"Have you seen the sickest kid?" - When former WWE executive refused to sign Roman Reigns in 2006
Before becoming The Tribal Chief and the leader of The Bloodline, Roman Reigns dreamed of becoming an NFL player. The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion played football in high school and college. He later joined the Minnesota Vikings.
However, his NFL dreams got shattered when he got diagnosed with leukemia. While he tried to make it in the football world, Reigns was also on WWE's radar. However, the company decided not to sign him 16 years ago, as WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross disclosed in an episode of his Grilling JR podcast in 2020.
"He changed his body immensely. He was a 300 pound nose tackle for Georgia Tech there in ACC. Before [John] Laurinaitis took over talent relations he was certainly on my radar and we were all aware, you know, Michael Hayes, different guys (...) 'have you seen the sickest kid?' [Hayes replied] 'Of course I have, yeah.' But like you said, he had football to get out of his system and I encouraged that quite frankly. You don't want somebody to come in and not be sure that they're at the right place for them. So if he got a chance at football and he didn't make it for whatever reason, then he gets it out of his system and then here we go." (0:43 - 1:32)
Ross explained that he did not want Reigns to become another Ken Shamrock. The former Intercontinental Champion signed with the Stamford-based company in 1997 after a successful career in MMA. However, he left two years later to continue his MMA career despite being over with the WWE Universe.
"So same thing, the same analogy I'd use for Ken Shamrock who could not get MMA out of his system. He was getting over like a son of a gun at WWE, at least it was in my eyes, and then all of a sudden he keeps talking about these fights, 'I could do this in three fights. I could it.' So, finally it was just a matter of you know, you need to go get this out of your system then we'll bring him back," Ross added. (1:33 - 1:58)
After his football career ended, Reigns worked for his sister's business, installing office furniture. In 2010, he finally signed with WWE. The Tribal Chief has now become the face of the company and its top guy.
Roman Reigns in his NFL Uniform. 🔥🔥🔥
Credit #WWE https://t.co/ekL2O048yq
Roman Reigns is one of ten current superstars you may not know once worked regular jobs. Check out the list here.
Who will face Roman Reigns at WWE WrestleMania 39?
In August 2020, Roman Reigns defeated The Fiend Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman at Payback to capture the Universal Championship. Last April, he unified the world titles when he beat Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 38.
Since then, The Tribal Chief has defended his Undisputed WWE Universal Title against a few challengers, including Lesnar, Drew McIntyre, and Riddle. Nevertheless, they all failed to defeat Reigns.
Over the past few months, rumors have linked the leader of The Bloodline to facing a few superstars at WrestleMania 39, including Cody Rhodes, Sheamus, and The Rock. During a recent episode of the Reality of Wrestling podcast, Hall of Famer Booker T suggested that The Brahma Bull should be the one to dethrone Reigns.
"Can you smell what I'm cooking baby? [Should The Rock beat Reigns for the title?] I don't know, you know what I mean? It could be one of those things like when I won the title at Reality of Wrestling and just left it in the ring, just had to show him. It could be one of those type of deals, you know what I mean?" said Booker. [From 19:54 - 20:13]
A Hall of Famer believes Roman Reigns shouldn't face a popular SmackDown star. Check out his comments here.