Roman Reigns Says Fans Booing at WWE 'Royal Rumble' 2015 Helped Him Grow

WWE fans surely remember the debacle of the 2015 Royal Rumble, in which the Philadelphia crowd mercilessly booed Roman Reigns after he won the 30-man match. This should have been, at the time, the defining moment of his career, yet the fans rained down disapproval on him. However, in a recent interview, Reigns said the negative reaction actually helped him.

Reigns did an interview with Live Audio Wrestling in which he discussed the problems with the storytelling and the circumstances at the time, particularly when it came to fellow WWE megastar Daniel Bryan.

"In sports entertainment, professional wrestling, entertainment, storytelling, you can do anything, you can tell any story you want to. It's difficult to say, especially within what we do, with hindsight. I think there is a lot of things we could have done or maybe thought about, but it is what it is, it really is. It all happened for a reason," Reigns said.

"Bryan and myself were both hurt we were both coming back around similar times. 100% it didn't help me coming back around the same time as Bryan, especially with everything he has gone though over the past year, year-and-a-half. People talk about getting through adversity and going through some tough stuff, the stuff that happened to Bryan, the ups and downs, I think everyone was rooting for him. I was rooting for him. I still to this day root for him. I want to see Bryan back in a wrestling ring, tearing the house down with myself and all the rest of the boys," he continued.

Reigns then addressed the crowd reaction directly and noted that perhaps WWE could have done things differently back in January. But at the same time, he expressed no regret toward how the story unfolded and seems to bear no ill will towards the fans, a sure sign of his maturity and growth.

"It was just a tough situation, regardless of what happened or how we could have changed that night as far as responses, as far as having the crowd react properly to me, or how we wanted them to, it didn't," he said. "But it helped me, it helped me grow, it left a huge impression on me, you know. I thank Philly every day for that. You have to learn fast in this business and I'd like to think I'm doing that, but without that night, that was a huge kick in the ass, that lit a fire under me. If you've seen what I've done in the past six months, I think you can tell Royal Rumble definitely helped me."

After the Rumble, Reigns directly addressed his critics both in and out of storyline. He knew he had a date with Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 31, but he first moved into a brief program with Daniel Bryan designed to give him a boost as he headed into his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match.

Reigns defeated Bryan at Fastlane in February, and it looked like he was on his way to taking the title from the nigh-invincible Beast Incarnate at Mania. But WWE seemingly changed course and had Seth Rollins use his Money in the Bank briefcase to capture the title, which he still holds as of this writing.

What do you think of Reigns' remarks? Do you think he has improved since Royal Rumble? Let us know in the comments section.