WWE: Roman Reigns on Sami Zayn’s Time in The Bloodline and Him Being a “Special Performer”, Nikki Garcia on Her “Misses Being Nikki Bella”, More News

Roman Reigns Comments on Sami Zayn’s Time in The Bloodline and Him Being a “Special Performer”

SHAK Wrestling held a recent interview with Roman Reigns. One of the topics discussed included Reigns’ thoughts about Sami Zayn’s time as a member of The Bloodline and his praise of Zayn for being “such a special performer” in WWE.

“Yeah, I’ll take full responsibility for Sami (Zayn being in The Bloodline). He was doing whatever he was doing with Jackass and I just admired the work because it’s not easy to do what we do when you’re across from a veteran, professional, someone who’s been in this ring for a long time. But to do it with people that don’t necessarily know what they’re doing and a bunch of ‘em, you know, whole Jackass crew, and just the way he made that work, I just saw something completely different than what we were doing. We were extremely successful, we were all champions at the time and to me, I just was like, ‘Man, that’s a personality that I can really bounce off and that I can really just show a few different layers of what I can have and my personality and then I think I can also elevate him because this is a veteran performer.’ This guy’s been around, he’s a journeyman. He’s been around for a long time. So I knew that he had, not only the talent, but the experience to be able to work in the main event, and I was right. He proved to be a great asset for The Bloodline, and he helped us but we helped him greatly so, and that’s how it works. That’s a true partnership, right? Where everybody benefits and that’s why you’ve seen him come back in his reunion. We could have maybe done it a different way but, Sami’s such a special performer and such a pain in the ass to deal with sometimes that you just gotta, you know — but that’s because he cares. God bless The Wiseman for having to deal with him all the time. But honestly, it’s on me because I saw it, I knew it, I felt it. I knew that once you put me and him in a backstage together, it was gonna be gold and it ended up taking him a lot longer to get to that point but once we did, I believe we’re in Montreal — I think we were in Canada and when he finally got in the office or in the locker room with me and it was magic, you know? And it was one of those, I think, one and done… It was probably live to be honest so, we just knew from there, that chemistry was gonna be great and the proof is in the pudding.”

Reigns also gave his thoughts about how anybody who orbits him and The Bloodline benefited from their time working with the group.

“They’re still affected by us. We wrap in layers, just the way we’ve done for ourselves and what we did with Sami, for Sami, and how Sami helped us. Drew’s moral code is based on the abuse that I put him through, and the knowledge that I dropped on him. I literally saw a promo we did years ago and I was telling him, ‘You’re going to thank me one day.’ That was the truth. That is the beauty of this. We’re very creative in what we do, but we don’t go so far outside of the realm of the real world and trying to keep that continuity and authenticity to where people can relate to it. There is no question, all those guys, Seth was running with us in April and we weaved him in throughout that whole process. Cody is a great champion, he beat me, so he’s gotta be, right? But he was never more relevant than when he was in my circle and on my island. That continues to shine through. That’s the beauty of this. Even when they feel like they’re done with us or we’re done with them, we’re still able to push everybody and make everybody better. It’s a competition. There are no sabotages, no bullshit behind-the-scenes type stuff. The cream rises to the top, and if you’re better than me, go out there and show me. You can get as much time as you want, go out there and hold that time and show you’re a commodity to this product. That’s what we continue to do. Anybody who orbits me and the Bloodline, it’s proven.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com, Fightful.com


Nikki Garcia Comments on Her “Misses Being Nikki Bella”

As noted before, WWE recently held “significant discussions” regarding potential plans for WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella, real name Nikki Garcia, making her in-ring return to the company in the future.

USWeekly held a recent interview with Garcia. One of the topics discussed included Garcia’s thoughts about her appearance on the WWE RAW premiere show on Netflix earlier this month and her missing “being Nikki Bella.”

“I’ve missed it for quite a few years. I miss being Nikki Bella. I miss being around that family. I definitely miss being in that ring. When they put me in the crowd that night and to feel the energy and see the Bella Army, whether they were in the crowd or online, it starts to give you these feels.

Going home to WWE, I don’t think people understand, I started at 22. That’s all I ever knew up until a little bit ago. So, that’s been the biggest home for me and to go back and be home and the environment there is so incredible. The women were just, what a great locker room. They were just so awesome and together and one and unity and everyone back there was just so happy. You could tell the energy there right now is just incredible.

I’m like, ‘This is why we paved roads in this industry.’ I feel so blessed to go back and experience it. I’m like, ‘OK, I think I need to experience this more.’ I really love it. I feel like I’ve still got it, so we’ll see.”

Garcia also gave her thoughts about the potential of her sister Brie returning to WWE in the future.

“When I went and I came back, I was like, ‘Brie, it’s so amazing. So maybe we should make a comeback. She’s so in mom mode, but Brie has that fire in her, too. She has that last run. I feel like it wouldn’t take a lot to get her to come back with me.”


WWE News & Notes

Wednesday’s WWE Speed show on Twitter featured Chad Gable defeating Chris Sabin in the Finals of WWE’s newest #1 Contender’s tournament for the WWE Speed Championship. Gable will be facing off against Dragon Lee for the WWE Speed Championship on the February 1st episode of WWE Speed.

Fightful Select reported that their sources within NXT stated that Japanese wrestling legend Meiko Satomura’s match against Bayley for ths WWE Women’s Championship at a live event this past July in Japan is currently believed to have been her WWE swan song and final match ahead of her retirement match this year.

Fightful Select also reported that their sources stated that WWE talents had been recently discussing about a potential 40-Man Royal Rumble match for this Saturday’s Royal Rumble but this is something that WWE officials have not actually discussed nor have any actual plans to do.

WWE recently released two new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was the full 1993 Royal Rumble match from WWE Royal Rumble 1993. The second new video was the full 1998 Royal Rumble match from WWE Royal Rumble 1998.

WWE also recently launched a new NXT Vault channel on YouTube. One new video released was a “Randy Orton’s NXT debut, Divas Title Match” March 27, 2013 full episode of NXT. The second new video was a “Story of John Cena vs. Kane at Royal Rumble 2012.”

As noted before, WWE confirmed that WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque will be inducted into their Hall of Fame as a member of their 2025 class. Stephanie McMahon reflected on Twitter about her husband’s upcoming induction as a solo act in WWE’s Hall of Fame. McMahon statedYou got me too @ShawnMichaels and @undertaker! It is my honor to witness your brotherhood. Thank you for making the Executive Decision because you know Paul never would! Congratulations to my King, @TripleH! You have more than earned your place in Immortality #WWEHOF class of 2025.

In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Jordynne Grace gave her thoughts about recent discussion she has had with WWE SVP of NXT and Talent Relations Shawn Michaels about the potential for a future TNA-NXT Worlds Collide event. Grace stated “With this partnership, I would love to see AJ Style come back. That would be so awesome. I feel like maybe I could come back at some point. I really want to see a Worlds Collide pay-per-view, that’s what I hope this all leads to. I hope this partnership leads to Worlds Collide. Which world am I going to be in? I’m a double agent … I didn’t create it, I feel like it’s been in everybody’s head. Shawn [Michaels] has actually mentioned it before. I asked Shawn about it and he was like, ‘Oh, I’d love that.’ It’s not off the table.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with News4JAX’s Going Ringside podcast, former WWE and current TNA talent AJ Francis gave his thoughts about the origin of his Top Dolla ring name in WWE. Francis stated “I actually got the name Top Dolla by mistake. I wanted to just be AJ Francis because I did the Most Wanted Treasures show as AJ Francis and now I’m back as AJ Francis, clearly AJ Francis was a better idea. So, I put in this list of names and the number one name I had on the list was Dolla. It was just Dolla by itself. Then I had these 20 names but I broke them into five groups of five, so it said bottom five, next five, next five, and then it said the top five. When you look at it, it said top five and then the right name underneath of it was Dolla. So they thought that I wanted my name to be Top Dolla. I was like, yeah, that sounds great, sounds like a cool name, you know what I’m saying? It’s a unique thing. It’s funny, it’s a happy accident.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Toronto Sun, former WWE and current AEW talent Chris Jericho gave his thoughts about the potential of him being inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame in the future. Jericho stated “I mean, I’m not one of those guys who cares about the Hall of Fame, because I don’t think it’s really real anyways. So in some ways, it’s like, ‘Eh, whatever.’ In other ways, I want to pull a Sex Pistols and just refuse to show up. Send a letter saying, ‘Do not mention my name,’ like Axl Rose did. What a great wrestling thing to do. It doesn’t matter to me. It really doesn’t. It’s great that guys go in there, and I’m glad they get a chance to. But I’m already in the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is up here [points to his head]. It’s more for the fans. But, you know, at this point in time I could get put in the Hall of Fame and maybe get booed out of the building. So who knows? We’ll see what happens. But for right here, right now, I’m enjoying what I’m still doing. I definitely wouldn’t go in the Hall of Fame if I’m still actively performing in the ring. So we’ll see. We’ll see where it goes. And for right now, I feel good and I’m doing great work. And when I feel it’s time to hang up the boots, I will do so. Until then, I’m just enjoying being part of the business, as I always have for the last 34 years.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)