As a former defensive tackle in football and part of the Samoan Dynasty, Reigns had an athletic and wrestling background that hinted at him becoming a stat in WWE.
Speaking to Pat McAfee on the Pat McAfee Show, Reigns recalled the moment he decided he wanted to become a wrestler.
"When I was in football, that's all I wanted to do. My family is so big in sports entertainment that, I didn't want that to be my identity. I wanted to be able to create my own path and then everything played out the way it was. When I made the decision hang up the cleats and pick up the boots...I told one of the Usos, we were at the bar one night, and this is when I was working for my sister and selling office furniture, we were smashing beers and he was in FCW, back for the holidays, I told him, 'I think I want to wrestle.' Under his breath, he laughed, and was like, 'What do you have to bring to the table? What's so special about you to where you think you can do this?' I never really trained, I've been around the business and watched it growing up just like him and his brother. It was a very on-point statement from him because he was going through the grind and development. He was in the fire. From that moment on, I don't know how to put my thumb on it, but I got 'it' and I was starting to shed that football weight and I started to see the old me coming back. When I got to Tech or, even football in general, if I wasn't starting, I would sit in the back and watch guys in walkthroughs. I would see how they play the technique and how to counter or what the game plan was and I'd study it. I knew I could make myself do what was happening and what needed to be done, and also put my own spin on it. That's exactly what I did in WWE," he said.
Reigns signed with FCW in 2010 and came up to the WWE main roster in 2012 alongside Seth Rollins and Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose in WWE) as part of The Shield.
Reigns is now the Head of the Table in WWE as the reigning Universal Champion. He is set to defend the title against John Cen at SummerSlam. You can view the current lineup for SummerSlam by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
