.
00:07:58You don't even think twice, but.
00:08:00And to be the man, you've got to beat the man.
00:08:06Roman's got the total package, and they got it going, and they believe in him,
00:08:09and I'd keep all the gas on him, there is.
00:08:11Wait a minute, wait a minute, Michael said he got it, he got all of it.
00:08:16The boyhood dream has come true.
00:08:18It's the reason everybody gets into this line of work, I think, is to want to be that guy,
00:08:25and to experience what it is to take that on.
00:08:29I've never even heard of there being a time when Roman didn't handle it well.
00:08:37The Austin era has begun.
00:08:39You know, me, myself, as a trash-talking guy from Texas, you know, somewhat cocky,
00:08:46I couldn't pretend to be anything that I wasn't.
00:08:48What I see in Roman really is, he's only going to be Roman, and I'm only going to be Steve.
00:08:54You know, which means, you know, everything goes to being stone cold, that's just turned up.
00:08:57Same thing with Roman.
00:09:06The ones that are the most successful on all levels, not just box office or ticket sales
00:09:13or viewership, are the ones that have that innate ability to lead.
00:09:18Roman Reigns covers the leadership role in a way that is this quiet steadiness, this assuredness.
00:09:32It is on-the-job training, no matter what.
00:09:36We learn the most from failure, and Roman had his share of knocks, and finally he's just like,
00:09:41**** it, I'm doing it my own way.
00:09:43And it has been a wrap ever since.
00:09:45It has been, throughout my conversation over, there's nobody like him.
00:09:50He should be compared only to himself.
00:09:58That's some lineup, isn't it? What a roster.
00:10:02Each and every single one of those men can lay claim to being amongst the greatest of all time.
00:10:11But there's only one man that can lay claim to truly being the GOAT, the greatest of all time.
00:10:25I, that's me, the Tribal Chief.
00:10:34Roman Reigns.
00:10:48This type of stage I've been waiting on for a long time.
00:10:50We all been working, we all grind, and everybody wants it, you know.
00:10:55Jeez, do you feel that ****?
00:10:57I've just come way too far.
00:11:00I don't give a **** what anybody wants, what anybody thinks, whatever their dream is,
00:11:05whatever their story is, you're in the middle of my book now.
00:11:09If you're the WWE Champion, if you're the World Champion, if you're put in that position,
00:11:16you're sort of put in a position of carrying the charge.
00:11:21When somebody's got rustling in their blood, it's hard to change the course of their life.
00:11:28I mean, it's part of him.
00:11:29It just seems so natural to him.
00:11:31He makes everything his own.
00:11:32Who is Roman Reigns?
00:11:45Who's Roman Reigns?
00:11:49Well, that depends on the perspective.
00:11:52That depends on how you relate to me,
00:11:56how I affect your life.
00:11:59But down to the core of it,
00:12:05I'm just a young man addicted to greatness.
00:12:12We're in New York at The Tonight Show, starring Jimmy Fallon.
00:12:17Knock out a little promotion before we head to San Antonio.
00:12:22It's a little different, you know what I mean?
00:12:23It's a different type of environment, you know what I mean?
00:12:26A different showcasing.
00:12:27It's just like more requirements, you know, and needs and responsibilities in the job.
00:12:32That's why everybody can't do it.
00:12:35Everyone wants to be the guy, but nobody ever thinks about what it's like to be that guy
00:12:42and everything that comes along with it.
00:12:44You know, when you're at the top attraction, when you're on top of WWE,
00:12:48you're on top of the world, and there's a lot of responsibility that comes with that.
00:12:51I think he has all the tools to become as big as he wants to be.
00:12:57He's got star written all over him.
00:13:05How's that look?
00:13:07You know, it's great.
00:13:08Last time you were on the show, you're on your way to WrestleMania.
00:13:11And I said, next time you come on my show, you're going to have two belts.
00:13:27Sometimes pressure busts the balloon, and then other times you just continue to expand
00:13:37and grow with it.
00:13:47The Tribal Chief is the dream that I've dreamed my whole life, and I didn't even realize
00:13:56that that was the dream.
00:13:58My whole life I wanted to be somebody significant, I wanted to be a man of influence,
00:14:03but little did I know it was going to be through connecting into the skin of the Tribal Chief.
00:14:08I didn't realize that that's what I was after in my entire life.
00:14:16I was born in Pensacola, Florida, May 25th, 1985.
00:14:23Leate Joseph Anawati. Leate is his father's real first name, Sika's real first name.
00:14:30On my mother's side, everybody was a Joseph. There were so many Josephs, and I said, well,
00:14:35I need to keep that going. And so I named him Joseph.
00:14:41When Joe was born, we're 15 years apart. I'm the oldest. My sister Vanessa is my oldest,
00:14:48younger sister, and then Summer is right after her, and then Joe is the absolute youngest in the family.
00:14:59I was raised in a small cinder block panhandle of Florida home, a three bedroom, one bath.
00:15:07I look back at it, it was a miserable little setup, but it was ours. But yeah, a lot of
00:15:11credit goes to
00:15:12my mom and the sacrifices that she made. It was never a dull moment. I know my mom pulled all
00:15:17her hair
00:15:18out all the time, but it was fun, always exciting. We grew up with a wrestling ring in our backyard
00:15:26because of course my dad's a wrestler.
00:15:29Roman Reigns' father is a legendary tag team wrestler in the WWE named Sika the Wild Samoa.
00:15:37Throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, there was no tag team on the face of the planet
00:15:43that held as many tag team championships as Offa and Sika the Wild Samoans.
00:15:50There they are, the Wild Samoans. Offa and Sika course the World Wrestling Federation tag team champions.
00:15:57And one night, Panama City, Florida, Sika came into the locker room with his three-year-old son.
00:16:07Roman Reigns, you could just tell the charisma of this three-year-old.
00:16:15Years later,
00:16:18my parents separated, eventually divorced, but to be honest,
00:16:25even if they were still together, that life chose him. The road chose him as it chose me.
00:16:35But Joe, it's my fault because I've been on the road all these years and he's been by himself and
00:16:41his mom and his sisters. I can't help that. I gotta get out there and I gotta work.
00:16:47My dad was a hard man. He was tough because he had to be.
00:16:54We used to go down to the YMCA downtown Pensacola all the time with my dad. And
00:17:12next thing I know, my mullet's being pulled up out of the pool and he launches me into the deep
00:17:17end.
00:17:21As soon as I hit that water,
00:17:24I just started to sink like a rock. And as soon as my foot hit through the bottom of that
00:17:29pool,
00:17:30I just started scratching and clawing. I started to fight.
00:17:34And little did I know that fight was being translated into swimming. I was all the way back up to
00:17:42the top.
00:17:44And from that moment on, I knew how to swim.
00:17:49So my father's side is someone and my mother's side is Italian, Sicilian. But I had just been so immersed
00:17:58into my, my dad's side of the family. But there was just something that I took a great pride in.
00:18:03Our family members are, a lot of their personalities are larger than life. They are large humans. So
00:18:09they're, you know, larger than life in that perspective as well. Like, I mean, when we go to a barbecue.
00:18:16It's a crazy collection. I mean, you got Umaga, Junior, Rikishi's there, the big Sam with Samu,
00:18:23little Sam Tonga kid running around crazy. I have a cousin, Yokozuna,
00:18:31who was a world heavyweight champion. He was the top guy of the WWE. If you're the champ,
00:18:38you get a different look, you get a different vibe around here. My cousin, Dwayne.
00:18:43Demos, he's like a fine man in sports and entertainment.
00:18:48If you were the champ, if you were the top guy, if you were the face of the company,
00:18:51if you were driving it, it just felt like you could do whatever you wanted. Watching the men
00:18:59of my family experience and go through, you know, the high points of their career,
00:19:04it taught me a lot about this business. It taught me about the sports and the entertainment of this
00:19:09business because we had a very wide range of performers in our family. Once he got old enough
00:19:15to actually do bigger brother, younger brother type things, I had signed a scholarship for football at
00:19:21the University of Hawaii. And then from that point, I kept moving on, starting my career off in wrestling.
00:19:29He grew up with me and my mom, pretty much. My sister and my brother had already moved out the
00:19:34house. So
00:19:35he was pretty much raised with two girls. And then we had cousins made from Atlanta, the twins.
00:19:41That's Joshua.
00:19:43Well, there's a twins right there. So they're going at it.
00:19:47These guys were going to be a part of my life for a long time.
00:19:50What's your name?
00:19:52First time I met Joe, we come home, but he's already there. Me and my brother get to the room.
00:19:58Somebody's in our toy box.
00:20:00Yo, who are you? I'm Joe, your cousin. What are you doing?
00:20:07Playing with your toys.
00:20:09All right. Well, let me play with that one, because that one, that's my favorite.
00:20:13I wasn't having it, so I threw up the one. These days we do this, but back then it was
00:20:19this one.
00:20:21And I forget which one. If I had to, like, pro personality profile, it was probably Jay that went
00:20:26running off, crying about it. My brother starts throwing it up too. I'm like, hey man,
00:20:31you and you are wrong. I'm going to go tell them both of you.
00:20:35And, you know, we've been throwing up the ones ever since.
00:20:41At this point, my older sister was closest to me, Summer. She was going to the skating rink,
00:20:47and I wanted to go, but I wasn't old enough. And I threw a fit about it. And while I
00:20:52was throwing
00:20:52my little hissy fit, Matt was the one that suggested, once I had to go into the skating rink,
00:20:57why don't we go to the Escambia High School football game? And that was my first experience
00:21:03of not only football, but then also seeing my brother and football tied together.
00:21:09And then that would also play a deep role into his influence on what I did and kind of how
00:21:16I did it.
00:21:17I wanted to play football because he loved football and he played football. And it really sent me down
00:21:22that physical, you know, route of sports and athletics that I think really did set the tone for the rest
00:21:30of my life and kind of be the catalyst for the choices to come. And he was only one that
00:21:37got
00:21:37signed to a big school, Georgia Tech. So big barbecue that night for my family.
00:21:42He played the way we wanted people to play. He wasn't as big as some other guys that we had
00:21:50recruited, but he was tough, hard nosed, got after it every snap. He was that kind of guy.
00:21:57Joe brought an intimidating presence to our defense. You know, he put the offensive line
00:22:02on the other team on notice that they're going to have a long day.
00:22:07And that is going to come all day, every play till the end of the game.
00:22:13He was badass.
00:22:18At that point in time, I was with WWE, so I didn't have a lot of time to go see
00:22:22a game. But when I did
00:22:23have time, we were definitely there. And then, of course, the games that I'd watch on TV when I had
00:22:30the
00:22:31chance to, you know, I remember watching him play and him sacking the quarterback. And I just
00:22:36went absolutely nuts. And in my opinion, I'm his number one fan. I'm his number one fan.
00:22:43And at the end of the day, I was a pretty damn good athlete. I signed that third free agent
00:22:48deal
00:22:48with the Vikings. I wouldn't care if he was going to Alaska. I just was so excited for him.
00:22:56So it was the very first day of rookie camp. We started out, we went and did our physicals,
00:23:02which included blood work. As I was walking out, there were two trainers there to pretty much
00:23:08intercept me. So that's where we went into the rabbit hole to find out the diagnosis of CML,
00:23:16CML, which is a form of leukemia, which is cancer of the blood.
00:23:44I wish this got me butterflies, but I earned this. That wasn't, I'm not excited for this,
00:23:52because I expect bills. I've always expected risks. And when I didn't have it, I was pissed.
00:23:57I was bitter. I thought I should have had it. And so I just kept working and then I got
00:24:01it.
00:24:03But I'll never forget where I started.
00:24:11My white blood cell count was anywhere from like 50 to 70,000 white blood cells, I want to say.
00:24:17So just way too much. So that's where we went into the rabbit hole to find out the diagnosis of
00:24:23CML, leukemia.
00:24:28I was at home. He called me from the airport. And
00:24:32it just felt like somebody ripped my heart out. I think it broke them.
00:24:43A few years before I was diagnosed is when the major breakthroughs for oral chemotherapy happened.
00:24:50I was very lucky. I didn't have to go through radiation. I didn't have to go through true chemotherapy.
00:24:55But for lack of better words, such a mind. He took all the extra steps to get to where he
00:25:01needed to go.
00:25:02And then something out of his control happens like that, man. I think that's just God letting him know,
00:25:06hey, this ain't the door for you. So I started working for my sister and
00:25:12her business at the time was called Proactive Installations. It was an office furniture installation company.
00:25:20The twins were working with us. So they just told him, come on, brother, you know, come,
00:25:25we'll work here. And that's what he did.
00:25:30I mean, it paid the bill. So we was grateful for that. But
00:25:33that just wasn't it for us. And I remember sitting there like this can't be it. This is not it.
00:25:40That's when my whole mindset shifted because
00:25:44at this point, Jonathan had already reported to FCW.
00:25:50FCW is Florida Championship Wrestling. And it was really our training ground. It was sort of our
00:25:55minor leagues. It's where people with either no experience or a little bit of experience would
00:25:59come in and learn from some great coaches who had an understanding of how the WWE way worked.
00:26:09I was building task chairs for my sister in her warehouse.
00:26:13And my dad walked in and laughed at me.
00:26:16He just asked me, are you going to build chairs for your sister your whole life?
00:26:21And I didn't really have a good rebuttal there. And I didn't really know what to say. And
00:26:25then he asked me, when are you ever going to want to wrestle? I told him, I'm ready.
00:26:31He did exactly what he did to me in that YMCA pool.
00:26:37He wanted me to swim. He wanted me to wrestle. So he grabbed me by my hair and he threw
00:26:40me to Tampa.
00:26:44And I learned how to wrestle.
00:26:53I met Joe in FCW. You could tell he was a natural, knew how to carry himself and be at
00:26:59home in the ring.
00:27:00And that's what you have to do. And we can teach you to lock up. We can teach you to
00:27:04grab a hold.
00:27:04But we can't always teach you timing and feeling. But he had it from the very beginning.
00:27:11At this point, the twins, once they got settled in.
00:27:14The debut for Jimmy and Jay here tonight on Superstars.
00:27:18They were kind of doing not too much, you know, as younger performers on the undercard.
00:27:23I want so much more. And I knew that, but I just don't have the knowledge.
00:27:27But if you put me here, I swear to God, I'm going to take every spot that I can.
00:27:32They tell me to be an individual. Then why do I feel like they've cuffed me?
00:27:41First time I seen him walk in a developmental system building, I said Roman Reigns will be a huge star.
00:27:48The great ones have that it factor and Roman Reigns has the name, the it factor, the whole package.
00:27:56There were like some whispers. They were going to call up a group of guys.
00:28:00They were looking at me, Roman, Ambrose. And so we were all thinking we were going to be maybe in
00:28:07some group together.
00:28:08I didn't fully explain what it was going to be, but it was going to happen.
00:28:13And I know I'm going to do whatever it takes. I won't stop until it does happen.
00:28:17I was my fast track to get up to speed to become what I didn't even know I was supposed
00:28:22to become.
00:28:30You know, there's always that period of time when you first come in that you have to figure things out.
00:28:37And initially things don't always work out the way they're supposed to.
00:28:42What separates Roman from the other next big things is his determination.
00:28:49And I think with the shield, it was cool and it was innovative and the three of them was a
00:28:55dynamic kind of group.
00:28:59Myself, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, we get traveled to go to the next pay-per-view, which was Survivor
00:29:06Series.
00:29:07Finally, we got taken aside and explained what we were going to be doing for the evening.
00:29:12You are looking live at the Pack Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. This is the Survivor Series.
00:29:21I just remember thinking, well, how are people going to respond? Is anybody going to know who we are?
00:29:27And then I just remember also thinking it doesn't matter because, like, you don't get another chance to make a
00:29:33first impression.
00:29:37Who the? What the? What is this?
00:29:53We lit a fire under everybody's ass, and I don't think it's really been the same since.
00:29:58He was an extremely good listener, picked up on things extremely quickly, and had a humility about him when it
00:30:07came to learning.
00:30:23We were a three-man group that dominated WWE for the better part of a year and a half.
00:30:29All members of the shield now have gold.
00:30:32It was compelling because, you know, you want to see them. We wanted to see what it is and who
00:30:37they were going to go after and what they were going to do next.
00:30:40We were just doing every single show. We were on all the appearances.
00:30:44I mean, Roman was getting huge reactions wherever we went.
00:30:49He had every element that the WWE traditionally looks for in a main event superstar.
00:30:57He was giant. He's a good-looking lad. He has presence about him. I think when you combine all of
00:31:02those elements together, you see a star like somebody that doesn't, isn't going to blend in with the rest of
00:31:09the crowd, you know?
00:31:11He was subtly being positioned as the guy who was going to come out of the group and be the
00:31:16biggest star.
00:31:19Oh, my God! Why in the world would Seth Rollins do this?
00:31:22I didn't want to break up the shield.
00:31:25And I definitely didn't want to be a good guy. And that's exactly what was happening.
00:31:30As the shield, he was doing 33% of the work. When he got off on his own, there were
00:31:35some holes in his game.
00:31:37When I was with the shield, we ran this yard. And when I win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship,
00:31:47I take my rightful place at the head of the table. Believe that.
00:31:55Roman was the cool, silent muscle of the group. And once he broke away from the shield, suddenly he wasn't
00:32:01so silent.
00:32:02And a lot of things that he was doing weren't so cool.
00:32:06I was so young on the rise that it's not like I had a nest egg built up. It's not
00:32:18like I had a whole bunch of options that I could just say, no, I'm not feeling this.
00:32:21This doesn't feel good to me or I wouldn't say this. It was so hard to do that.
00:32:28When you don't have that backup, when you don't have that f*** you money, and you can't just stand on
00:32:33your heart, and your family's depending on you, your livelihood is depending on you.
00:32:37So you have to just be a good soldier and do what you're told.
00:32:39I think initially there might have been a bit of a backlash from fans because maybe they thought, oh, this
00:32:45is the guy they want us to cheer, but we're not ready to cheer him.
00:32:48Welcome to the 28th Annual Royal Rumble.
00:32:53I think they felt ever so slightly like, hey, you're forcing our hand on how you want us to feel
00:32:58about this guy, and we're going to revolt.
00:33:03Welcome to the 28th Annual Royal Rumble is coming to WrestleMania.
00:33:08Here is your winner, Runei.
00:33:15I was booed historically.
00:33:22You think of these moments, you dream about them.
00:33:28And the moment that it actually happens, it's like they're playing the worst soundtrack of all time over your moment,
00:33:36ruining your party.
00:33:41That's how the Rumble and Philly felt.
00:33:47In the Royal Rumble, the last man standing is the winner and goes to WrestleMania to face the WWE Champion.
00:33:56Fans looked at Roman as, oh yeah, he's pretty cool.
00:34:00But when they realized that WWE, the corporate machine, had gotten their hands on Roman Reigns, that Roman was the
00:34:07next guy that was going to be shoved down our throat, we weren't ready for Roman Reigns to be that
00:34:11guy.
00:34:12I try to forget Philly, I try to forget the Royal Rumble, there's only one positive.
00:34:20And that's the fact that it's going to be able to tie all the way back around WrestleMania 40.
00:34:28And like I said before, I was tunnel visioned, and I treated it very seriously, and I was groomed to
00:34:38reach a point like this.
00:34:49Just to see how far wrestling has come from when my father was in a WrestleMania to where Joe is.
00:34:58It's overwhelming, and to see him main event it, oh yeah.
00:35:03Roman Reigns is walking in to his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship match tonight.
00:35:08And it happens to take place in front of 76,000 WWE fans at WrestleMania.
00:35:15There's plenty of doubts, but dealing with the scale of being in the main event of WrestleMania completely changed my
00:35:22life.
00:35:23Any guy who becomes the guy at some point has to walk through hell in some match that gives them
00:35:31the credibility with the fans.
00:35:34You know, you can push a guy, you can put him in the main event, but that didn't mean he's
00:35:37the guy.
00:35:40Roman had to walk through hell.
00:35:43And that was with Brock Lesnar.
00:35:46That's the man that Roman Reigns goes toe-to-toe and face-to-face with tonight.
00:35:52Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul Hayden, and tonight I introduce to you the beast, the conqueror,
00:36:09the reigning, defending, undisputed, WWE heavyweight champion of the world, Barack Lesnar.
00:36:28That was the first day of the rest of my life.
00:36:33There was just something about him and his aura and everything that he was doing that just made him different
00:36:41and unpredictable.
00:36:44And I didn't have a care in the world, because I just knew, oh, we're just going to go out
00:36:48there and bang.
00:36:55And right out of the box, Brock's been cut.
00:36:58We're just going to go out there and be violent.
00:37:01And that just gave me the most comfort in the world.
00:37:03Like, I don't know what it was, if it was just some kind of primitive part of me.
00:37:08It was the perfect matchup with the perfect guy.
00:37:11And I thought Roman was just excellent.
00:37:14Oh no, he got caught.
00:37:15Lesnar!
00:37:17That's fine!
00:37:20Who can capitalize?
00:37:26What on earth?
00:37:28This is brilliant!
00:37:31Seth Reigns!
00:37:34Mr. Money in the Bank!
00:37:37A triple threat match!
00:37:39What the hell?
00:37:41Seth is going to finish him.
00:37:43Roker picked him out of the air!
00:37:46Reigns with a spear!
00:37:48Curve stop the Reigns!
00:37:50Cover by Rollins!
00:37:54Rollins with the title!
00:38:00I mean, look, now that we're all on our own, there's a little bit of competition there.
00:38:04Nothing personal against Roman.
00:38:06Love him.
00:38:07I just wanted to be the guy.
00:38:12This was supposed to be his moment.
00:38:13This was the crowning achievement.
00:38:15This was the coming out party.
00:38:16This was the opportunity to cement him as the number one guy in the company.
00:38:20And he had it all taken away from him in a span of a couple of minutes.
00:38:26The moment that happened, it completely changed the altitude.
00:38:30People believed in me.
00:38:31You know, you held up your end, right?
00:38:33You know it in here, don't you?
00:38:35Nobody carried you.
00:38:37Please understand.
00:38:38I think that's why I'm looking like a hot mess right now.
00:38:41Nobody carried you, Chuck.
00:38:44Nobody carried you.
00:38:45Nobody carried you.
00:38:45You looked up to yours and then saw me.
00:38:51Not only was it the stage and the level that I was searching for,
00:38:57my life hadn't been the same since.
00:39:05Roman Reigns is going to defend his championship against one of the top social media influencers in the entire world.
00:39:13Logan Paul.
00:39:15I knew I could get to this point.
00:39:18And I think there's a lane out there that nobody's even touched that.
00:39:22Why not me?
00:39:23Why not be the guy who builds the new template or a new system?
00:39:27And that's what I'm trying to do.
00:39:29After working with Roman, it was so clear to me why he is the face of the WWE.
00:39:35He's the full package.
00:39:36He has it all.
00:39:37Going toe to toe with him, putting on an amazing show in Saudi Arabia.
00:39:41The fans going crazy.
00:39:42It was a dream come true.
00:39:45He is excellent.
00:39:48When I first got here, John was the man.
00:39:51I looked at, okay, these are the things he's doing.
00:39:53This is the things that he had, the resources he has.
00:39:56Okay, I want to get to that level.
00:39:58John Cena everywhere.
00:39:59John Cena, you see me playing May 10th.
00:40:01John Cena on your silver screen in the fall.
00:40:04WWE is looking for the next John Cena.
00:40:07Boy, I know what that's like.
00:40:10Steve leaves, Rock leaves.
00:40:11WWE is looking for the next Stone Cold.
00:40:13WWE is looking for the next Rock.
00:40:15Roman came in at a time where I was fortunate enough to have a long enough period where, okay,
00:40:21this is the template of success.
00:40:23But there is no template for success.
00:40:25We get lulled into this comfort of who's going to do it the way John did it to carry everything
00:40:30forward.
00:40:30No one.
00:40:32You got to do it differently.
00:40:34We were trying to force Roman Reigns to be a star.
00:40:40Roman had all the attributes of being a star.
00:40:42Athletic, in shape, tremendous in-ring worker.
00:40:46Roman was incredible at all that.
00:40:48But our WWE fans want stars to be made organically.
00:40:55Roman Reigns is back in the main event at WrestleMania.
00:41:00Spear! Spear by Reigns!
00:41:03But the WWE fans weren't having it.
00:41:05They wanted nothing to do with it.
00:41:07No matter how many accolades you give a superstar, if we don't want it, we don't want it.
00:41:16One of the most competitive superstars ever stepped foot in the ring.
00:41:20And we'll have his hands built tonight for the man who's 23-1 at WrestleMania.
00:41:25You know, Roman definitely stands out.
00:41:28He's got the it factor, you know.
00:41:30I saw all those qualities from that guy that's going to carry the company forward.
00:41:37And a huge spear into the heart of The Undertaker.
00:41:42And Roman Reigns has defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania.
00:41:45The Undertaker is maybe the most beloved character by us fans that's ever existed in the WWE.
00:41:57We did not want that Roman Reigns to be the guy that sends The Undertaker into retirement.
00:42:07And he showed up on Raw, and he stood in the ring.
00:42:10And the WWE audience told him, no matter how many people you beat, you are not our guy.
00:42:29It was really neat to see a fan base's admiration and respect for Undertaker.
00:42:36That was the first time I felt the real control of what we do.
00:42:40And that's when it was like, a big epiphany like, oh my God.
00:42:48That was the first moment of really feeling the power of the microphone.
00:42:57And I just learned how to wield this weapon, like really grip down and hold this thing tight and own
00:43:02it.
00:43:05Now we'll be cooking with gas.
00:43:14I said it too, they're in the palm of my hand.
00:43:19But behind another way was kind of like the, you know, a new beginning in its own right.
00:43:25This is my yard now.
00:43:33My personal opinion now is I think he found his home.
00:43:37And I think he's going to make this his house for a long time.
00:43:42My brother was cool.
00:43:44He just was.
00:43:47My brother was much bigger than me.
00:43:51Due to that size, he was probably more intimidating, you know, from the first impression.
00:43:57And he had the size and the power to be an asshole.
00:44:02When you're that big, you can be an asshole to anybody.
00:44:07But he wasn't.
00:44:10My brother was just cool.
00:44:12And that's what I heard from everybody.
00:44:14All the time.
00:44:20Everybody loved my brother.
00:44:29My brother, Matt, is staying with my sister.
00:44:33And she came home from work.
00:44:36She had talked to him earlier that day.
00:44:39And she came home.
00:44:40She had been maybe a couple hours later.
00:44:45He just looked like he was taking a nap.
00:44:48Like, she said he looked like he was sleeping.
00:44:52But he wasn't breathing.
00:44:59And we lost.
00:45:13I lost my brother.
00:45:17One of my best friends.
00:45:23He had a heart attack.
00:45:25Yeah, he had a heart attack.
00:45:27And I don't know if it was in his sleep or if we don't know.
00:45:34Man, when your family, you know, we all go through loss, man.
00:45:38You know, when it's hard to put that, put a name on that feeling.
00:45:46I think I got more mad at myself for not helping more.
00:45:53Due to my success and the resources that I possess, we could easily help him.
00:45:57We could easily got him into a groove of life to where he was far more comfortable.
00:46:09WWE has an interview with your brother, Matt.
00:46:13Just a couple things he said about you.
00:46:15He said when you were younger, he had something special.
00:46:19That special to you.
00:46:20Something to do with athletics.
00:46:22Just his focus in the gym, focus all through high school and college.
00:46:27He, you knew Joe was set for something great.
00:46:31You know, he's, he's setting the bar in our family that much higher.
00:46:56I'm just incredibly proud of him.
00:47:01I mean, how can you not?
00:47:08You're going to be the handsomest.
00:47:12It became very clear that no matter how much WWE fans booed Roman Reigns, WWE was not going to stop
00:47:22this train.
00:47:22And we got to WrestleMania 34, where the headline is once again, Roman Reigns versus Brock Lesnar.
00:47:31And fans showed up to WrestleMania, already thinking, well, Roman's going to beat Brock, and I'm not going to like
00:47:39it.
00:47:41Until...
00:47:41Until...
00:47:43Until...
00:47:45Roman didn't win.
00:47:50Any neck pain or anything like that?
00:47:52Yeah, a little bit.
00:47:53Every inch of you physically, every fiber of you mentally, that's the only way to get to the top and
00:48:04stay on top.
00:48:06And that's why I do what I do, and I'm not going to stop.
00:48:11I'm not going to stop until I've earned that respect.
00:48:18One of the things that's impressive to me is being the guy that main evented WrestleManias that many years in
00:48:27a row.
00:48:28That's not an easy position to get, it's not an easy position to be in, and it's not an easy
00:48:34position to maintain.
00:48:36To be that year over year over year over year is something special.
00:48:41There's a weird thing that happens in our business. The more time that you put in, and the more dedication
00:48:48that you show for this unique genre that we have, the WWE fans recognize that, and a weird thing along
00:48:55the way happens, and they start to change a little bit.
00:48:58For a second, you go, oh, maybe he is the guy. Ooh, I like that. Ooh, yeah, and you start
00:49:04to...
00:49:05What's that? Did I just feel myself rooting for Roman Reigns?
00:49:08I think SummerSlam was one of those instances.
00:49:12You are looking live at a sold-out Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Welcome, everybody, to SummerSlam!
00:49:22The whole time I was trying to achieve something,
00:49:27and you just keep butting your head against this figure who is established, he's a world-renowned
00:49:34combat athlete, and you just can't figure it out.
00:49:40Perhaps the most important night of Roman Reigns' career, because does he get another opportunity
00:49:46if he does not slay the beast tonight? And then, finally, you do.
00:49:51And Reigns is the speed to the champion! Here's the cover! Up of the lane! Reigns did it! Roman Reigns
00:49:58did it! Reigns is the champion!
00:50:00Reigns is the champion! And it's just all taken away.
00:50:08I feel like I owe everybody an apology.
00:50:13For months, maybe even a full year, I've come out here and spoke as Roman Reigns, and I said a
00:50:21lot of things.
00:50:21I said I'd be a fighting champion, I said I was going to be consistent, and I said I was
00:50:25going to be a workhorse, but...
00:50:29That's all lies.
00:50:33It's a lie, because the reality is...
00:50:37My real name is Joe.
00:50:43And I've been living with leukemia for 11 years.
00:50:52And unfortunately, it's back.
00:50:58None of us knew.
00:51:00His personal life is his personal life, and he keeps that a lot to himself.
00:51:04So most of us did not know what was happening that night.
00:51:08And because the leukemia is back, I cannot fulfill my role.
00:51:12I can't be that fighting champion.
00:51:14And right now, the best thing for me to do is to go home, to focus on my family and
00:51:19my health.
00:51:39But I want to make one thing clear, by no means is this a retirement speech.
00:51:45Because I will beat this, and I will be back, so you will see me very, very soon.
00:52:07Oh, nobody died. Come on.
00:52:13When something like that happens to you, it changes your perspective.
00:52:16And it makes you realize the things that are more important.
00:52:19Then changes your day-to-day existence.
00:52:23And I'm going to have to relieve Christian universal students.
00:52:27You're not alone.
00:52:27And I wasn't alone.
00:52:29Not only my loved ones, the whole world surrounded me with support.
00:52:42My mom always told me that God gives his toughest task to his toughest soldiers.
00:52:49It sucked, you know what I mean?
00:52:50And there's a lot of mental stuff going on and, you know, a lot of doubts and things like that.
00:52:55But at the same time, I think adversity is a constant reminder of what the world is and what life
00:53:03is, and it's not fair.
00:53:06And I think it's a form of resistance training that we have to go through to strengthen ourselves.
00:53:12So I think adversity is a key ingredient to any success story.
00:53:20For leukemia, if you caught it in an early enough stage, like I did, you were able to take essentially
00:53:26a medication, a very potent medication that I'm still on to this day.
00:53:30But it's pretty much just a conditioning of getting your body used to these toxic medications and just hoping for
00:53:38the best.
00:53:38It has been a long road back for that man.
00:53:42Physically speaking, Roman Reigns looks as healthy as I have ever seen him.
00:53:48I'm in remission, y'all.
00:53:57And tonight at WrestleMania, the big dog is back.
00:54:11I think that was the most miserable time of my career.
00:54:16This is the time that I was just trying to make everything easy.
00:54:20I'm paid well.
00:54:22I should make the job easy for everybody.
00:54:24That's what being a top guy is, right?
00:54:26That's what I translated as being a top guy.
00:54:31And it just didn't work.
00:54:33And so I left once the pandemic hit.
00:54:37That's where it all changed.
00:54:39The World Health Organization has just declared that this is a pandemic.
00:54:42The NBA suspended, Major League Baseball delaying, everything else suspended.
00:54:46You got to stay in quarantine because you have to assume that you're contagious.
00:54:50So at that point, it was so early on in the pandemic.
00:54:53We didn't have any protocols set up there.
00:54:55It was still very unknown.
00:54:56So I made the choice to just go home.
00:54:58And I told them until we can figure out how to make it safe, I'm not putting me or my
00:55:03family at risk.
00:55:05I was ready to retire.
00:55:08And once I had fully removed myself by choice, not due to circumstances, that's when I was able to be
00:55:17truthful with myself.
00:55:19That's when I could really take an authentic, genuine eye and look at what I've been doing, look at what
00:55:24I've done.
00:55:25And that's when I knew I just wasn't happy with it.
00:55:29I still felt like I didn't achieve what I had set out to do.
00:55:34I didn't reach my potential.
00:55:36I was still under that ceiling.
00:55:42And it was time to break it.
00:55:47This lesson, this was taught to me early on.
00:55:51My brother told me this one.
00:55:56He told me that he had a ceiling on his career.
00:56:00Because he was too nice.
00:56:03He was too much one of the boys.
00:56:06And he told me if I ever want to be the top guy, if I ever want to be the
00:56:09main event or the face of this company,
00:56:12I didn't believe that I would have to learn how to be an asshole sometimes.
00:56:17But it took a while for me to understand that.
00:56:20For a while, Roman was confused.
00:56:23He couldn't find his true identity.
00:56:25He went through the fire.
00:56:26He got scarred and charred by the fire and he learned.
00:56:30Roman can't be something he's not.
00:56:32He is who he is.
00:56:33The one part about being the guy at the top, the main guy, you have to keep your mystique.
00:56:41And if you get around too many people and they get to know you too well, it's really tough to
00:56:46keep that number one spot.
00:56:49I just remember my brother right there on my shoulder.
00:56:53You put your foot down when you have to and you do the business that's going to serve you and
00:56:58your family.
00:56:59Now go in there and be an asshole.
00:57:01The big dog is here! Roman Rage is back!
00:57:05When I saw how he looked, I said, I said, that's Joe.
00:57:16Anytime you're like a performer, you're creating any type of art form.
00:57:23You got to obviously connect to it like in your own right, personally.
00:57:27It's all for the audience.
00:57:28It's all for the result.
00:57:30And I really hope that everybody enjoys it as much as they have enjoyed the buildup and the whole
00:57:38story that we've been telling all the way around.
00:57:41But like, I just really feel like this is
00:57:46what I'm hoping hands down the best work I've ever done.
00:57:51I'm telling you right now, I will be at Payback on Sunday.
00:57:55That is a promise.
00:57:57And I will win back my universal championship that I never lost in the first place.
00:58:03That is not just a prediction.
00:58:10That's a spoiler.
00:58:17I will be at Payback on Sunday.
00:58:18Believe that.
00:58:23God, I love working with Roman Reigns.
00:58:26I just love working with the man.
00:58:28He's so ambitious.
00:58:30He has such a deep desire to be the greatest of all time.
00:58:35And he won't settle for second best.
00:58:38It always bothered me that the mainstream media, let alone the WWE universe,
00:58:44never gave Roman Reigns the credit that he deserved.
00:58:48Brock Lesnar took the credit that he deserved through the words of his advocate, Paul Heyman.
00:58:57Paul Heyman is the number one villainous counterpart in the history of sports entertainment.
00:59:06And Roman is looking as confident as he's ever looked with this new special counsel.
00:59:14You realize, oh my God, we're on a completely different ride.
00:59:18Chosen family, that's a powerful thing.
00:59:21And that's exactly what Paul is to our family.
00:59:24Paul's been with my family longer than I have.
00:59:27You know, I've said it before and I'll say it again.
00:59:29It's a secret weapon.
00:59:30It's an ace up my sleeve.
00:59:32And Reigns with a spear to Strowman.
00:59:35Roman Reigns has won the universal championship.
00:59:39We were in the middle of such an unusual era for all things WWE.
00:59:44The world was locked down.
00:59:45It wasn't in front of fans as though we were used to it.
00:59:48And it was a really tough time period for everybody.
00:59:52Everybody else, they saw it as adversity.
00:59:56I saw it as an opportunity.
00:59:59Wait till you see what happens next.
01:00:02Roman was one of the few performers that also realized the pandemic environment.
01:00:06No live audience, so no noise.
01:00:09Work more nuanced, more patient, be more expressive.
01:00:12He handled that situation beautifully.
01:00:17Roman Reigns, the universal champion, has a much different attitude.
01:00:22He's a different superstar.
01:00:24The WWE fans were like, this is what we've been waiting for.
01:00:31For years and years and years, they tried to make Roman the top good guy act in WWE.
01:00:36And the crowd did not want it.
01:00:39They didn't want to accept him as the top guy.
01:00:41Just wasn't the case.
01:00:43He kind of made himself into what he thought he should have been this whole time.
01:00:46And that obviously worked.
01:00:48I'm the man with the golden hand.
01:00:50Everything I touch has purpose.
01:00:55Everybody's just trying to compensate for not having fans.
01:00:58And I'm over here changing the entire game the way we do it.
01:01:02It's time to build the team.
01:01:05It's time to build the bloodline.
01:01:08It's time to snatch Jay up by his hair and throw him in the deep end.
01:01:11And that's exactly what we did.
01:01:13There goes the big dog.
01:01:14There goes Roman Reigns.
01:01:16There goes Mr. Main Event.
01:01:18Mr. WrestleMania.
01:01:19You know what they say when they see me?
01:01:22Which one are you?
01:01:24In our culture, we have chiefs or Matai's people in our family who are given these titles or these rights.
01:01:33It's just pretty significant to be titled as a chief.
01:01:38Our family relies on me being the tribal chief.
01:01:42That's who I am in this life.
01:01:44It will never be you.
01:01:48Because it will always, always be me.
01:01:55In many ways, it's who Roman sees himself as.
01:02:00He sees himself as the head of the table, as the provider for his family, for the industry.
01:02:09When he finally got the opportunity to speak his mind, explore different parts of his personality,
01:02:16and project those onto the screen, it became the most organic version of Roman Reigns that we've ever gotten in
01:02:22WWE.
01:02:24Jey Uso takes on his cousin, the universal champion, the tribal chief Roman Reigns inside Hell in a Cell.
01:02:37I can just tell in his eyes, man.
01:02:40Like, he tapped into that.
01:02:53Jey Uso uttered the words, I quit, only to save his brother Jimmy.
01:02:58And ultimately, I beat him into the bloodline.
01:03:03I put a spotlight on him like he had never had before.
01:03:06And I protected our family, our legacy, and the ability to represent our family on a weekly basis.
01:03:13And now, look who is on the stage, Roman Reigns' uncle, Afa, and his father, Sika.
01:03:19And for him to be the tribal chief in the world of entertainment, but also in a very real world
01:03:29of who we are, it's an honor.
01:03:32And everyone in our family is supportive of that honor.
01:03:37And now the crowning of Roman Reigns, who now finds himself at the head of the table.
01:03:44That's the moment of validation I've been looking for my entire life.
01:03:50I'm what you call Afakasi.
01:03:53I'm half Samoan.
01:03:57When you grow up in a family full of full Samoans, you can't help but to feel like there's a
01:04:04deficit of some sort.
01:04:05You can't help but to feel like you're not whole.
01:04:18No one will ever take that from me.
01:04:21That's where I made myself whole.
01:04:23That's where I made myself enough.
01:04:28And that's where I chose I was good enough to lead this family.
01:04:35The ulafala is sacred.
01:04:36Those beads only go around the head and the neck and the shoulders of someone who can bear the responsibility
01:04:45of wearing the ulafala.
01:04:49And Reigns drags Edge on top of Daniel Bryan.
01:04:54If I'm not number one, I don't want to be here.
01:04:59It was the main event of WrestleMania.
01:05:02It was huge states, a major platform for everybody else.
01:05:08But for me, it was just another night.
01:05:11I'm only concerned with what's next.
01:05:14How can I be better?
01:05:18How can I make this bigger?
01:05:20How can I separate myself even more from everybody?
01:05:35I knew this business needed what I am now.
01:05:39And I feel like this business needs something even bigger in the future.
01:05:43So in some ways, I still feel the same.
01:05:46But at the same time, I've evolved.
01:05:49My umbrella is bigger.
01:05:52My roots are deeper and connected to more people now.
01:06:00Ready to kick some ass, man?
01:06:06The biggest WrestleMania match of all time.
01:06:09Winner take all.
01:06:11Championship unification.
01:06:14WWE Champion Brock Lesnar versus the record-setting Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
01:06:20WWE Universe on their feet witnessing the spectacle that is winner can call.
01:06:26Spear by Reigns.
01:06:30The titles have been unified.
01:06:32After the match at WrestleMania, I went over to Roman.
01:06:35Because I've been watching his whole career.
01:06:42I just simply had to acknowledge the guys on top.
01:06:49And I don't see them going away anytime too soon.
01:06:51I carried WWE for far more than the past two years.
01:06:55We're going to be completely honest about it.
01:06:56But it's without question what I've done since August 2020.
01:06:59And now, with all the hardware, everything that matters in this business on my back.
01:07:06Can't nobody touch me.
01:07:09You there.
01:07:11Sitting at home.
01:07:14Acknowledged me.
01:07:16We're all sitting in a room where Roman Reigns said,
01:07:20it's about time that everyone simply acknowledged me.
01:07:24Everyone in the room froze.
01:07:26And we all looked at each other and realized,
01:07:31that's the very definition of the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns.
01:07:38Acknowledge me.
01:07:41We weren't looking for a catchphrase.
01:07:43It just happened.
01:07:45Respect my work.
01:07:46Respect what I do for this business.
01:07:49Give me my flowers.
01:07:50Now, not when I'm gone.
01:07:54I'm not going to ask for your help.
01:07:57I'm not going to ask for your respect.
01:08:00I'm going to take it.
01:08:02The Tribal Chief is head and shoulders above everybody.
01:08:06This is my show.
01:08:07This is my camera.
01:08:09I love it.
01:08:12When John came back, that's how I knew it was working.
01:08:18But when the legends and the former top guys, especially the ones who have cleanly moved on,
01:08:26when they start coming back for you, that's when you know you're on the money.
01:08:32John Cena was the very first one to do it.
01:08:36And what did he get for it?
01:08:38It smashed.
01:08:42There's market business indicators that tell you what is working and what is not working.
01:08:46Every marked indicator for Roman Reigns is through the roof.
01:08:50It's not egotistical to say it's something special.
01:08:53It's accurate.
01:08:55This business is a lot of opinion.
01:08:57I'm a guy who likes data points.
01:08:59The business is the absolute best it's ever been.
01:09:03It has gone from an IPO stock at 35 to stay in the trenches at 7.
01:09:08It closed and merged with a company for an estimated value of 21 billion dollars
01:09:13under the watch of the Tribal Chief.
01:09:16He is leading in merchandise revenue sales.
01:09:20He is selling out arenas at a pace that could only be rivaled in the Attitude Era.
01:09:26Nowadays, there's so many options in the universe,
01:09:28like cable TV and YouTube and this and that and all the things I don't understand.
01:09:33For him to, you know, basically be where he's at now,
01:09:38that's something that doesn't come along only once in a couple of decades.
01:09:41You know, so he's, he's the guy.
01:09:45This man is unable to captivate an audience of 2.5 million people every Friday night.
01:09:52Ain't nobody doing better, ain't nobody doing better.
01:09:55Roman Reigns has made it must see television.
01:09:57So it's time to evolve again.
01:10:01What can we show new?
01:10:03How can we change it up?
01:10:05How do we create a new moment?
01:10:16Somebody just yanked the official out of the ring.
01:10:19That is Solo Sokoa, the Uso's younger brother, Roman Reigns' cousin.
01:10:25So we called upon Solo.
01:10:27He was the insurance policy to make sure our family continued the greatest ring of all time.
01:10:33There was just an opportunity, man, that Roman didn't need to give me, you know, but
01:10:36he brought me up and he gave me the opportunity.
01:10:39And now that I'm in the business, and I'm with Sho and my brothers, he's gonna teach me
01:10:46what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong.
01:10:49Lift them up, put a spotlight on them, showcase them, force them to elevate just like I have.
01:10:59The bloodline's gonna have all the gold soon.
01:11:02It's time to level up, it's time to move onward and upward.
01:11:07I knew we were about to change the whole game.
01:11:17He just is 100% legit.
01:11:22He's legitimately tough.
01:11:25He's legitimate athlete.
01:11:28And he came up the hard way.
01:11:32His father's one of the Samoans.
01:11:34And, you know, I'm here to tell you,
01:11:36different kind of cats, man.
01:11:40Any time you come from that bloodline, it is a bloodline from hell.
01:11:49The main goal, I think, for me, at least, is I want our fans to wake up and be like,
01:11:55damn it, I wouldn't mind saying another one.
01:11:58Like, I would not mind saying Brock Roman 8.
01:12:04You just know when somebody has it, and I think he's a great, special talent.
01:12:09I'm preparing for everything to get thrown at me tonight,
01:12:13because him and I have got seven years of history.
01:12:18And we did it in fashion, too, in a main event in Nashville, Tennessee.
01:12:25I mean, we did it as Nashville as you can do it.
01:12:32Ain't nobody seeing a tractor come up and start flipping rings.
01:12:37Lesnar's lifting up the ring with a damn tractor.
01:12:39This is one of the damnedest things I've ever seen in my life.
01:12:42I was able to evolve Brock Lesnar, give him a platform to showcase a little something different.
01:12:50That's how you recreate magic.
01:12:52He knows.
01:12:54He's the greatest.
01:12:56And there's nothing that any of us or anyone on the roster can say to dissuade him from that.
01:13:03Everybody that's around Roman Reigns is now bigger because of it.
01:13:08If you're not evolving, you're dying in this business.
01:13:12So I started eyeballing Sami Zayn.
01:13:15I don't know, what if I joined, what if I joined up with the bloodline?
01:13:19Here's this really fun character interacting with this really serious character.
01:13:23He's just not himself right now.
01:13:24That's it, okay?
01:13:25He's just not...
01:13:26Lately, he just hasn't been very oozy.
01:13:30And it's not something that I think fans at home are like,
01:13:33I can't wait to see these two guys together.
01:13:35But then when it's on screen, it's just so fun.
01:13:37And it's just so enjoyable that you're like, ooh, what's next?
01:13:40And when you're all wolves, it's hard to show that variance.
01:13:45But when you throw a sheep in the middle of the wolves, that sympathy is going to come real quick.
01:13:51And then you can easily, you know, relate to this poor, innocent sheep in the middle of the wolves.
01:13:59And that's what Sami was within the bloodline.
01:14:13And we did the unthinkable.
01:14:16We took a set of young men, twins, who nobody knew the difference between.
01:14:24And we personalized them.
01:14:25We made them individuals.
01:14:27We made people care about Jay.
01:14:29We made people wonder about Jimmy.
01:14:32It wasn't just all, we're the twins, the pairs, the Usos.
01:14:35Now we're starting to flesh out individual personalities.
01:14:40My career has elevated because of him.
01:14:44You want it as yours.
01:14:46I'm done.
01:14:47Man, that storytelling and character and emotion trying to bleed through the screen,
01:14:50to push through the screen, that's a whole nother different level.
01:14:52The tribal chief said he wants peace.
01:14:55Man, I don't give a damn what the tribal chief say.
01:15:01I come out on the other side, a whole nother character.
01:15:04Right hand man, main event, Jay Uza.
01:15:07I got a main event today from him.
01:15:09I learned everything from him.
01:15:11I thought I knew wrestling, but he knows, like,
01:15:14how to make you look like a bigger star.
01:15:16We are going to showcase what I feel like people have been begging for for a long time.
01:15:25Long term storytelling.
01:15:27And that's a testament to the entire bloodline.
01:15:30Myself, wise man, Usos, Solo.
01:15:35And Sammy.
01:15:41You just can't do it in a tougher time for entertainment than I've done it.
01:15:47We're competing against all these major, you know, entertainment conglomerates,
01:15:52you know, and everything in between and below, you know, so.
01:15:56As driven as you are to be successful at this, and it's an all-in lifestyle, right?
01:16:03What we do, you have to believe it.
01:16:06You have to be in it.
01:16:07It's never like a situation.
01:16:09It's not a switch.
01:16:10It just says who I am.
01:16:11This is what it is.
01:16:12I'm always in it.
01:16:16Roman's not a people pleaser.
01:16:18He doesn't give a what anybody thinks about.
01:16:21He can't.
01:16:22Because that's always been the thing that's let him down.
01:16:25That's the difference between Joe and Roman, is I've taken one side of Joe,
01:16:30and I've completely magnified it, spotlighted it,
01:16:35and turned that dial all the way to Max.
01:16:38He doesn't care what anybody thinks.
01:16:41He'll do whatever he has to do to be the very best.
01:16:45Sometimes the bad guys win.
01:16:51It's put me in a different mindset, a different emotional state.
01:16:58And that's how I've crafted Joe and Roman.
01:17:08Roman Reigns has done it again.
01:17:15As the 945-day reign continues.
01:17:31This isn't a promo.
01:17:32I'm not, you know, I didn't look in the mirror in the shower and come up with this stuff.
01:17:36This is as real as it gets.
01:17:38I'm the greatest of all time.
01:17:39This WrestleMania solidifies it.
01:17:46That age, part of WWE Superstar Sunday, only on A&E.
01:17:52We're expanding.
01:17:53This business is growing.
01:17:55You know, we're not dealing with the big M.
01:17:56We're dealing with the big D. Billions of dollars now.
01:18:00The company has just gotten so big as a global juggernaut.
01:18:04As it has grown, that responsibility to be that number one guy also grows.
01:18:09And it just encompasses so much more.
01:18:13Roman Reigns handled it flawlessly.
01:18:15And that's why you have to give him, as the kids say, his props.
01:18:21On rare occasions, an athlete comes along that is so dominant that they changed the entire face of their chosen
01:18:30sport.
01:18:32In the WWE right now, we have the privilege of witnessing the man that has passed 1,000 days as
01:18:41champion, Roman Reigns.
01:18:45We've encountered in one hand the amount of people that have held the title longer than him in WWE.
01:18:56It is my honor to present you with a brand new, undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
01:19:14If it was just about me, I could have been done a good bit ago.
01:19:19For this to be what it's supposed to be, to max out the potential of it,
01:19:24I can't be the only one that benefits from this.
01:19:32That's all I want. That's all I ever wanted.
01:19:38Working with my cousin changed my life.
01:19:41He just always checks on me, always checks on my brother, you know, mentally, how y'all doing?
01:19:46Always, just always tapping in when I really need him.
01:19:54Man, I love books for that, you know.
01:19:59Sorry.
01:20:05My head goes off to him, man.
01:20:07I'm so blessed I get to, like, do this for him.
01:20:10Talk, talk, talk about this kind of stuff.
01:20:14Damn, I didn't even know I was gonna get emotional, man.
01:20:16But I love them, man.
01:20:18Yeah, that's my house.
01:20:22They're genuine brothers.
01:20:24I think it's one brother giving another brother their experience, their advice, just to help them grow.
01:20:34Matt was always full of advice, and Joe would receive it.
01:20:41Now he's just passing it on.
01:20:44There's so many times throughout the day, or when I'm traveling, I can hear him, you little
01:20:49. You know, you think you're the man.
01:20:52You already know who the travel chief is.
01:20:54Just talking to me the whole time, you know, but laughing, you know, in a very big brother way.
01:21:02I just wish he was here to take it in and go through the process with me.
01:21:09It's on me to just represent, you know, represent him, represent our family, represent our bloodline,
01:21:15represent our legacy.
01:21:19I think it's very fair to say that Roman Reigns is the most cinematic portrayal of what a champion is
01:21:27in the history of sports entertainment.
01:21:31If Roman Reigns decided that today it's over, his legacy would be that he took the greatest family
01:21:39dynasty in the history of WWE and evolved it to a level that no one could ever have imagined.
01:21:51And I dare say that no other family will ever touch.
01:21:56Acknowledge me!
01:22:00We only recognize something when we romanticize about it, when we look back on it.
01:22:08I hope there's a few more folks out there that can realize that Roman Reigns is a very unique individual.
01:22:13There's never been a performer like him.
01:22:16Roman Reigns as the tribal chief is the greatest of all time.
01:22:23I learned to be in this position a long time ago.
01:22:27And just over the years I've crafted it to just make it mine now.
01:22:31He's got it so well figured out, he's gonna be able to stay on top his whole career.
01:22:36There's only one man that can say they're the face of this company, there's only one man
01:22:40that can say they're the main event, not a main eventer, the main eventer!
01:22:46He finally figured it out and now you have a guy who's completely comfortable with who he is
01:22:55and he's comfortable being the face of the company.
01:23:02That's where we fall back into the experience, that's where we fall back into the formative years.
01:23:07There's so many things in my life that had to happen in order for me to understand or gain experience,
01:23:12to be equipped to handle anything that happens to me.
01:23:16And that's why I stand here ready for anything.
01:23:25I'm the high tide, the highest tide, nobody lifted more shifts than me.
01:23:33Whether you like it or not, I did a lot of good.
01:23:38While I was becoming great.
01:23:50Acknowledge me.
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