On April 30, Roman Reigns debuted his new theme ahead of his bout against Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson in AEW), officially moving away from The Shield theme.
Fans had been clamoring for Reigns to switch up his theme since he debuted his new persona at WWE SummerSlam 2020.
Speaking to Graham Matthews of Bleacher Report about his new theme, Reigns said, "A lot of it was just trying to create that iconic feel to where immediately you know, 'Oh, he's here. He's coming out.' That's where we went with the two different beats, the two different melodies: to have that 20-, 25-second opening that's preparing them. I wanted it to transition from there into something more I could vibe to. The old Shield Roman Reigns theme was cool, and it grew on me. And if you do something over and over for a long time, you figure out how to vibe to it, but this is a track that makes my head nod, and you'll see it and my cousins are doing the same thing in the back. It gives you that ultimate swag when you're walking out. And especially for an entrance, that's the most important thing: people seeing and feeling that swagger and energy and confidence coming off of you."
When asked why the new theme didn't debut at WrestleMania 37, Reigns said, "It wasn't ready. Me and the big man weren't agreeing on a couple of things, so I was like, 'Screw it, I'm not going out to it now.' I have to feel it because nobody outside of my cousins and Paul is walking out to that. To me, these are the types of things I have to 100 percent be connected to, and that's why our audience can trust me and the presentation and the character and everything I'm doing.
"If it doesn't feel right, I'm not going to do that s--t," he added. "It's got to be on point with how I feel, and I have to be able to commit and connect to it. Otherwise it's going to be see-through. I'm not the type that can memorize and recite. I have to feel. I have to have instincts. And for me to be able to do that, I have to be comfortable and committed and believe in what's presented to me so I can present it to our audience."
Along with a new theme, Reigns switched up his look to fit his Tribal Chief persona, proving he didn't have to wear the vest by ditching it and turning his glove from black to gold.
When asked if his gold glove pays tribute to Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet from the Marvel Avengers movies, Reigns replied, "It's more of a coincidence. I'm not going to say, 'I've never watched The Avengers.' No, I've seen all the movies, but honestly, I didn't relate it to that. I just needed a change, and to me, the gold... it's always been black, maybe a little bit of gray or blue. I've said it before: Everything I touch turns into gold, and that was the mindset I wanted to have. That power, the design of all of it and the underlying theme of what we're trying to do is display power at its maximum in every regard."
Reigns is set to defend the WWE Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar at WWE Crown Jewel.
Lesnar will be part of SmackDown on Friday. Fightful will have live coverage of WWE SmackDown beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Friday.
