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Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns appeared last night on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote tonight's WWE Royal Rumble 2023.
Reigns came out and Fallon noted that the last time he was on was around Wrestlemania 38 and Fallon predicted that the next time Reigns would be on, he'd have two title belts. Reigns revealed he had two titles. Fallon said it was so cool to have multiple titles.
Reigns was asked if he ever thought he'd be as successful in pro wrestling when he was dreaming of it as a kid. Reigns said that he always had "great faith and confidence" that he was going to do something but you never know how far that something is going to go and he didn't know what it was going to be. When he was younger, he expected he was going to be a football player and wanted to go to the Superbowl and say he's going to Disneyland but instead he gets to do the same thing at Wrestlemania, as Double Champ.
Fallon plugged the Royal Rumble and how it kicks off the Road to Wrestlemania. Reigns has been asked about the rumors of facing The Rock. Roman said that those rumors have been ongoing for the last couple of years but he believes Rock just came out with a statement that he's not going to be ready in time. Fallon made a face as if to say that sounded off. Reigns said that's the same face everyone makes because they know Rock trains every single day. Reigns, in Rock's defense, said it's one thing to train with weights and to look the part, but to get in the ring and do a main event, championship match takes a lot of conditioning and "beats up your body" and it's a different type of training. Reigns said it's a professional athletes 24/7 level of conditioning and if Rock does two out of the three things perfectly, even if his nutrition and conditioning is on point, he still has to condition himself and be ready to fall down.
Fallon joked, "Especially if you are going against Roman Reigns."
Roman responded, "That's number one Dwayne, if you are going up against Roman Reigns, you better get ready to fall down!"
Fallon asked who was in the mix right now. Roman said that it's a beautiful thing since there are so many in the mix right now, naming Sami Zayn. He said they as part of the Bloodline have made some beautiful TV the last six months. He then named Cody Rhodes as coming back from injury after being "super white hot" and pointed out the pectoral muscle hair being torn "in half" with excessive bruising in the Hell in A Cell match, noting that a fourth of Rhodes' body is bruised and he then went out and "puts on a 40 minute performance and completely wins over the fan base." He said Rhodes would be back really soon.
Fallon said that they were talking backstage about what Fallon's finisher would be if he was in WWE. Reigns said you have to have passion. You can't just slam someone and sit there stoically. You have to show energy and "fire up" and be able to "lose it." He said the default energy line now is "Let's Go" but he thinks Fallon could come up with something better. Fallon joked his catchphrase could be "Wake up" since he has viewers fighting not to fall asleep. Fallon practiced the catchphrase as if he was wrestler.
They talked The Royal Rumble and the Kevin Owens match. Reigns sort of laughed at Owens, playing into character for the first time in the interview. He said his strategy was to "not change anything" as he's been beating up Kevin Owens for years now. He said he will give Owens his due for being a tough, study guy who's a little crazy, but Roman has faced him a few times and remained successful. He said he feels he's genetically coded to beat Kevin Owens every time.
A very good segment with Reigns, for the most part, stepping out of character to have a fun, informative conversation about the business from the entertainment standpoint and what it takes to perform while talking about The Rock.
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