Roman Reigns, the former Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, has experienced a great deal in his nearly four decades, both inside and outside of the ring. Fans are aware that Joe, also known as Leati Joseph Anoaʻi, has fought leukemia twice. He would not win another World Championship for another two years after being suspended by WWE in 2016 for breaking the company’s wellness policy when he was still the champion. Yet, many fans are unaware that Reigns had previously been arrested, just before he signed with WWE and changed his life.
Reigns began his career as a professional football player rather than a professional wrestler. After playing collegiately at Georgia Tech University, he signed with the Minnesota Vikings as a free agent in 2007 after going undrafted. Reigns joined the Jacksonville Jaguars after his initial leukemia treatment, but he was cut a week before the season began.Following that, he participated in five games in the Canadian Football League before being cut loose from the Edmonton Eskimos and declaring his official retirement from football. In 2010, after suffering from illness and losing his ambition of playing football professionally, Reigns had another difficult situation when he was arrested in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida.
He was taken into custody on charges of rioting, unlawful assembly, and disorderly intoxication and affray. Reigns, who was 25 at the time, was detained for allegedly getting into a brawl while intoxicated. Before his mugshot was made public online and started to circulate in 2013, WWE fans were largely unaware of the arrest and many of its specifics were never made public. The same night that he was placed in handcuffs following the incident, Reigns was freed on $1,000 bail. He was compelled to pay $500 for each of his charges, but he was not imprisoned.
Despite his arrest a few weeks prior to signing his developmental contract, WWE portrayed Reigns as a potential star with a spotless image when he made his FCW debut in August 2010. It wasn’t until his 2016 infraction of the wellness protocol that Reigns would face real difficulties once more. But two years later, WWE would include Reigns in a plot in which he would be “arrested.”
Reigns was suspended from the storyline following an altercation with Vince McMahon in which he berated the then-chairman for not disciplining Brock Lesnar, Reigns’ opponent at WrestleMania 34, for not attending “WWE Raw” for a face-to-face meeting with him prior to the major event. In a March 2018 episode of “Raw,” Reigns returned to the ring to once again attack McMahon in defiance of his punishment.
In order to arrest Reigns, “U.S. Marshals”—one of whom was portrayed by future “WWE NXT” North American Champion Ricky Saints—entered the ring. Lesnar beat down a bound Reigns when “The Big Dog” assaulted them. Because they were trying to portray him as a babyface, WWE chose not to bring up his prior arrest history during the narrative suspension and arrest. Lesnar would win “The Grandest Stage of Them All” against Reigns in order to keep the Universal Championship.
