Interview: Roman Reigns on Universal Title, Brock Lesnar, & John Cena

The Sporting News held a recent interview with Roman Reigns discussing the lack of Universal Championship presence on RAW, his thoughts on Brock Lesnar’s WWE future, and his thoughts on John Cena.

On the topic of the Universal Championship’s lack of presence on RAW since Brock Lesnar became champion, Reigns stated it has hurt a lot more than it has helped for the RAW brand.

“It’s killing us. It’s killing us. It makes for better storytelling. It would be a better product. It would be a better show. When you have the diamond that everybody’s chasing, it gives everybody a GPS of where they are and where they’re trying to be. Not only that, it’s a driving force for live events. It’s a driving force for our Friday, Saturday and Sunday (non-televised events) when we don’t have a network special or a pay-per-view. It’s important to have that thing hanging up in the locker room in a tiny town in South Dakota on a Friday when people are not motivated. A young talent comes in and says the champ’s in here and the title is hanging up. I want that. It motivates people in some many different regards and that’s what we need. I’m to the point where I’ve won a bunch of different championships and the only reason I want that championship is because I haven’t won it and I want it on this roster. I want it at our shows. I want it in every town because it’s going to make everybody better. ”

On the topic of Brock Lesnar’s future in the WWE, Reigns stated he feels Lesnar would be better off staying in UFC since he seems a lot more passionate towards MMA than wrestling.

“To be honest, at this point I’d love to see him just go fight in UFC because that’s where it seems his passion and where his focus is right now. We have a protocol here. We have a certain schedule and there’s a certain rhythm that makes this whole business work and, right now, I think he’s throwing us out of whack a little bit. Is it great exposure to crossover? Absolutely. We love having a big star like Brock Lesnar but, at the end of the day, sports entertainment has to look out for itself. We have to continue to do our business and continue to put on our show. I just feel like it would be a lot better served with that Universal Championship in someone’s hands like myself.”

On the topic of John Cena, Reigns praised Cena for helping motivate him to reach the next level of stardom in the WWE.

“I think Cena did me a huge favor. He busted my ass and made me step up and that’s the game. You have to take the next step. If you’re climbing the ladder, you have to reach the next rung and Cena was that guy. That’s an important part, the mic work, the stick, and I thought I was able to step up. I thought I was able to take my punches and throw a few back and I thought I grew very quickly in the following weeks to all the way when we closed that rivalry out. But that’s the whole object of the game, of being on top. You have to make everybody step up and that’s what Cena made me do. I’m still learning, I’m still finding my voice and still playing with different things, finding different emotions and different ways to connect and how to make it real to myself. I think anytime I can, I always thank him for that because without those growing pains, without those maturity steps, I don’t think I’d be able to be where I’m at and then also I wouldn’t be on the path of where I’m trying to go and grow to”