10 Fascinating WWE Backstage Facts About Roman Reigns
3. His Ring Name Was Inspired By A Forgotten NXT Star
The backstory to a wrestling moniker can often make for fascinating discussion.
Kevin Steen became Kevin Owens as a tribute to his son, Owen, who was named after Owen Hart.
Tyler Black became Seth Rollins because Henry Rollins is the lead singer of a band that he likes, Black Flag.
'Stunning' Steve Austin became 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin after his wife scorned him for letting a mug of tea go stone cold.
Roman Reigns is no different, boasting a clear-cut moniker for someone who is named, quite literally, Just Joe. The behind-the-scenes story surrounding his name is a tad less exotic than that of an Owens, a Rollins, or an Austin, because it came from Calvin Raines, a long-forgotten NXT goober whose surname Reigns pinched at the suggestion of Corey Graves.
Telling Chris Jericho on his Talk Is Jericho podcast, Roman revealed that after deciding he wanted to be named Roman, it was the former NXT Tag Team Champion who suggested he changed 'Raines' to 'Reigns' to resemble a king (h/t Wrestling Inc.):-
"I knew I wanted Roman. I liked Roman. I wanted Roman only and they [WWE] were like, 'No, you need a last name'. And there's actually another guy in FCW by the name of Calvin Raines. He spelt it like 'rain', like a 'raindrop' [...] Corey Graves, he was down in FCW, still working at that time, he's actually one of my good buddies and our families are like really good friends. He told me, he was like, 'Hey, I heard you saying 'Roman Raines'. What if you spelt it like 'Reigns', like a king reigns?' And I was like, 'Whoa, I like that'."