Leati Joseph Anoa\u02bbi\u00a0(Samoan pronunciation:\u00a0ah-no-AH\u00a0ee; born May 25, 1985), better known by his\u00a0ring name\u00a0Roman Reigns, is an American\u00a0professional wrestler\u00a0and former\u00a0football\u00a0player. He is signed to\u00a0WWE, where he performs on the\u00a0SmackDown\u00a0brand. Regarded as one of the best professional wrestlers in the world,\u00a0Reigns’ 1,316-day reign with the\u00a0WWE Universal Championship\u00a0is the fourth-longest\u00a0world title reign in WWE history\u00a0and the longest championship reign since 1988.<\/p>\n
After playing U.S.\u00a0college football\u00a0for\u00a0Georgia Tech, Anoa\u02bbi started a professional football career with brief off-season stints with the\u00a0Minnesota Vikings\u00a0and\u00a0Jacksonville Jaguars\u00a0of the\u00a0National Football League\u00a0(NFL) in 2007. He played a full season for the\u00a0Canadian Football League’s (CFL)\u00a0Edmonton Eskimos\u00a0in 2008 before his release and retirement from football. A member of the\u00a0Anoa\u02bbi wrestling family, Anoa\u02bbi was signed by WWE in 2010 and made his main roster debut under the ring name Roman Reigns in 2012 as a member of\u00a0The Shield\u00a0alongside\u00a0Dean Ambrose\u00a0and\u00a0Seth Rollins. With Rollins, Reigns once held the\u00a0WWE Tag Team Championship. The trio teamed together until disbanding in 2014, after which Reigns entered singles competition.<\/p>\n
From 2014 to 2020, WWE positioned Reigns as a heroic character and attempted to establish him as their next “face of the company”, which was\u00a0met with intense disapproval by audiences and critics.\u00a0During this period, Reigns won the\u00a0WWE Championship\u00a0three times, the WWE Universal Championship once, the\u00a0WWE United States Championship\u00a0and\u00a0WWE Intercontinental Championship\u00a0once each, was named\u00a0Superstar of the Year\u00a0at the\u00a02014 Slammy Awards\u00a0and won the\u00a0Royal Rumble match\u00a0in 2015. After a hiatus, Reigns was repackaged as a villainous character between 2020 and 2024,\u00a0which was generally met with acclaim by audiences and critics. Reigns then held the WWE Championship and Universal Championship simultaneously, being recognised as\u00a0Undisputed WWE Universal Champion; upon losing the Undisputed title at\u00a0WrestleMania XL, the Universal Championship was retired with Reigns recognised as its final champion.<\/p>\n
Reigns has\u00a0headlined\u00a0numerous\u00a0pay-per-view events, including WWE’s flagship event,\u00a0WrestleMania, a record ten times. Reigns holds the joint record for most eliminations in a\u00a0Survivor Series match\u00a0(4) and the previous record for most in a\u00a0Royal Rumble match\u00a0(12). He is also WWE’s\u00a028th Triple Crown Champion and\u00a017th Grand Slam Champion. He was ranked No. 1 in\u00a0Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s annual\u00a0PWI 500\u00a0list of the top 500 singles wrestlers in 2016 and 2022.<\/p>\n
Description above from the Wikipedia article Roman Reigns, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leati Joseph Anoa\u02bbi\u00a0(Samoan pronunciation:\u00a0ah-no-AH\u00a0ee; born May 25, 1985), better known by his\u00a0ring name\u00a0Roman Reigns, is an American\u00a0professional wrestler\u00a0and former\u00a0football\u00a0player. He is signed to\u00a0WWE, where he performs on the\u00a0SmackDown\u00a0brand. Regarded as one of the best professional wrestlers in the world,\u00a0Reigns’ 1,316-day reign with the\u00a0WWE Universal Championship\u00a0is the fourth-longest\u00a0world title reign in WWE history\u00a0and the longest championship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-38251","movie_engine_person","type-movie_engine_person","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n