Roman Reigns Steps Out Of Character, Delivers High Praise To John Cena

In an interview with members of the international media earlier in the week, Roman Reigns spoke very highly of John Cena following their recent match at the WWE No Mercy pay-per-view, which ended in a victory for Reigns. Despite all the heavy hitting that took place in their promo duels leading up to the match, some of which appeared to go off script and get personal, Reigns still praised John Cena and spoke about how happy he was to be working with the man who has arguably been the face of the company for the better part of the last 15 years.

There is no doubt Cena taught Reigns a little something about how to wrestle at an elite level. Now, the self-proclaimed “Big Dog” is incredibly thankful for Cena’s long-standing contributions to the pro wrestling business and the help he gave to Reigns to have a match he can be proud of.

“It was a huge honor. You don’t really get to face people like John Cena often. He’s definitely a rare breed, we had a lot of heavy things to say to each other building into the match, but I think at the end of the day we both came out of it with a lot of respect for each other, not only for what we do in the ring, but what we do for the company and all the various responsibilities that come with this role.”

Reigns said he was extremely proud to have been able to defeat a man of Cena’s stature cleanly in the middle of the ring.

“I’m proud to say that I was able to beat an athlete and a competitor, a superstar and a role model like John Cena, especially in hindsight, someone who has been on top of the mountain for 15 years. I don’t think anybody else is going to have a career like John Cena, to be able to hold the fort down for 15 years, it seems superhuman. I’m just really glad I was able to display my skill and my talent in the ring and we had a really great match and I’m very proud of it.”

Reigns also called the feud with Cena one of his biggest challenges yet. When asked about those intense, and sometimes uncomfortable, verbal exchanges he had with Cena in the build-up to No Mercy, Reigns spoke about how much he learned about himself. Reigns was also proud of the fact that working with John Cena allowed him to do different things. While many will continue to argue that Roman Reigns’ promo skills are still below average, and Reigns, himself, even acknowledged how his strength was in the ring and not in promos but he gave Cena credit for being able to bring out a new side in Reigns’ own promo abilities. Reigns complimented John on his ability to make him step up his game to another level and light a fire in him.

“I haven’t had these barn burner promos that everybody talks about the next day. But, I know inside that I’m able to step up. I know what I have ability wise and talent wise and I think that’s all that John was trying to do, he wanted to bring out the best in me and I think he did that and I’m very grateful for that. I think that’s my job, that’s the most important thing about being the top guy, that you lift everybody up, that you bring everybody up to that standard. It can’t be the other way around because if that’s the case, then the whole structure is off. I think he did a great job of lighting a fire under me and I think I did a great job of stepping up to the occasion and we made great TV for it.”

Reigns will be involved in many more high-profile feuds and matches throughout the rest of his time as an active wrestler. Whether people love the new face of WWE or not, the fact is, “The Big Dog” deserves some respect. Every time he steps in the ring, it seems like he’s making progress and it was very big of him to thank John Cena for a lot of his recent improvement. Their rivalry was pretty impressive and resulted in a match that brought contentment for the entire WWE universe.

[Featured Image by WWE]