According to former NXT UK superstar Sam Gradwell, Roman Reigns “couldn’t have been cooler” at a WWE event in 2018.
On May 11, 2018, Gradwell lost to Jordan Devlin (now known as JD McDonagh) at an unsanctioned show in Dublin, Ireland. A member of the ring crew told him to find a quiet spot in the locker room to put his bag. Before seeing Rance’s gear in front of him, the Englishman thought he had found something different.
On the Rusting With Genres podcast, Gradwell recalled how he tried to leave the locker room quickly before anyone saw him. The tribal chief then showed up and told him to stay where he was:
“I sat down and I looked at the chair in front of me, and I realized Roman Reigns had set his gear down on the chair in front of me, so I was like, ‘Oh s**t, I gotta get over here. Outside, I’ll have to find a separate room,” Gradwell said. “I go get my bag to leave, and Roman comes in and says, ‘No, no, no, you sit there, you’re good,’ and he talked to me all night.” [0:40 – 1:06]
Later that night, Reigns joined forces with Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman to defeat Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe in the main event.
Sam Gradwell consults Roman Reigns
Seasoned WWE Superstars often watch shows from a monitor backstage before reacting to younger talent.
Roman Reigns, widely regarded as one of WWE’s current locker room leaders, had no problem offering advice to Sam Gradwell:
Gradwell said, “Couldn’t have been more down to earth, and couldn’t have been more cool.” “He saw me and Jordan’s match, and he had some of the most useful feedback I think I’ve ever seen.” [1:09 – 1:18]
Gradwell received his release from WWE in August 2022. He competed in 24 televised matches for the company between January 2017 and July 2022.
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