The 16-time world champion had extraordinarily high praise for the current Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
During John Cena’s current stint with WWE, he’s often been billed as the “Greatest Of All Time”, however, the man himself believes that title belongs to Roman Reigns. The pair first went toe-to-toe on the microphone in 2017 in what at the time was seen as the passing of the torch as Cena began to wind down his full-time career.
The Reigns that Cena faced upon his return in 2021 was an entirely different entity, and during a recent appearance on WWE After The Bell, Cena praised his rise to becoming the Tribal Chief, labelling him the “Greatest Of All Time.”
“He’s a sponge, and he’s athletic, super intelligent, and a fan of this, and I mean all of this. Most importantly, a fan of psychology. I say the WWE Universe is the biggest superstar we have. Roman navigated those waters without them. Here’s the thing with Roman, I don’t think Roman is Roman if he doesn’t have a time to work in front of no crowd. The crowd is so against the fact that the company believed in Roman Reigns…I set the precedent of ‘Company guy, see ya.’ Everyone has a tough hill to climb once they become pushed. There is a giant ray behind the curtain, we all know that too. ‘We have to be careful how this happens because we don’t want this to happen.’ That absolutely happened with Roman. It was when the crowd wasn’t there that you’re able to take more chances, that Roman could be himself. There wasn’t anyone to be like, ‘That sucked, that didn’t work,’ because you don’t have the instant feedback. Night after night, it becomes this extremely nuanced soft-spoken character that is not the ‘welcome to SmackDown!’ that they’re used to. As soon as they bring people back in, he had done such a riveting program, that it was, ‘Man, I want to see this guy.’ He has done it better than anybody I have ever seen. He’s the Greatest of All Time, in my opinion,”
-John Cena
Cena continued, highlighting Reigns’ ability to do incredible work despite the lack of crowds during the pandemic, something he believes he wouldn’t have been able to do himself.
“Me watching it, it was very difficult for some performers to work to that crowd, I definitely would have been that person. Roman leaned into everything they gave him and really made it cinematic and so nuanced and so incredible. He got the viewer to (pay attention), without the energy of the audience. I don’t have that tool. I don’t know how I would be able to do that because I’ve never done it. The Firefly Fun House was it. It’s a very interesting environment when you don’t have an audience.”
-John Cena
Reigns and Cena’s last bout came at SummerSlam 2021, with the leader of The Bloodline picking up the victory in dominant fashion.
Cena now finds himself back on WWE television, yet again mixing it up with The Bloodline as he prepares to take on Solo Sikoa during tomorrow night’s Crown Jewel PLE in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
