Here is a collection of WWE stars and legends who have praised Roman Reigns and defended him against fan criticism.
12) AJ Styles
AJ Styles has been in the ring with the very best professional wrestlers in the world. Styles and Roman Reigns locked up in two straight WWE PPV main events in early 2o16. They wrestled at both Payback and Extreme Rules for the WWE World Championship. He has defended Roman Reigns on numerous occasions.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Styles was asked if Roman Reigns was underrated in the ring.
Here is what AJ said:
“Absolutely. I think he’s a better athlete than a lot of people realize. He should get a lot more credit for his athleticism. He’s unbelievable, he can do a lot of stuff. I think he’s been able to showcase that with me. We’re doing something right” (Source: Rolling Stone).
Styles continued, saying fans haven’t given Roman a chance and have mostly booed him because it is the hip thing to do:
“I don’t think people gave Roman a chance; in fact. I think a lot of fans jumped on the bandwagon when someone started booing, instead of taking the chance to see what he could do in the ring” (Source: Rolling Stone).
Some high praise from one of the best wrestlers on the planet.
11) Ric Flair
One of Roman Reigns’ biggest supporters so far in his career has been the ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair. Flair sees a lot of money in Reigns and has consistently defended him while the fans have been against him.
On an appearance on Talk is Jericho, Flair went on to say that fans couldn’t boo Reigns anymore after his performance at Payback (in his match against AJ Styles).
Here is what he said:
“I think they struggled with him at first, but with Roman, they’ve got the best of both worlds. They’ve got a guy that one day can wrestle Seth Rollins and be the hottest bad guy in the [professional wrestling] business, which that match will be huge when they have it or he can go out and wrestle Hunter and whatever, right? He’s good! Yes, which is a good thing” (Source: Talk is Jericho).
He continued:
“Look at the match him and AJ [Styles] had. Holy cow! What a match. Start, restart, start, restart. And you know, AJ flies around. [Jericho] should know. He works [Jericho’s] style of work, but Roman hung right there with him for 30 minutes. Roman [has] got legs. It makes him a better performer. You can’t [boo him] anymore. But he just had to work hard to win them over” (Source: Talk is Jericho).
Safe to say Flair is on Team Reigns.
10) Mick Foley
After Roman Reigns and AJ Styles put on their second great match at Extreme Rules, Mick Foley was convinced of Reigns’ abilities. He posted on Facebook that Reigns had proved that he is the man. Going a step further, he argued with fans who disagreed with him.
Here is what he posted on Facebook
“Roman Reigns is the man. There, I said it. I’m sure I will get heat for saying it too. But the guy has found his groove. He’s having great matches, and it is not an exaggeration to label his series of matches with AJ Styles as epic. The same mannerisms that drove me crazy when he was being forced upon fans as the good guy – the crooked smile, the dismissive laugh – are incredibly effective heat-getters when facing someone like Styles – and as I’ve long maintained, he is as believable an ass-kicker as I’ve seen when angered” (Source: Mick Foley Facebook).
After some backlash from fans on the post, Foley responded:
“I see many of the criticisms and I will simply counter with this: a great wrestler has great matches. Reigns has consistently been involved in great matches since he joined the main roster. You can try to explain away those great matches by saying he was with great partners and great opponents, but the one constant in them is Reigns. There have just been far too many over far too great a period of time for theses matches to have been flukes. Yes, he was forced on fans. It resulted in a firestorm of heat. He withstood it, and now is using that to his advantage” (Source: Mick Foley Facebook).
Some high praise from Foley.
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