3) Rikishi
Okay this one might not count because as many of you know, Roman Reigns and Rikishi are family. None-the-less, Rikishi went to bat for Reigns after he was dissed by former WWE superstar John Morrison.
In an interview with World According to Wrestling, Morrison took a shot at Reigns for not knowing how to work:
“Roman Reigns, I’d love to wrestle him in like 10 years if he’s still wrestling, because by then hopefully he’d figure out how to work” (Source: World According to Wrestling).
Here was Rikishi’s reply on Facebook, firing back at Morrison:
“Here’s your Hall of Famer Reply to this comment: Fortunately for Joe Anoa’i, Roman Reigns in just 4 years of wrestling he has been 2 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Tag Team Champion, Royal Rumble Winner, WWE Wrestler of the Year and Main event[ed] Wrestlemania! What have you done in your first 4 years of wrestling. Even in 10 years you won’t be in his level to share the ring.#LetThatMarinate #SamoanDynasty #AnoaiStrong” (Source: Rikishi’s Facebook).
Family sticks together. Not surprised that Rikishi defended Roman Reigns, who is his family member. Thought this was interesting because it wasn’t criticism from fans, it was from a wrestler.
2) Finn Balor
Finn Balor made his incredible WWE main roster debut on RAW in July of 2016. He first won a fatal four-way match earlier in the night and later faced (and defeated) Roman Reigns in the main event. Having never wrestled Reigns, he says that it opened his eyes to how talented he is.
Here is what he said on Talk Is Jericho:
“I went through the match, and worked with Roman… absolutely incredible in the ring. It’s unbelievable to hear the amount of negativity he gets, and when you get in the ring with him he is absolutely one of the… well, it was eye-opening moment for me going “Oh my God, this guy’s really really good” (Source: Talk is Jericho).
On the negativity that Roman Reigns receives:
“Again, 16 years of being in there with them all, and then getting in there with Roman who has, like, among the fans and some of, you know, the wrestlers around the world who obviously haven’t locked up with him, has kind of a bad reputation with the whole “You can’t wrestle, you can’t wrestle.” And when we locked up, I was like “Oh my God, this guy is great,” and was never at any point in that match kinda uncomfortable, you know? He just put me a lot at ease with that whole situation… hat’s off to Roman because he really kinda led me through it” (Source: Talk is Jericho).
Some high praise from a guy who has been in the ring with a lot of talented guys.
1) Bret Hart
Bret Hart has the reputation of sometimes being a very negative wrestling critic. Did you know that Hart actually defended Roman Reigns in an interview with Sports Illustrated? Lots of positive comments towards Reigns with him blaming WWE for his crowd reaction and not Reigns himself.
Bret compared Reigns to Kevin Nash in an interview with Sports Illustrated and blames the WWE for his crowd reaction and not Reigns himself:
“Reigns is just like Kevin Nash. If you look back at Reigns, his character was getting over really good on his own. Then they rushed him into a babyface turn and crammed him down everybody’s throats, and people rejected him. It wasn’t his fault. It was kind of like with Kevin Nash. He was slowly getting over, and I wrestled him at [the 1994] King of the Ring and we had a really good match. All of a sudden, by August, they were ready to make him the new champion. And I’m going, ‘He’s not ready yet. Give him a little time and let him get even more over.’ Why is there a rush? Reigns got dealt a bad set of cards. It has nothing to do with his work rate-he’s a really good worker and his style is really good. He just needs to be himself” (Source: Sports Illustrated).
He continued:
“They tend to rush guys too soon, and that makes me think of Steve Austin. Vince wanted to turn him baby face much sooner than he did. I remember Steve stopped it. Austin said, ‘No, let me get over more.’ And it paid off to be a little smarter and not rush. Some of the mistakes have more to do with the bookers instead of the actual wrestlers. Reigns is a victim of bad booking” (Source: Sports Illustrated).
Who says that Bret Hart is always negative?
Thank you for reading our list of wrestlers that have defended Roman Reigns! Please give us a share if you enjoyed the article!!!
