Roman Reigns Names Which WWE Legends He Tries to Emulate in His Current Universal Championship Run

Roman Reigns is currently on the most successful run of his WWE career, holding the WWE Universal Championship for nearly a full year while beating the likes of Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan, Edge, Rey Mysterio and John Cena in outstanding main event matches. Reigns gave an interview with On Demand Entertainment leading up to his SummerSlam bout with Cena, and “The Tribal Chief” named three WWE legends he feels he’s emulating with his current persona — Ric Flair, The Undertaker and Bret Hart.

“Bret Hart was always my guy,” Reigns began (h/t Fightful). “I enjoyed that sports-centric, athletic type of performance that he put on. He was a pro wrestler’s pro wrestler. His work ethic and the amount of dedication he put in is second to none. As I got older, you hear all the stories and all the respect that has shined on The Undertaker. I had a match with him, to be able to do it again would have been awesome. The meat of his career, when he was a weekly full-time performer, it would have been awesome to do a full tour to be able to go around the world and learn from him and experience what it’s like to be in the ring with him night after night would have been really good. Right now, Ric Flair, in my own way…we’re not the same type of performers or characters but there is a similar light that I’m trying to shine on my legacy and this portion of my career that he’s known for.

“Elevating all talent, being consistent and durable for years and constantly pulling the best out of every single person in the ring with me,” he continued. “These are traits that I’m trying to emulate.”

Reigns’ victory celebration over Cena was short-lived on Saturday as Brock Lesnar made his surprise return to the company and immediately confronted “The Head of the Table.” Reigns and Paul Heyman both retreated, leaving Lesnar in the ring to attack Cena after the show went off the air.

Check out the full results from SummerSlam below! WWE returns to pay-per-view with the Extreme Rules event on Sept. 26.

• (Kickoff) Big E def. Baron Corbin
• Raw Tag Team Championships: RKBro def. AJ Styles & Omos
• Alexa Bliss def. Eva Marie
• United States Championships: Damian Priest def. Sheamus
• Smackdown Tag Team Championships: The Usos def. The Mysterios
• SmackDown Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch def. Bianca Belair
• Drew McIntyre def. Jinder Mahal
• Raw Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair def. Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley
• Edge def. Seth Rollins
• WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley def. Goldberg
• WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns def. John Cena