Joe Anoa'i

Biography

Leati Joseph Anoaʻi (Samoan pronunciation: ah-no-AH ee; born May 25, 1985), better known by his ring name Roman Reigns, is an American professional wrestler and former football player. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Regarded as one of the best professional wrestlers in the world, Reigns' 1,316-day reign with the WWE Universal Championship is the fourth-longest world title reign in WWE history and the longest championship reign since 1988. After playing U.S. college football for Georgia Tech, Anoaʻi started a professional football career with brief off-season stints with the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) in 2007. He played a full season for the Canadian Football League's (CFL) Edmonton Eskimos in 2008 before his release and retirement from football. A member of the Anoaʻi wrestling family, Anoaʻi was signed by WWE in 2010 and made his main roster debut under the ring name Roman Reigns in 2012 as a member of The Shield alongside Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. With Rollins, Reigns once held the WWE Tag Team Championship. The trio teamed together until disbanding in 2014, after which Reigns entered singles competition. From 2014 to 2020, WWE positioned Reigns as a heroic character and attempted to establish him as their next "face of the company", which was met with intense disapproval by audiences and critics. During this period, Reigns won the WWE Championship three times, the WWE Universal Championship once, the WWE United States Championship and WWE Intercontinental Championship once each, was named Superstar of the Year at the 2014 Slammy Awards and won the Royal Rumble match in 2015. After a hiatus, Reigns was repackaged as a villainous character between 2020 and 2024, which was generally met with acclaim by audiences and critics. Reigns then held the WWE Championship and Universal Championship simultaneously, being recognised as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion; upon losing the Undisputed title at WrestleMania XL, the Universal Championship was retired with Reigns recognised as its final champion. Reigns has headlined numerous pay-per-view events, including WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania, a record ten times. Reigns holds the joint record for most eliminations in a Survivor Series match (4) and the previous record for most in a Royal Rumble match (12). He is also WWE's 28th Triple Crown Champion and 17th Grand Slam Champion. He was ranked No. 1 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual PWI 500 list of the top 500 singles wrestlers in 2016 and 2022.

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