Roman Reigns has high praise for Paul Heyman.
"The Big Dog" Roman Reigns is slated to have his fourth one-on-one bout with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam on August 19th for the WWE Universal Championship. Roman attempted to best Brock at WrestleMania 31 but Seth Rollins cashed-in during that match which put Roman's championship aspirations on hold for a moment. Brock Lesnar pinned Roman Reigns in the WWE Universal Championship Fatal 4-Way main event of last year's SummerSlam PPV. Lesnar defeated Reigns at WrestleMania 34 this past April and Reigns fell short to "The Beast" once again at the 'Greatest Royal Rumble' PPV.
A man who has witnessed all of Roman's shortcomings in the ring with Brock Lesnar is Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman. Although on WWE TV all three men have been at odds with one another, Roman Reigns does have respect for Paul Heyman when they are not telling their story on television and during an interview with 'Newsweek', Reigns stated that Paul is definitely a guy whose brain should be picked by those around him.
"It’s really cool. To be honest, me and Paul almost talk more about family stuff and that relates into wrestling with my lineage. But his connection to my family is crazy. There’s a lot of times where he will show me pictures, he will print them out sometimes or he’ll have them on his phone and he’ll show me old pictures that he has from back in the day riding with family of mine." Reigns shared. "His knowledge, he has a wealth of it. I don’t hire the people here or know how all that works as for who stays around and who doesn’t, but if we only have Paul for x amount of time or if he’s not here every single Monday, on the Monday he is here you should pick his brain. He has some really cool twists on everything. He’s very smart and he doesn’t look at things through one perspective." Reigns continued, "There’s so many different rules in this business. He’s come all the way from being a young boy posting towns to being one of the most creative minds that has ever stepped foot in the ring in this business. It’s great to work around and with him."
During this interview Reigns was asked for his thoughts about Brock Lesnar and Reigns added that Lesnar does not get enough credit for the work he puts in--in the ring and outside of it. The former 3-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion also stated that it is "neat" to see how Brock can go back and forth between the WWE and UFC and still have control over his careers.
"He doesn’t get credit. He did years ago, but for his age, to be in the back of his athletic career it's very impressive to see the shape he maintains, the explosive power that he holds, that takes a lot. You see guys like Cena posting workout videos all the time and that’s what you have to do to stay at that elite level, and Brock still has that." Reigns stated. "He’s a smart businessman in what he does and he’s turned 'Brock Lesnar' into a complete character now in the past month or so. It’s pretty neat to see how he can pinball between UFC and WWE and still have that power. It’s insane."
Two weeks ago on RAW, Paul Heyman felt the wrath of his client first-hand which led to a teary-eyed Heyman speaking about his client heading into the Universal Title defense at SummerSlam. Our crew discussed Heyman's beloved promo during the Fightful post-RAW podcast and to hear their thoughts on it, click here.
