Roman Reigns Was Not A Fan Of The WWE Performance Center Tapings

Apparently Roman Reigns had at least one thing in common with pro wrestling fans this year: he wasn’t much of a fan of the pandemic shows at the WWE Performance Center. For months, WWE was panned by critics and fans alike for the dull-feeling of the shows they produced there once the COVID-19 pandemic began. While AEW was succeeding with their no-crowd shows, albeit in a much larger venue that was outdoors, WWE struggled. However, WWE was eventually able to develop the ThunderDome concept and vastly improve the overall feel of their pandemic-era television.

Speaking with FOX Sports, Reigns elaborated on what he thought of those shows at the Performance Center. He didn’t hold back whatsoever in expressing his opinion of creative at the time. Fans will remember that Reigns was absent from WWE television while the Performance Center shows were occurring. When he returned, the ThunderDome had made its debut.

“Yeah, I watched a couple of the shows. I did not follow it thoroughly,” Reigns said (h/t to Fightful). “I tried to use as much of the time to be with my family and just really focus in and be present here at home, but on a few of the shows that I saw, I was just like, ‘Man, this is trash.’ Like, you know what I mean? That’s from me, from the very top, thinking this because I always want to be way better than everybody else. This is no disrespect to what they were doing. They were busting their ass working really hard.

“But, for me, I was like, ‘Man, I just know when it’s time to pull my trigger, I know exactly what I want to do. I know exactly the kind of stories I want to tell and the different tools I want to utilize in order to connect with our crowd, our audience that’s watching at home.’

He continued, “I knew it was all based off of emotion. I knew I had to be emotionally connected to what I was doing to be able to wear the skin of the character that I’m trying to convey to our audience. So, that was the most important thing is that I could completely focus in and concentrate 100% on what I was trying to do and the emotions that I was trying to convey throughout my narratives.”

Roman Reigns will face Kevin Owens in a Last Man Standing WWE Universal Championship Match in just over one week at the WWE Royal Rumble.