5 AEW Superstars who are friends with Roman Reigns in real life
Roman Reigns is the WWE locker room leader and the undisputed top star of the company. There is no full-time superstar that WWE has put more effort into. With the rise of AEW, many WWE stars made the jump, either after seeing out their full contracts or getting released.
Either way, Roman Reigns has more friends in AEW than fans might realize. Here are some AEW stars who are friends with Roman Reigns in real life.
#5. Bryan Danielson - A long-time association with Roman Reigns in WWE
Bryan Danielson fka Daniel Bryan is a good friend to Roman Reigns. Bryan has been associated with Roman Reigns for a long time, having feuded with him as a part of The Shield before being on the same side in 2014.
Even as singles stars, Roman Reigns, and Daniel Bryan have had highly important matches together. They've had two singles matches at Fastlane (in 2015 and 2021) that directly impacted the WrestleMania main event of that year.
It's only fitting that Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan had his last match in WWE against Roman Reigns. The match stipulated that if Daniel Bryan lost, he would have to leave SmackDown.
Bryan's contract expired shortly after that, and although WWE expected to re-sign him, he decided to jump ship to AEW. As a result, the Daniel Bryan character is now in the past.
However, more than half a decade ago, Roman Reigns was interviewed on Answer The Call and he was full of praise for Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan:
"[Daniel] Bryan is the best. If anybody says any different, they're an idiot. You can learn anything from him.” asserts Reigns. He has had a long association with Bryan starting from his days in The Shield, when he was feuding with Bryan, Kane and Ryback. Roman feels that he has come to realise the importance of putting in the hours in the ring and in the business as a whole from the journey of Daniel Bryan. “Bryan is a journeyman, and he's one of the few that we have, with Seth and Dean also in that category. He's just so smart. He has a great take on everything, and he doesn't just think about his product. He has so much knowledge on life. I feel very blessed to have made a friend with Daniel Bryan."
It's clear that Roman Reigns highly values the time he spent in and out of the ring with Bryan Danielson. It's no surprise since Roman Reigns was barely half a decade into his pro wrestling career when they faced off at Fastlane 2015. Bryan, on the other hand, already had a decade more of experience.
Few can do what Bryan Danielson does in the ring and Roman Reigns has surely learned a lot from him.