WWE considered firing Superstar before he was needed for Roman Reigns storyline

Xavier Woods recalled on the latest episode of The New Day’s Feel The Power podcast that Tyler Breeze almost received his release from WWE before he became Roman Reigns’ tag team partner in FCW.

The New Day member explained that Breeze – his flatmate at the time – was “on the chopping block” and looked set to be fired, so they decided to create multiple new personas for him that they could pitch to FCW management.

The two men went on to form a tag team called The Hollywood Express, but Woods found out while working on a merchandise table at an FCW show in 2012 that the team would not last much longer.

“All of a sudden, I see Breeze walking out and I hear his music. I’m like, ‘Wait, what? We’re a tag team?’ And then I see him walking out with who? Roman Reigns. And then what happens? By the end of that match, there’s a one, two, three, and Breeze and Roman Reigns were the new Tag Team Champions, while Breeze and I were a legitimate tag team.”

Breeze clarified that the FCW higher-ups wanted Reigns to hold the FCW Florida Tag Team titles, so they chose him to be his new tag partner at short notice.

Please credit Feel The Power and give a H/T to Sportskeeda if you use these quotes.

Roman Reigns and Tyler Breeze in WWE

Roman Reigns (fka Leakee) and Tyler Breeze (fka Mike Dalton) defeated Corey Graves and Jake Carter to win the FCW Florida Tag Team titles in June 2012.

However, their reign only lasted for 28 days before they lost the titles to Jason Jordan and CJ Parker.

Later that year, Reigns debuted on WWE’s main roster as a member of The Shield, while Breeze continued his development in the rebranded NXT system.