Add as a preferred source on Google Roman Reigns has put together one of the most successful careers in recent WWE history, but pro wrestling was never his first choice as a profession.
During an appearance on Nightcap, live from Fanatics Fest in New York City, the current World Heavyweight Champion revealed that he viewed wrestling only as a backup plan while trying to keep his dream of playing professional football alive.
Before arriving in WWE, Reigns was a defensive tackle at Georgia Tech and earned First-Team All-ACC honors in 2006. After going undrafted in the 2007 NFL Draft, he signed with the Minnesota Vikings, but was diagnosed with leukemia during his physical and was released.
“I wanted to either play football, or wrestling was a true back up though. It was tough because my whole life was surrounded by it. Even when I was doing good in football, it would end up being like ‘So your dad wrestled.’ And it was like ‘Yeah he did, and so did all my other family members, but let’s talk about football.’ I just wanted to get outside of the shadow of wrestling and it ended up coming back ten fold.
But I was able to build my career up to what it is now and kind of create my own path and also represent my legacy. But it was always either football or wrestling the whole time.
But there was a long time where it was like this football thing has to work out. I needed it, I loved it, it was everything to me. And the game, it kind of quit me due to circumstances with my health and everything. So it was a really abrupt and out of nowhere closing of that chapter and I wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t know how to handle it.
I was still 22 years old, I was being diagnosed leukaemia at the time, my oldest was being born shortly thereafter. So my whole world got flipped upside down, and for me to kind of land on my feet is a blessing from God.”
Reigns also had a brief stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars and played five games for the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos in 2008 before walking away from football for good.
His oldest daughter was born in December 2007. Now a father of five, Reigns turned wrestling, which started as a backup plan, into the career that took him to the top of WWE.
The leukemia returned in 2018, forcing him to relinquish the Universal Championship and step away from the ring. Reigns came back in February 2019 after announcing the disease was once again in remission.