Roman Reigns addresses monumental reason for WrestleMania 40 loss to Cody Rhodes: "A lesson to myself"
Roman Reigns' historic title reign was ended at WrestleMania 40 by Cody Rhodes. Several months later, he addressed the big reason behind his loss.
Roman Reigns started his main roster run in WWE alongside Dean Ambrose (now known as Jon Moxley) and Seth Rollins as The Shield. Together, the three formed one of the most dominant factions in WWE history as they ran through the entire roster. They even feuded with Evolution and won.
However, on the June 2, 2014 episode of RAW, Rollins shocked the world when he betrayed his stablemates and attacked them with a steel chair, marking the end of The Shield. Over the years, the group reunited again, but things weren't the same. After Ambrose left the WWE, Rollins and Reigns went their respective paths. However, the wounds of The Shield's betrayal remain fresh in Roman's mind.
At WrestleMania 40, Roman Reigns defended his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Cody Rhodes. Toward the end of the match, The Visionary came out to the ring in his Shield attire but was stopped by the Tribal Chief. Reigns then had the chance to finish the match, but he attacked Rollins with the steel chair. This momentary lapse in judgment allowed Cody to pick up the win.
Since the incident, many fans believed that this was a callback to The Shield's betrayal. During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Roman Reigns addressed the chair shot and said he won't ever miss the chance to pull the trigger on Rollins.
"Anytime I have a chance to f**k him up, I'm gonna take it.....That's how I feel about him. Anytime I have the chance to pull the trigger on him, I'm going to. He's a constant reminder and a lesson to myself on who to trust and how to trust them and if you can't how to keep them and that's where I like to keep him a chair's length away." [17:18 - 17:45]
Roman Reigns on CM Punk joining his WarGames team at Survivor Series
The two Bloodline factions have been at war with each other and will look to settle their differences in a WarGames match at Survivor Series. Both groups were looking for a fifth member to join their respective teams. While Bronson Reed joined the new Bloodline, the OG group struggled to find someone to join them until SmackDown last week when Paul Heyman returned and announced that CM Punk would be the final member of Roman's team.
During the same interview, Roman Reigns said he felt grateful about sharing the ring with his family members. He also called Paul Heyman his chosen family but wondered how Punk managed to suddenly join their team.
"I'm very blessed and very fortunate and grateful to be able to share the ring and have all our family in there together. It's pretty neat, and then you know to add some of the personalities that we have added. CM Punk, Sami Zayn, even Paul. These are outside figures who are working in some way closer than others. I look at Paul like chosen family. Sami's one of those guys that just slowly but surely endeared himself in. And then Punk is like this crazy... how did this even happen? Who are you here with? What I mean, like, checking the guest list... hold on, how did you get in here?'" [3:13-4:00]
It will be interesting to see if Roman Reigns and CM Punk can coexist at Survivor Series: WarGames.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Sports Illustrated and give an H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription.
