Semi-retired former WWE Champion reveals long-standing relationship with Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns transcended professional wrestling to a wider audience through his work in WWE. However, things were not always going great for the man behind the character, Joe Anoa'i.

For years, Vince McMahon and his band of creatives tried to push Roman strongly, only for fans to reject him. Reigns played college football, where he met Ettore Ewen, better known by the latter's ring name, Big E. Joe Anoa'i was a defensive tackle for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, while Ettore was a defensive lineman for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

In a recent appearance for IGN, Big E revealed he and Roman have a 14-year friendship. He reminisced about their time working out at John Cena's gym together before Reigns became The Tribal Chief of WWE.

"I've known Roman [Reigns] for 14 years now. I remember him—when he played football for Georgia Tech, we were—I was a defensive tackle, he was a defensive tackle, so, he's someone I was aware of from college," Big E said. "There's a video of me benching 575 at [John] Cena's gym that was used [for a] promo package, and it's Roman spotting me."

Big E and Roman Reigns were also together during their developmental days in WWE, training daily and working shows on the weekends.

"Especially when you first come up in WWE and FCW, there are probably about 40 of us training together at the warehouse. So we're together every single day. We're doing shows on the weekends, we're training together. I've known Roman pretty well," the former WWE Champion concluded. [From 3:37 to 4:16]

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Big E and Roman Reigns headlined WWE Survivor Series

In 2021, Big E and Roman Reigns were the world champions of their respective brands. They locked horns at Survivor Series in a Champion vs. Champion match, in which The Tribal Chief emerged as the victor.

A month later, Big E lost the WWE Title to Brock Lesnar. Unfortunately for the former New Day star, his in-ring career was deeply affected in March 2022 after a freak accident. Since then, he has only appeared in non-wrestling capacities due to a cervical fracture.

At the time of this writing, there is no word on whether Big E will ever step foot inside the squared circle for a match again. He is not cleared to wrestle.

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