Before Roman Reigns ruled the world of wrestling, he played college football at Georgia Tech and spent time at NFL training camps while also playing a season in the CFL.
Reigns' battle with leukemia became public when he relinquished the WWE Universal Championship in October 2018, but the initial diagnosis came in 2007 when he was still active as a football player.
Appearing on the Michael Kay Show, Roman was asked if he would have pursued wrestling if he didn't have to step away from football.
"Ah nah, I would have been twelve years into the league and been retired [laughs]. I really believe I would have been successful in football. I was a pretty good football player who had a lot to work on and a lot of room to get better. To me, that was a really big upside that I was already pretty good, but in my mind, there was so many different facets of the game that I could shrink and get better at and gain that experience and just learn, in whatever we're doing, we learn these little life hacks that make things easier. We get smarter and work that way as opposed to working harder and doing things that we don't have to do," he said.
Reigns was teammates at Georgia Tech with Calvin Johnson and the two have shown plenty of respect for each other over the years.
Reigns said he doesn't get jealous that Johnson has wrapped up his career as one of the highest paid wide receivers in NFL history.
"We all have our own journey and our own story. he did it his way and made a bunch of money and sitting on that nest egg and having a good time doing the things he's passionate about. I'm sitting on a big stack myself, a pretty nice nest egg, we don't do it for free. We're getting paid as well. I'm enjoying this journey and enjoying this ride and enjoying being active. I'm going to be 37 soon and to still feel like I'm still scratching the surface, I haven't even showcased my final form yet. For me, it's very exciting," he said.
Reigns is set to be part of Friday's WWE SmackDown after nearly being decapitated by Brock Lesnar last Friday.
Fightful will have live coverage of WWE SmackDown beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Friday.
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