Summary
Roman Reigns is one of the biggest stars inWWE, but his first video game appearance may come as a surprise to some. At this point he has become an icon, and has gained a lot of respect for how long he has been putting on high-quality matches. However, Roman wasn’t always at the top of the mountain inWWE, and his rise ended up surprising several people, including former detractors. Roman has been all over theWWEvideo game series since his time in The Shield, but even big fans may not remember his first game appearance.
Before Roman Reigns wasWWE 2K23’s highest-rated wrestler, he had to spend a lot of time developing. Starting his career in WWE’s developmental promotion FCW under the name Leakee, he would see some success. However, it wasn’t until he adopted the identity of Roman Reigns and joined The Shield on NXT that he got his first major break. The Shield would go on to be one of WWE’s greatest stables, with all three members going on to become some of the biggest wrestling stars of the current era. Roman in particular had a meteoric rise, with his tyrannical heel character being one of WWE’s major attractions.
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Roman Reigns Didn’t Make His First Video Game Appearance For WWE
Unfortunately for Roman, untilWWE 2K23added John Cena’s Prototype gimmick, developmental versions of wrestlers were not included in WWE games. In fact, it wasn’t untilWWE 2K15that NXT wrestlers were added to the game’s rosters. By the time Roman made his debut inWWE 2K14, The Shield was already an established group on RAW, and had been since the beginning of the year. However,WWE 2K14wasn’t Roman’s first video game appearance either. Rather, Roman’s debut in the gaming sphere happened long before he ever debuted as a wrestler. Instead, it involved his previous time as a college football player.
One couldn’t be blamed for forgetting, especially since after theremarkably expensiveNCAA Football 2014was its last installment, butNCAA Footballgames used to be yearly releases, complete with the names of players from competing schools at the time. In college, Reigns played football for Georgia Tech, and as a result, he ended up being on their roster inNCAA Football 2005, appearing under his real name, Joe Anoa’i. In fact, Roman Reigns' video game debut only came a year after John Cena appeared in his first WWE game,WWE Wrestlemania XIX, despite their wrestling careers starting a decade apart.
It’s no surprise that a lot of fans missed Roman’s role inNCAA Football 2005. For one, unlikeWWE 2K23’s customizable wrestlers, the individual players inNCAA Footballgames did not get a lot of focus. While individual stats were kept for each player, and they could win awards, individual players rarely got a specific spotlight outside of the cover athletes, of which Joe Anoa’i was not one. Also, there is the fact thatNCAA Football 2005was an early game in a series that released yearly games for over a decade. It’s no surprise that the game would be somewhat buried, let along Reigns' appearance in it.
It’s a safe assumption that despite starting in anNCAA Footballgame, Roman Reigns will be staying in WWE titles. After all, theupcomingEA College Footballgameis unlikely to bring back players from the past, especially if they went into wrestling rather than football after college. Considering that Reigns will likely be a mainstay of WWE games for years to come, players and WWE fans will probably be seeing plenty of him in the future regardless. Still, it’s an amusing note that one ofWWE’s biggest wrestlers first appeared in a college football game well before his career even started.
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