Roman Reigns may have been handpicked by former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to be the company's next top star, but the "Big Dog" spent years struggling to connect with fans. In fact, it wasn't until he became the Tribal Chief that the former Shield member was finally perceived as a deserving main eventer.
He'd done plenty of great work before then, but as the longest-reigning WWE Champion in history, the OTC has cemented himself as one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time.
Appearing on What’s Your Story With Steph McMahon, Reigns explained his relationship with his old boss, revealing how it differed from Vince's dynamic with the likes of Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and John Cena.
"That’s who I like, cut my teeth negotiating with, doing business with, was your dad, and that’s how I feel," Reigns explained. "I’m not intimidated by anybody anymore. There were times when I had to get used to him, and we had to learn each other’s ways. But I’m the youngest of all his top guys, you know."
"So I didn’t have that relationship like a lot of the other guys were afforded and the time, but for the compared to like anybody else, you know, Hogan or Steve or Dwayne those guys, I don’t think I got as much of his time, but I was picking up as much knowledge as I could, even if he he may not even realize it."
As for what he learned from Vince, Reigns added, "He would always tell me, and this is when I was so locked in at work that I wasn’t holding up my end on the other side. And he would just tell me, 'You’ve got to be present. When you go home, you have to be present. It doesn’t matter what you do out here. You have to be present.'"
"And I took that to heart so much," the former Undisputed WWE Champion admitted. "He’d always say, 'You want to be ahead of the curve, but not too far.' And in just so many different ways, and especially in business, that has just rang true."
Unsurprisingly, neither Reigns nor Stephanie touched on the recent scandals surrounding Vince. While he was still WWE Chairman when the Tribal Chief era started, much of the credit for how that played out goes to Paul Heyman and Reigns himself.
You can hear more from the OTC in the player below.