WWE official Adam Pearce spoke about the backstage relationship with The Tribal Chief on the blue brand.
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WWE official Adam Pearce opened up on his backstage relationship with former World Champion Roman Reigns. Pearce alleged that the prolific fighter has not maintained a friendly relationship with him. Pearce says Reigns refuses to look him in the eye. He also believes that he will take on his former The Shield teammates Seth Rollins in SmackDown. Reigns had made his debut in 2012 as a part of The Shield alongside Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. The trio, however, had a fallout after they started working for Triple H and The Authority as Rollins took on The Shield on RAW.
“Over the last year, Roman & I haven’t exactly been friendly, so to speak. He said it when he refused to look at me, we can talk about that. But he said he didn’t care who the challenger was unless it was me. Roman is going to have his hands full with Seth. I think it’s something he didn’t see coming. I went in there to give him the professional courtesy of letting him know so he could wrap his head around it before he saw Seth. He didn’t want that courtesy. I’m sure I’ll deal with that on SmackDown,” Adam Pearce said on the latest episode of The Bump.
Following the fallout, Reigns continued to team-up with Ambrose. But, he started embarking as a singles contender and challenged for the world title. Reigns and Rollins were earlier supposed to clash in 2014. But the former developed a hernia which had to be addressed and he was unable to compete at the event. He was also awarded the Slammy Award for the Superstar of the Year in 2014.
Reigns has seen significant growth at the company since then. He also completed 500 days as WWE Universal Champion after defeating Braun Strowman and The Fiend at WWE Payback in 2020.
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“For me, I just had to make a choice for my family. The company (WWE) has done everything that they can to make it the safest work environment possible. It is not the workplace that I was necessarily concerned about. The decision was taken mainly because each performer travels so much, and we are all such a diverse group and from all over the place. I’m not convinced, and I can’t trust the fact that everybody is taking it as seriously and locking themselves down at home like I am. I trust my life with my co-workers every time I step foot in the ring, but I just can’t put the same trust when it has my children, my wife, and my family involved,” he had told Hindustan Times.
“The WWE Universe should be spending today ACKNOWLEDGING the fact that WWERomanReigns is only the second being in history (other than BrockLesnar) to hold the WWE Championship for 500 consecutive days,” Paul Heyman congratulated him in a tweet.
He will be looking to defend his title at the Royal Rumble against Rollins.
