Roman Reigns admitted that he wishes he had rejected some of WWE’s creative decisions early in his career.
Speaking on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay, Reigns explained that he was still establishing himself among the company’s top stars at the time and did not have the leverage to challenge certain ideas.
“I probably would’ve said no a few more times early on, but I just didn’t have the equity within the company. […] I was still proving myself. I was still earning that equity.”
As an example, Reigns pointed to the infamous Suffering Succotash promo he cut during a segment with Seth Rollins on the Jan. 9, 2015, episode of SmackDown. He lamented that the phrase still follows him, despite everything he has done in the years since.
“I’ve delivered unbelievable work since then. But still, I’ll be tied to that.”
In July, Rollins brought the phrase back up during a SummerSlam Countdown interview, using it to criticize the way WWE protected Reigns early in his career. Rollins said that even when Reigns cut bad promos, the company kept handing him major opportunities.
Reigns also said his regrets are not limited to promos, acknowledging that he would change some decisions involving segments and even match results.
“There wasn’t that many, but there’s probably two or three promos or scenarios, segments, or finishes of a match or something like that, that I would probably go back and develop the balls to be like, ‘Nah. Not today, brother.’”
In 2022, Reigns spoke about how hard it was to push back on scripts, saying Vince McMahon required him to use certain lines even when he disagreed with them.
That changed as Reigns gained more influence behind the scenes at WWE.