When AEW star broke up with Roman Reigns in a WWE developmental promo class skit
Before Roman Reigns became one of WWE's biggest stars, he was known as Roman Leakee in the company's Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental system.
Dusty Rhodes oversaw the progress of WWE's up-and-coming stars by holding regular FCW promo classes. On one occasion, he told Paige (aka AEW's Saraya) to portray an angry girlfriend in an elaborate acting skit. The wrestling legend instructed her to break up with Reigns' character after he stole her toaster.
In 2021, Saraya explained on Renee Paquette's The Sessions podcast how she felt awkward acting the scene out in front of her FCW co-workers. The former Divas Champion also had to read a love letter to Reigns:
"I was so embarrassed, and then I had to look at him and do this promo, and it was just so bad. The promo the next week, he [Dusty Rhodes] was just like, 'Okay, baby, here he is again, Leakee, go up there, baby. You're gonna do another one.' He was like, 'Pretend you're reading a love letter. I wanna see all the emotion in your face, baby.' So I had to pretend to read a love letter and I was like, 'Urgh, this is so embarrassing.' So yeah, that stuff would happen all the time."
the Anti Diva Paige #NXT #FCW https://t.co/5HUghp3DsK
Rhodes, who passed away in 2015, was a huge supporter of Saraya. He once told her during a heartfelt conversation that she would be "the biggest star out of all these motherf*****s."
How Roman Leakee became known as Roman Reigns
In 2012, a developmental talent named Calvin Raines left WWE. RAW commentator Corey Graves was another emerging star at the time. Following Raines' departure, Graves thought a variation of the surname would work well for Roman Leakee.
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From Leakee to Roman Reigns.
From Juggernaut to The Head of the Table.
From The Guy to The Tribal Chief!
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The man we now know as Roman Reigns discussed his name change during an appearance on Chris Jericho's Talk Is Jericho podcast in 2017:
"I was going through it and Corey Graves, he was down in FCW, still working at that time, he's actually one of my good buddies and our families are like really good friends. He told me, he was like, 'Hey, I heard you saying Roman Raines. What if you spelled it like Reigns, like a king reigns.' And I was like, 'Whoa, I like that.' And there you go. And total heel name too!" (H/T Wrestling Inc.)
The Bloodline leader changed his name from Roman Leakee to Roman Reigns in August 2012, three months before The Shield's main roster debut.
Is Roman Reigns WWE's greatest developmental talent success story? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.