Roman Reigns Says He Doesn't Worry About Fan Backlash - An Excellent Audio Interview Inside

Birthdate: 05/25/1985 (age 29) Height: 6'3" Weight: 265 Ib A member of the Anoa'i family, a renowned Samoa...

Roman Reigns spoke with Sam Roberts last weekend before the Royal Rumble. Check out the highlights…

On fans criticizing him for being shoved down their throats: “I’m aware of all of these things. You have to look at it through many different perspectives. For me, as a provider and as a man, I have a responsibility to provide. I can’t look at it like and get down on ‘oh, this is what they’re thinking and this is what they’re saying.’ To be honest I really don’t care. I can only do my thing and do the best that I can. The majority of critics, I would say, are people who have no clue what they’re talking about and have never been in a wrestling ring. They’ve never been a public speaker. They wouldn’t even know how to lock up with me if I allowed them to. If I gave them the opportunity to lock up and tangle with me in the ring, they would have no clue what to do so for them to critique or ever say anything about any performer is asinine and just blows my mind.”

On WWE’s booking of him: “It’s one of those situations where obviously the company is gonna do what the company does and the fans are definitely gonna do what they do. That’s what’s so great. The fans have to realize that as opinionated as y’all are in the way you want it, the company is the same way and they’re gonna do what they wanna do…at the end of the day I’m just a guy getting rich.”

On his paying attention to criticism: “I see all of my criticism. I’m in a position now that I get a ton of love which is great and a ton of criticism which is great. As long as I’m in people’s mouths that’s all that matters to me. As long as people are talking about me…The majority of the time…the people that are critiquing and bashing me, they’re making me more relevant, I would think. If you didn’t want me around then just don’t talk about me and try and make it silent out there. That’s not the case [because] they make it even more overwhelming. You know, noise is noise. That’s the thing.”

WWE Doesn't Adapt, So The Shield Is Forced To Perish

On June 2, 2014, I woke up in my Watervliet, New York apartment after having done WWE Payback pay-per-view play-by-play the previous night. I anxiously awaited the evening's RAW broadcast to begin to see where story lines were headed following the Payback show. In particular, I was interested -- especially with Daniel Bryan on the shelf -- to see where things were headed now that The Shield had just gone 2-0 against Evolution. Basically, it was the top program with Bryan and the title on ice, and I was curious with Evolution now in The Shield's rear-view mirror, what direction would WWE take their hottest faction?

After RAW concluded that night, I had my answer. At first, I loved the answer and the many possible scenarios that could play out as a result of it.

It wasn't seven days later that I realized, I had gotten my hopes up for nothing.

On June 9, 2014, another edition of WWE RAW is on the horizon. The previous week's show saw Seth Rollins shockingly turn on his "brothers," Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, and aligning himself -- seemingly -- with Evolution, a faction that had just saw Batista walk away and begin his hiatus from professional wrestling.

Surely The Shield vs. Evolution program is going to continue, with Rollins filling Batista's spot in Evolution and someone who we anxiously await to find out fills Rollins spot in The Shield.

No dice.

Can you imagine Arn Anderson -- by many considered to be the backbone of the infamous Four Horsemen faction -- turning on Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard and Ole Anderson and a week later going off into a separate story line altogether, with the Four Horsemen faction being what basically amounts to an after-thought?

No? Me either.

Why would WWE do this? To me, the answer is simple: they absolutely suck these days at long-term booking.

At the WWE Payback pay-per-view, it was either Bryan defending against Kane in a "Buried Alive" match, or there was no title match. When forced to scramble at the last second -- due to their own booking mistakes -- WWE decided to put the title on the line in an angle instead of a match.

That bought them about a month, because Money In The Bank is right around the corner!

Now, we find ourselves in the same situation. They depend on Bryan coming back and if he can't, they don't really have a strong "Plan B" in place. There is no "just in case" backup plan. As a result, the title is on the line in a ladder match, and because we need guys to fill up two ladder matches instead of one, we need to break up The Shield.

You know what? I'll do you one better. Let's just say, for argument's sake, that two Money In The Bank ladder matches -- one for the title and one for the briefcase -- was the plan all along. At what point did the "creative team" decide that The Shield should be split up and have a heavy roll in the ladder matches. Due to timing issues, that leaves the company -- creatively speaking -- unable to focus on the fact that the most dominant, over-faction in the company in the past several years is breaking up, and there is no real follow-up angle.

Sure, it looks like Rollins and Ambrose will be feuding -- but as part of a match that contains five other Superstars -- with the focus not being revenge for Ambrose, or justification for Rollins, but instead a shot at the title.

What about Roman Reigns?

He spent one week trying to get his hands on "that dastardly Seth Rollins" for turning his back on his brothers. One week later, "ahhh who cares? Vickie [Guerrero], get me a title shot!"

To borrow a line from The Miz -- seriously?

Seriously?

After so much time together, when the eventual "turn" happens, the other guys aren't out for blood? One guy is, but the other guy has bigger and more important issues on his mind, like sneaking his way into the title picture? Great, he wants to be champion. That's awesome. He should aspire to be exactly that.

But the timing is all wrong. Under normal circumstances, if Daniel Bryan was perfectly healthy for example, do you think this same story line would be playing out right now?

Of course not.

No, if Bryan were healthy, he would be defending his title in what would likely be the second straight "gimmick match" against Kane. Meanwhile, The Shield thing would have happened, Reigns and Ambrose would be out for blood, and Rollins would be on the other side of the fence.

Case-in-point? If WWE would spend a bit more effort on long-term booking, and having backup plans, none of this stuff would be an issue. Bryan could suffer a broken neck, or chickenpox, or get pneumonia, and...

The Authority Is Proof That The WWE Doesn't Need A GM Anymore

Eric Bischoff. Theodore Long. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Booker T. Vickie Guerrero. Bret Hart. Mick Foley. William Regal. Mike Adamle. Kurt Angle. Even the Anonymous RAW General Manager (later revealed to be Hornswoggle). Those names sound familiar? All of these aforementioned men and women have served as either RAW or SmackDown GM at one point or another. They were the people who were responsible for making the matches for their respective shows.

However, the role of the general manager may be on its way out thanks in large part to The Authority (Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and to a lesser extent, Kane). Ever since Triple H cost Daniel Bryan the WWE Championship at last year's SummerSlam, The Authority have been unstoppable ever since.

Also read: Name That Wrestler: May 9, 2014

Case in point: on the May 26, 2014 episode of Monday Night RAW, The Authority "fired" RAW GM Brad Maddox after allowing The Authority's former bodyguards The Shield serve as guest commentators a week prior which did not sit well with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. 

Also read: Name That Wrestler: May 28, 2014

It has also been rumored that Vickie Guerrero may very well be leaving the WWE in the very near future as her onscreen role has been reduced in recent months.

Don't expect The Authority to disappear anytime soon. WWE Officials seem to like Triple H and McMahon as they are very over with the WWE Universe (not to mention that they are Vince McMahon's son-in-law and daughter, respectively).

In other words, the WWE GM is so yesterday.