After spending nearly two years in developmental, Roman Reigns made his WWE main roster debut, alongside Seth Rollins and Jon Moxley (fka Dean Ambrose), as a member of The Shield. While Reigns and Rollins are still active in the Stamford-based company, Moxley left to join AEW in 2019 after becoming a Grand Slam and Triple Crown champion in Vince McMahon's promotion.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani on BT Sport in August 2021, The Tribal Chief took a shot at Moxley. Reigns stated that the current AEW star failed to become "the man" in WWE because he occupied that spot.
"Dean obviously is doing what Dean's doing, you know. And I think he's happy over there at AEW. But if we wanna be, if he could've been the man here, he would've been the man here. He couldn't be the man because I'm the man here," he said. [18:52 - 19:06]
Since leaving the Stamford-based company, Moxley has had significant success in AEW. The 37-year-old is now a multi-time AEW World Champion.
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Roman Reigns addressed his real-life heat with a former WWE Champion. Check out his comments here.
Roman Reigns will face Cody Rhodes at WWE WrestleMania 39
Earlier this year, Cody Rhodes returned to in-ring action after several months of absence to win the 2023 Men's Royal Rumble match and punch his ticket to the main event of WrestleMania 39. The American Nightmare will now square off against Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at this year's Show of Shows.
In a recent interview with Out of Character, Rhodes explained why he could be the one to dethrone The Tribal Chief.
"At some point somebody's gonna ask me why it's me to do the impossible, if I was able to do the impossible. And really honestly, how I look at everything in terms of my thing as a wrestler, my calling card as a wrestler, is I take things that people say cannot be done and I do them. And if you have any doubt about that, take a look at where I've been for the last, what is it now, been seven years," he said.
Cody Rhodes revealed why he is jealous of Roman Reigns. Check out his comments here.