Roman Reigns was a football star before he became a wrestler.
While he will wrestle stars like The Rock, Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins this weekend at WrestleMania, football was his first dream. The Tribal Chief was signed to teams like the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars, but struggled to make football his full-time career.
In an interview with ESPN, the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion spoke about how his love for football began. He revealed that seeing a football helmet for the first time sucked him in, then playing football with his childhood friend Henry solidified his new love.
“It looked like a Philadelphia Eagles helmet. We were the Myrtle Grove Eagles. It was like a movie where it had a halo shining behind it. I was like, ‘Oh, what’s that?'”
“And Henry saw me staring, he goes, ‘Hey, I’m playing football this year. Let’s go outside.’ He put it on and just ran right into the house. He’s like, ‘See? I’m all right!’ And that’s how I knew. It wasn’t even about football. It’s just, ‘I gotta get one of these helmets. I’m not even sure what this football thing is all about. But this helmet is the coolest thing ever.'”
Roman Reigns Always Knew He Would Be A Superstar
Roman Reigns continued. He spoke about how he always knew he would become a superstar. However, he didn’t know whether that would be in football, or in wrestling.
“I wanted to have an impact on young men. I wanted to be the way Emmitt Smith and Michael Jordan and Joe Montana and the stars of when I was a child. The way they made me feel. I wanted to make other young athletes feel that way.
“But no matter what, it was either you’re going to be a wrestler, or you’re going to be a football player. A superstar of some sort.”
