Ex-WWE star says he was willing to leave the locker room until Roman Reigns intervened
Roman Reigns "couldn't have been more cool" backstage at a WWE event in 2018, according to former NXT UK Superstar Sam Gradwell.
On May 11, 2018, Gradwell lost to Jordan Devlin (now known as JD McDonagh) at an untelevised show in Dublin, Ireland. A member of the ring crew told him to find a quiet place in a locker room to place his bag. The Englishman thought he had found somewhere discrete before noticing Reigns' gear in front of him.
Gradwell recalled on the Wresting With Johners Podcast how he tried to quickly leave the locker room before anyone saw him. The Tribal Chief then showed up and told him to stay where he was:
"I sat down and I looked at the chair in front of me, and I realized that Roman Reigns had set his gear over the chair in front of me, so I was like, 'Oh s**t, I've gotta get out of here, I've gotta find a different room,'" Gradwell said. "I go to pick up my bag to leave, and Roman walks in and says, 'No, no, no, you sit there, you're good,' and he just sat chatting to me all night." [0:40 – 1:06]
Later that night, Reigns joined forces with Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman to defeat Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Samoa Joe in the main event.
Sam Gradwell received advice from Roman Reigns
Experienced WWE Superstars often watch shows from a monitor backstage before providing feedback to the younger talents.
A man living in #GODMode.
#Smackdown #WWECastle https://t.co/wEvufucUiI
Roman Reigns, who is considered to be one of WWE's current locker room leaders, had no problem lending advice to Sam Gradwell:
"Couldn't have been more down to earth, couldn't have been more cool," Gradwell added. "He watched mine and Jordan's match, and he gave some of the most helpful feedback I think I've ever had." [1:09 – 1:18]
Gradwell received his release from WWE in August 2022. He competed in 24 televised matches for the company between January 2017 and July 2022.
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Please credit the Wrestling With Johners Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.