"People didn’t give a s**t about him" - Roman Reigns' former rival talks about his meteoric WWE rise

Roman Reigns is in Detroit for his title defense at WWE SummerSlam 2023 as he faces Jey Uso in Tribal Combat. Meanwhile, former four-time World Champion Sheamus discussed The Tribal Chief's meteoric rise in the company.

In 2015, Sheamus ended Roman Reigns' dreams of holding the WWE Championship when he cashed the Money in the Bank contract in on The Big Dog after he won the vacant title by defeating Dean Ambrose at Survivor Series. Luckily, Roman Reigns was able to take the title back before the end of the year.

It's been over eight years and both stars have gone down different paths in their WWE careers and faced each other on numerous occasions. Speaking to Daily Mail, the former four-time World Champion spoke about Roman Reigns' meteoric rise during the Pandemic Era. Check it out:

"Yeah, I mean he has a luxury of wrestling five times a year. You know what I mean? That makes a big star... Let’s be honest, before he went away with Covid, people didn’t give a s**t about him. He was the big baby face who was wrestling Goldberg and nobody really cared. I think in the same way it benefited me to come back and wrestle in that empty arena at Thunderdome where people got to see how physical I really can be and allowed me to have that more freedom and settle into my own skin."

The Celtic Warrior also made some comparisons as both did some of their best work during the Pandemic Era.

"Just say: ‘screw it, I’m going to go out there and have fun, do what i’m gonna do.’ In the same sense it benefitted him, because he was at a point where it was forced down people’s throats and he got to go away and come back in this different character." [H/T - Daily Mail]

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Sheamus spoke about the lengthy Roman Reigns and Bloodline segment from WWE SmackDown

Last month, WWE hosted SmackDown from Madison Square Garden, and one of the highlights of the night was the Bloodline segment. However, the angle took half the time on the show, and other segments were cut short.

Speaking in the same interview, Sheamus spoke about how his segment with Austin Theory was changed and how the Bloodline's presence is affecting the storytelling of the entire roster. Check it out:

"With MSG a couple of weeks ago, they went 20 minutes over," Sheamus said. "So me and Theory had two segs which ended up turning into three small segs on the floor, you know? So that's tough as well to go out and do that. It's definitely benefited him a lot and (Paul) Heyman and the story they have to tell, all within that family and stuff. But as I said, there's plenty of other people on the roster that could do with story time as well. I'm not taking anything away from him, I'm just saying." [H/T - Daily Mail]

It will be interesting to see if Sheamus and Roman Reigns face each other in the near future.

What are your thoughts on Sheamus? Sound off in the comment section below.