Roman Reigns

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Leati Joseph Anoaʻi United StatesUnited States
Reigns in 2017.

Reigns in 2017.
Data
Surname Leati Joseph Anoaʻi
Ring name Roman Reigns
Joe Anoaʻi
Leakee
Additions to names The Big Dog
The Guy
The Juggernaut
The Powerhouse
height 191 cm
Fighting weight 120 kg
birth May 25, 1985
Pensacola , Florida
Announced from Pensacola , Florida
Trained by Afa
Sika
FCW
debut 2010

Leati Joseph "Joe" Anoaʻi (born May 25, 1985 in Pensacola , Florida ) is an American wrestler and former gridiron football player who is currently under his ring name Roman Reigns under contract with WWE and regularly appears on their television shows. His greatest successes so far are the receipt of the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship , as well as the completion of the Grand Slam . He is the nephew of "Wild Samoan" Afa and thus a member of the big wrestling family Anoaʻi and cousin of Jimmy and Jey Uso . He borrowed one of his characteristic actions in the ring, the Superman punch, from his older brother Rosey (Matthew Tapunu'u Anoa'i), who died in 2017 and who was also active as a wrestler.

Private life

Leati Anoaʻi is a member of the great Samoan family Anoaʻi around his uncle and family patriarch Afa Anoaʻi , which represents the largest blood-related dynasty in the wrestling business. His father Leati, Sr. was active as Sika The Wild Samoan as a wrestler, as was his late brother Matt as Rosey . He is the cousin of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson , Yokozuna , the late Umaga and his brother Rikishi . He is married and has a daughter (* 2008) and two twin sons (* 2016) and (* 2020).

In late October 2018, Anoa'i revealed that he had leukemia at the age of 22 . The disease was in remission , but broke out again in 2018, which is why he will undergo treatment. On February 25, 2019, he officially announced that his illness was again in remission and that he would actively return to the ring.

Gridiron football career

Anoaʻi began his sporting career in American football . Already in high school he made a name for himself as a defensive tackle and from 2003 to 2006 he was able to play for the "Yellow Jackets" of Georgia Tech College Football .

In 2007 he was given the chance to work for a place on the Minnesota Vikings team , but was released early because of an injury. In August of the same year he was released again after a brief engagement in the training team of the Jacksonville Jaguars . In 2008 he was finally able to gain a place in the team of the Edmonton Eskimos and played in five games as a defensive tackle.

Wrestling career

World Wrestling Entertainment (since 2010)

Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT (2010-2012)

In 2010 Anoaʻi signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and was added to their Florida Championship Wrestling training league. He finally made his debut on September 9th that year as Roman Leakee . In 2012 Florida Championship Wrestling became WWE NXT and Anoaʻi was renamed Roman Reigns .

The Shield (2012-2014)

Rollins, Reigns and Ambrose as The Shield in 2014.

From there he was put on the main shows as The Shield along with Johnathan Good (as Dean Ambrose) and Colby Lopez (as Seth Rollins) . The group made their official debut on November 18 at the major event Survivor Series . There The Shield was initially active as an “enforcer” of the league leadership, but on the other hand was also to be understood as an independent group. In May 2013 Reigns was allowed to win the WWE Tag Team Championship together with Seth Rollins and hold it until October. Since 2014 the individual members have been given more prominence. For example, Reigns was highlighted as the new record holder for most expelled wrestlers at the Royal Rumble event. In the following years a slow change of the group to audience favorites was prepared. On June 2, 2014, the group was separated after Seth Rollins attacked his teammates Reigns and Ambrose from behind with a chair and thus joined the "Authority", a group that represented the league leadership. Reigns subsequently feuded with Rollins, against whom he should play a match at the major event Night of Champions on September 21, 2014 . However, he was admitted to a hospital in Nashville on September 20, 2014 and had to undergo emergency surgery because of a hernia , so his attendance had to be canceled. As Roman Reigns, Anoaʻi was voted Superstar of the Year at the Slammy Awards in December 2014 .

Promotion to the Main Event (2014-2016)

WWE Champion Reigns in 2016.

On December 14, 2014 he actively returned to the WWE and shortly afterwards took part in the Royal Rumble match, which he won on January 25, 2015 and thus, according to the storyline, was allowed to play the main match at WrestleMania against the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion. At WrestleMania 31 he therefore competed in his first Wrestlemania main match against the reigning champion Brock Lesnar . However, Seth Rollins had previously won the right to a championship match that could be redeemed at any time at Money in The Bank in 2014 (represented by the Money in the Bank case or the contract contained therein). At Wrestlemania, Rollins spontaneously redeemed this contract, which made the encounter between Reigns and Lesnar a triple threat match , now with Rollins' participation. Rollins pinned Reigns, won the match, and became the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion .

At the Survivor Series 2015, Reigns won the final of a 16-man tournament to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion . Seth Rollins had recently given up this title due to an injury. Only a few moments after the tournament finale , however, Sheamus redeemed his Money In The Bank case and then crowned himself the new champion. After Reigns lost again to Sheamus at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 13, 2015, he was able to regain the title in the WWE RAW issue of December 14, 2015. He lost this in the 2016 Royal Rumble Match to Triple H , who returned as number 30 and independently promoted the number 1 of the Royal Rumble, Reigns, out of the ring. At WWE Fastlane, Reigns defeated Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar in a triple threat match, securing a new chance at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On April 3, 2016 at Wrestlemania 32 he defeated Triple H and won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the third time. At WWE Payback and WWE Extreme Rules, he met AJ Styles and was able to defend the title. After the second match, the returning Seth Rollins attacked him. At WWE RAW, a match between him and Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WWE Money in the Bank was then set. There he lost the title to Rollins, who only minutes later gave the title to Dean Ambrose, who had won the Money-in-the-Bank match on the same evening and successfully redeemed his contract. All three former Shield members were WWE World Heavyweight Champions one after the other on the same evening. On June 21, 2016, Anoa'i was suspended for 30 days for violating the WWE's "Wellness Policy".

Reunification with The Shield and feud against Lesnar (2017-2018)

After he returned from his suspension, he feuded against Rusev . On September 25, 2016, he defeated Rusev at Clash of Champions , winning the WWE United States Championship for the first time . He lost this title to Chris Jericho on January 9, 2017 . At WrestleMania 33 he was allowed to defeat the Undertaker , as a result of which this indicated his career end. However, the Undertaker subsequently played a few more matches.

Since October 2017, Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose appeared again sporadically as The Shield . In the November 21, 2017 issue of Raw , Reigns won the WWE Intercontinental Championship from The Miz . This made Anoaʻi the seventeenth Grand Slam Champion in WWE history . He lost the title to The Miz at the 25th anniversary edition of Raw on January 22nd, 2018.

Lesnar vs. Reigns at WrestleMania 34 .

At WWE Elimination Chamber 2018, Reigns won the Elimination Chamber match and qualified for a title match against WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34 . However, Reigns failed to win this match. Also in a steel cage match at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia , Reigns could not win the title because he accidentally pushed Lesnar through the cage wall with a spear and thus helped to win this special type of match. Reigns then began a feud with Bobby Lashley , as both men believed they were the rightful challengers for the WWE Universal Championship. This led to a match at WWE Extreme Rules , which Lashley was allowed to win. However, the following night on Raw, two triple threat matches were scheduled to determine Lesnar's challenger for SummerSlam 2018. Reigns and Lashley won their respective matches, and both competed against each other the following week to finally determine the next challenger for the WWE Universal Championship. Reigns won that match.

At SummerSlam, Reigns faced Lesnar again. During the match there was an argument between Lesnar and Braun Strowman , who wanted to redeem his Money-in-the-Bank suitcase after the match. Reigns took advantage of Lesnar's distraction and was able to pin it after a suicide dive and a spear and thus achieve the WWE Universal Championship for the first time. In the subsequent RAW issues, there were repeated clashes between Reigns and his Shield brothers against Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre . At Hell in a Cell on September 16, 2018, Strowman and Reigns competed in the main match, in which the partners of the two opponents and in the end Brock Lesnar intervened. The match was then canceled, which Reigns kept the title.

Renewed leukemia and time off (2018-2019)

Roman Reigns as WWE Universal Champion in 2018

In the October 22, 2018 edition of Raw, Anoaʻi surprisingly stated that he had developed leukemia for the second time and was therefore no longer able to fulfill his role as WWE Universal Champion. In his speech to the audience he used his real name, Joe, which clearly separated this segment from a fictional wrestling storyline. Finally, he put the title belt down and announced a break to fight the disease. At the end of the segment, Rollins and Ambrose stepped onto the entrance stage with him, demonstrating their support. Immediately afterwards, Reigns' illness was briefly used in the storyline , mainly in connection with the heel turn of Dean Ambrose, who turned against his partner Seth Rollins that same evening after winning the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship .

Return and various feuds (since 2019)

In the February 25, 2019 edition of Raw , Anoa'i returned and announced that his leukemia was back in remission . After this announcement, which he also performed largely as Joe Anoa'i, not as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins joined him on stage and they both hugged. That evening, Reigns and Rollins came to the aid of their now estranged Shield brother, Dean Ambrose , who was attacked and knocked down by Drew McIntyre , Bobby Lashley , Elias and Baron Corbin . This indicated a possible reunion of The Shield . A week later, on the March 5th edition of Raw, Reigns reopened the show and said he would like to reunite the band , The Shield, one last time before Ambrose leaves WWE after WrestleMania 35 . The fact that Ambrose had not extended its expiring contract had become part of the official storyline a few weeks earlier. Rollins, who joined Reigns in the ring, initially turned it down due to his feud with Ambrose over the past few months. In the end, however, he let Reigns change his mind after Reigns threw his experiences of illness into the balance as arguments. Ambrose, who then also appeared, however, also opposed the reunion of The Shield and walked away through the audience. Reigns and Rollins were then attacked by Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley. After some hesitation, however, Ambrose came back to the ring to help Reigns and Rollins. After successfully repelling the attack, Reigns and Rollins held their fists together in the usual shield pose and waited for Ambrose to join. After further hesitation, he did so, whereby The Shield reorganized. The Shield then played a tag team match against Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley at the Fastlane event on March 10, 2019 . This match, which the main event of Fastlane represented and was announced as the last of the group, were allowed The Shield by a pin win of Reigns.

As part of the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up, Reigns switched from Raw to SmackDown on April 16, 2019 . After this change, he started a feud against Elias , which culminated in a singles match at WWE Money in the Bank in 2019, which he won after just 10 seconds. On June 7, 2019, Reigns played a singles match against Shane McMahon on WWE Super ShowDown, but he lost it. On June 23, 2019, Reigns played a singles match against Drew McIntyre at WWE Stomping Grounds, which he won. On July 14, 2019, he played a No Holds Barred Tag Team Match with The Undertaker against Drew McIntyre & Shane McMahon , which they won. On September 15, 2019, he played a no disqualification match against Erick Rowan , which he lost. On October 6, 2019, he played a Tornado Tag Team Match with Daniel Bryan against Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, which he won. On November 24th, 2019 he played a Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match against Drew McIntyre, Ricochet , Seth Rollins , Randy Orton , Kevin Owens , Damian Priest, Matt at the WWE Survivor Series together with Braun Strowman , King Corbin , Mustafa Ali and Shorty G. Riddle, Keith Lee, WALTER and Tommaso Ciampa . He won that match.

After a long break due to the corona pandemic, he returned on August 23, 2020. On August 30, 2020, he won the Universal Championship in a Triple Threat No Holds Barred Match. For this he defeated Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman.

Titles and awards

Roman Reigns as WWE United States Champion in 2016

Wrestling

  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    • Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2018)
    • Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2016)
    • Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2015)
    • Tag Team of the Year (2013 with Seth Rollins )
    • Number 1 of the top 500 wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
    • Number 14 of the top 500 wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2020

American football

  • National Collegiate Athletic Association
    • First-Team All-ACC (2006)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Former WWE star Matt Rosey Anoai passes away. In: pwinsider.com. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Roman Reigns daughter on sportskeeda.com (English)
  3. ↑ Roman Reigns: Why WWE pulled him from tour last year on sportskeeda.com (English)
  4. ↑ a b WWE: Roman Reigns reveals cancer diagnosis on sport1.de
  5. ↑ WWE: Roman Reigns back after leukemia - now Shield reunion? In: sport1.de. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Anoai's biography at Georgia Tech at ramblinwreck.com (English)
  7. ↑ Report in the Calgary Herald of May 27, 2013 ( Memento of June 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Results of the Survivor Series 2012 on wwe.com
  9. ↑ Official profile on wwe.com
  10. ↑ Emergency OP: Update on the condition of Roman Anoaʻi. In: power-wrestling.de. Retrieved October 13, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Sean Rueter: Ambrose did it! June 19, 2016, accessed March 4, 2019 .
  12. ^ WWE's novel Reigns suspended for wellness violation. June 21, 2016, accessed March 4, 2019 .
  13. ↑ WWE "Clash of Champions 2016" PPV report and results from Indianapolis, Indiana. In: Wrestling-infos.de. Retrieved September 26, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Sport1.de: WWE after Greatest Royal Rumble in the Brock-Lesnar trap. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Sport1.de: WWE Hell in a Cell 2018: Chaos comeback at Reigns vs. Strowman. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Sport1.de: WWE: Roman Reigns back after leukemia - now Shield Reunion? Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Sport1.de: WWE: Dean Ambrose leaves the league - Hideo Itami leaves too. Retrieved March 6, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Erik Beaston: What's Next for The Shield, Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte and More WWE Raw Fallout. Retrieved March 6, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Roman Reigns  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Roman Reign's profile on wwe.com
personal data
SURNAME Reigns, Roman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Anoaʻi, Leati Joseph (real name); Anoaʻi, Leati Joe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1985
PLACE OF BIRTH Pensacola , Florida , United States