The frightening musculature and no-nonsense glare made Reigns the ideal bodyguard for Kurt Angle, who was briefly working as a heel authority in 2004. Reigns held the potential to be the modern-era Big Bubba Rogers, the silent enforcer to a detestable loudmouth villain like Angle. While Evolution flourished on Raw, Angle's stable on Smackdown, featuring Reigns and former WCW talent Mark Jindrak, fizzled with little impact. Reigns' one-year run on the main roster came at a time when Smackdown was beginning a creative nosedive, and he just couldn't keep his head above the current of redundant booking. Reigns asked for his WWE release in May 2005 due to creative differences, and left the business not long after. Since then, the real-life Matt Wiese survived a 2009 stroke, and in 2015, took part in a class-action lawsuit against WWE regarding brain injuries.
Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.
