Roman Reigns enshrined into 'rare air' of 'very, very few' WWE stars by former champion: "He's earned all this"
Roman Reigns is now officially a babyface after returning at WWE SummerSlam to confront The Bloodline. Former NXT Tag Team Champion Aiden English, who now works as Matthew Rehwoldt in TNA Wrestling, put Reigns in the rarified air that only a handful of WWE stars have been.
The Original Tribal Chief went on hiatus for about four months after losing his Undisputed WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40. Following The Show of Shows, Solo Sikoa took over The Bloodline, taking out Jimmy Uso and Paul Heyman while bringing in Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu.
On the most recent episode of the REBOOKED Wrestling Podcast, Rehwoldt explained how it was rare to see superstars be huge as a babyface and a heel. He also pointed out The Head of the Table's aura that resonates when he appears.
"He's always been awesome. That's so many people's story is to become that ultimate babyface. You got to have a real run as a heel and he had a hell of a run as a heel. He has earned this throughout all that. He's earned all this. He hadn't had it before. He's always had a presence but he's got this gravitas too and he knows it. That's how he paces all his stuff and it fits and it times so well. It's such a rare air of people who can do this. There are still very, very, very, very few even top guys who can pull off that idea." [34:28 - 35:12]
Roman Reigns took out Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa this past Friday on SmackDown. Solo Sikoa got away in time and watched as The Original Tribal Chief brutalized the Tongans.
WWE Hall of Famer thought Roman Reigns returned too soon
While Roman Reigns' return has been a success for WWE, Eric Bischoff believed that the company pulled the trigger on his comeback too soon. Bischoff thought that The Original Tribal Chief should have waited for more time before they unleashed his anger on The Bloodline.
"Roman came back and got an amazing reaction that I haven't seen yet, and it worked out pretty well. But the question, you know, the heat that I got was, 'See, you were wrong again. They brought Roman back, and they blew the roof off.' I didn't suggest that bringing him back wouldn’t be successful. My point of view was that perhaps could have been an even bigger reaction had we let that tea brew just a little bit longer. Anyway, I did hear it was a phenomenal reaction," Bischoff said. [H/T: WrestleZone]
Roman Reigns will likely confront Solo Sikoa again very soon, with Jacob Fatu still lurking in the shadows nursing a leg injury he suffered at WWE SummerSlam.