Roman Reigns is praised by John Cena.
For nearly three full years, Roman Reigns has been in possession of the now-combined Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Come the Night of Champions Premium Live Event on May 27th, Reigns will have hit 1,000 days as champion.
Along the way, one of the names he’s defeated is John Cena. On several occasions, Cena has spoken highly of Reigns and deemed him the ‘greatest of all time’. He reiterated that sentiment during his appearance on Busted Open Radio.
John said he has not seen someone be able to pass energy onto others in the way Reigns has since The Four Horsemen. He added that the difference between Reigns and Ric Flair is that Flair was ‘always there’. Cena said that Reigns has still been able to carry that same aura while being a ‘select event’ talent. Cena dove into his reputation that he’s buried talents and went on to state that he could never get people over in the same way Reigns is able to which is just by being affiliated with him adds to someone else’s persona.
What he’s (Roman Reigns) done with the championship, what he’s done as essentially, a select event performer, he’s redefined how you do it and not only that, the reason why I really rest a lot of accolades on Roman’s shoulders and I’ve told this to him personally so it’s not something I’m talking around him with, his ability to pass energy to more than himself, I haven’t seen since The Four Horsemen. But the difference is between him and Ric (Flair) is Ric was always there and that’s brilliant. I’m an ‘always there’ guy. I like to always be there.
And I love that Roman did it his way. He did it his own way by crafting his own personality. He did it his own way by redefining what it is to be at the tip of the spear. He is there selectively, he has made himself exclusive and in doing so, he’s brought like eight people with him. He’s allowed the whole Bloodline to get over. So with me, if you put me in that conversation, I could only help the person I was working with while I was working with them and the reputation I had in the sauce while I was in it was I buried talent, because I would really invest my wholeheartedness — I sat with Austin Theory for like 10 hours. Invested a day to talk about our why. ‘What’s our story gonna be?’ And I would do that with everyone. I live it. My heart’s on the plate but after they were (done with) me, they didn’t take that energy with them but I gave it to the next guy. So okay, who’s next? It was A.J. (Styles) and now it’s Kevin Owens? Alright, Kevin, come here. We’re gonna sit down for two weeks and just talk about stuff and then we’re gonna go out and try some crazy stuff, see what works and then put our best foot forward. Kevin’s done. Sami (Zayn)? No problem. What Roman does, just being affiliated with his energy, he gets so many people over. That’s something I could never do, ever, period. You’re with me and you got a chance when you’re there, but a lot of times, you went off to do stuff that wasn’t looked at the same way and then the perception of the audience is oh my God, he buried him. Winning and losing doesn’t matter, I haven’t won a match in five years, it doesn’t matter. Roman’s ability to be that good to spread his energy that thin that he makes other talent — and do it exclusive. That’s the difference between Ric. Ric was always the centerpiece. Roman has off days, but he’s still there. His presence is so great. I think that’s never been done. I’ve never seen anything like it.
At the upcoming Night of Champions event, Reigns is going to team with Solo Sikoa to challenge Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit Busted Open Radio with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
