Roman Reigns comments on the departure of Vince McMahon, Paul Levesque’s performance since taking over as the head of WWE creative

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

Roman Reigns appeared on the SI Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina and addressed Vince McMahon’s departure from WWE. “It was just hard to believe,” Reigns said. “I think, along with anyone who’s followed this business or been in this business, I thought, when I’m gonna be long gone, I’ll be 20 years retired and Vince will still be running the show. I think [my reaction] was just kind of ‘Ah, we’ll see. We’ll see him in six months.’ That was the mindset that I initially took. Then I received the talent relations text message. And then obviously a personal message from him. We talked a little bit.”

Reigns also commented on the job that Paul “Triple H” Levesque has done since taking over WWE creative. “I think he’s done excellent,” said Reigns. “He’s like a professional wrestling babyface right now. He’s a babyface for the industry right now. There’s a honeymoon situation. There’s a lot of excitement. If you look at the grand scheme of it and just break it down what he’s stepped into just dealing with this controversy alone.

“Dealing with the craziness of: the impossible happened. Vince McMahon stepped down. Just wrapping your brain around that and then being the guy to be next. I thought following [John] Cena was tough enough. Imagine following Vince McMahon. I think he’s done great. I really do.” Listen to the podcast and read more quotes at SI.com.

Powell’s POV: Reigns also addressed the possibility of facing The Rock at WrestleMania. He mentioned the tease for the match on Young Rock and added, “I would say just based off of that alone it looks better than the last time we spoke.” It would obviously be a huge coup if WWE can get Rock to commit for the match with Reigns at WrestleMania 39.