Roman Reigns Opens up About His Backstage Relationship with John Cena

In the build to No Mercy, John Cena and Roman Reigns spent the last month trying to verbally eviscerate one another. In the end, Cena won the insult war with sharper, more personal barbs. With Cena not hesitating to air our Reigns’ dirty laundry, does the Big Dog have a real-life problem with the 16-time WWE Champion?

Reigns joined CBS Sports’ podcast In This Corner and spoke candidly about him and Cena’s off-screen relationship.

“I’ll be completely honest: Me and John have always been cordial, but I would not say we are close friends by any means. There is a business respect, but I think that’s what makes this so special that we’re truly competing against each other and I think people see that,” said Reigns.

Cena infamously brought up Reigns’ suspension for violating WWE’s Wellness Policy among other meta insults. Was Roman upset by Cena’s personal missiles?

“But it’s not like a situation where I’m taking anything he says to heart because I don’t really care what he thinks about me. If you care for someone and they knife you, it’s going to hurt,” he explained. “It will hurt your feelings and can depress you. But when you don’t really care about somebody or their opinion, it doesn’t affect you. And that’s how it is with me and John.”

Reigns’ apathy is probably the best tactic as it lends itself to him playing cool on live TV. Reigns enduring Cena’s assault has had some positive effects. In just a short amount of time, Reigns feels like his microphone skills have gotten considerably better.

“It was nice to be able to change gears and get better at something. I think I’ve definitely gotten better on the stick working with John. I have to give him credit for that. Like he said in one of his opening promos, you either step up or you step aside.”

Like many wrestlers, Reigns’ Achilles heel was the ability to cut a convincing promo. While there have been several times that Reigns has looked shaky in the face of John Cena’s wall of trash talk, The Big Dog ended up holding his ground well. His last promo, in particular, showed a comfortable and confident Reigns that was bound to make Vince Mcmahon’s loins tickle.

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