10 Fascinating WWE Backstage Facts About Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is a divisive sports entertainer.

A superbly melodramatic sports entertainer, but a divisive worker through and through.

Reigns is objectively great at what he does. He feels herculean from the first beat of his music, perfectly embodying the final boss spirit his 'Tribal Chief', 'Head of the Table' character is designed for. The matches aren't for everyone - the same rotten interference spots have turned off some - but Roman is doing his career-best work. It won't get better than this, which makes it mightily troubling that it took WWE almost a decade to figure out that babyface Roman Reigns wasn't their next franchise player.

Heel, irksome, d*ck Roman Reigns was.

Born into the business as the son of legendary Wild Samoan Sika, it will come as no shock that Reigns has endured his share of behind-the-scenes drama, such is the modern nature of the industry. He is a Superstar not without his own real-life drama, from his legitimate 2016 suspension in the midst of his WWE World Heavyweight Champion triumph to his name being outright banned following his decision to remove himself from WrestleMania 36.

Indeed, there's more to Roman Reigns than meets the eye - like...

Roman Reigns carries himself as a true locker-room leader. Many WWE Superstars, past and present, can attest to this, which makes his 2016 suspension all the more surprising.

Reigns was suspended for 30 days for violating WWE's Wellness Policy, his final appearance being at the 2016 Money in the Bank to drop the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Seth Rollins before returning at the following month's Battleground. His absence allowed WWE to instead build their summer programs around Rollins and Dean Ambrose, a position Ambrose would've never found himself in had it not been for Roman being a naughty boy away from the ring.

Reigns' suspension genuinely rocked WWE. Not only was he the guy, but he was the champion; WWE hadn't yet introduced the God-awful Universal Championship, so it was a terrible, terrible look for the company, their solitary World Champion being found to have abused their own wellness system.

I apologize to my family, friends and fans for my mistake in violating WWE’s wellness policy. No excuses. I own it.

— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) June 21, 2016

For his actions, Reigns was ordered to address the locker room before serving his 30 days, which is a rare case within WWE - then again, it's rare for performers the ilk of Roman Reigns to have violated the wellness policy.