Roman Reigns' family member on finding out he would face "stiff" Shane McMahon after being told WWE had nothing for him
Former WWE Superstar and SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon once faced a family member of Roman Reigns in one of the star's first appearances for WWE.
In 2019, Shane McMahon was in a feud against Roman Reigns. This was prior to Reigns' return after the pandemic as the heel he is today. To mock Reigns, Shane brought out Lance Anoa'i, who was not a full-time member of the WWE roster. He challenged him to a match, with Lance representing Reigns' family.
Unfortunately, Anoa'i ended up losing thanks to an attack from Drew McIntyre, who was helping Shane.
While on The Family Business, Anoa'i spoke about his experience facing Shane McMahon. He spoke about how after his tryout in 2019, and how he was flown out to WWE just two days before RAW after being originally told WWE didn't have anything for him.
"Right after my last tryout, which was in 2019, they said, ‘Yeah, we don’t have nothing for you at the moment.’ Then I got the call in May of 2019 saying, ‘Hey,’ two days before Raw, ‘We’re flying you out to Kansas City. Are you available?’ Of course, yes, I’m down. I don’t know anything, what’s going on. I was like alright, maybe this is the deal, I’m gonna get a break. Especially because for extras, they don’t really fly everyone out at all. But they got my rental car, my hotel, my flight, everything." [H/T Fightful]
It was only when he got there that he found out that he was going to be facing Shane McMahon that night. Anoa'i found it a strange experience and said that he knew Shane was always "stiff."
"Then I arrived into Kansas City, go to Raw, and they’re like, ‘Hey, it’s you and Shane McMahon tonight.’ I said, ‘Oh, damn.’ No idea, I just found out two days ago I was flying to Kansas City for Raw, and now I’m here getting in the ring with Shane. What an experience, man. I knew he was stiff [laughs]."
It’s 8:50 eastern standard time.
monday night raw just rang the bell on its first match of the evening.
shane mcmahon vs roman reigns’ cousin.
not a joke.
#RAW https://t.co/mzpWQeF13G
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Shane McMahon had a feud with Roman Reigns in 2019
While Lance Anoa'i would not get hired by WWE, his segment was cut down from what was originally planned. On the same night, another segment where Brock Lesnar came out with the Money in the Bank briefcase as a boombox went over the allotted time.
At the time, McMahon was in the middle of his heel run against an over babyface in Roman Reigns. He was flanked by a heel Drew McIntyre and Elias.
Reigns even lost to Shane at Super ShowDown 2019, but that was only because of Drew McIntyre's assistance.
Over the past year, Roman has:
Put over freaking Shane McMahon at Super Showdown.
Introduce the world to Keith Lee in a major moment at Survivor Series.
And recently, got McIntyre his second biggest reaction of the night, eliminating him last to win the Royal Rumble. https://t.co/VetbwN1MFn
Currently, Shane McMahon is no longer with WWE, having parted ways just less than a year back following the 2022 Royal Rumble event.
Meanwhile, Lance is plying his trade in MLW, while Roman Reigns is slated to defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Title against Kevin Owens at Royal Rumble 2023.
Do you think Roman Reigns will emerge victorious against Owens at the Rumble? Let us know in the comments section below.