Roman Reigns is featured in a new in-depth Royal Rumble: Riyadh Vlog released via WWE’s official YouTube channel on Friday (see video below).
In the video, “The OTC” claims that WWE “begged him” to come back for the Royal Rumble in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this past weekend, as well as earning the creative freedom he exerts these days.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the vlog where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On WWE begging him to come back at the Royal Rumble: Riyadh: “They begged me to come back. They said, ‘Save us.’ So I said, ‘Okay.’”
On the locker room culture, the verbal sparring that comes with it, and why he feels he’s earned the right to speak freely after everything he’s accomplished: “This is what we do, man. We talk sh*t and then we find a way to find that solution and it usually happens out there [in the ring]. Nobody who has been here for a long time has thin skin. You just learn, that’s just what it is. We’re all thick skinned alphas here. You’re going to hear a lot of stuff, you’re going to hear a lot of jabs here and there.”
On how his experience and the battles he fought early in his career shaped his current mindset: “When it comes to it, I’m the slyest with it. I’ll sit there and pepper you without you even knowing. But nah, it is what it is. When you’ve been here and you’ve done what I’ve done, you built that equity to share your opinion. The sh*t I think and the sh*t I say matters, you know what I mean? I earned that. Nobody gave it to me, I had to take it. It wasn’t easy. That’s what everybody thinks. It’s, ‘oh, he’s gone’ … it was not easy when I got here. John Cena, Randy Orton, Big Show, Kane, sweetheart but still, I had to pry this sh*t from the grips of the veterans. Nobody else did it but me. I say what I want.”