Roman Reigns Leati Joseph " Joe " Anoa ' i ( born May 25 , 1985 ) is an American professional wrestler and former Canadian football defensive tackle . He is signed to WWE , where he works under the ring name Roman Reigns as one - half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with Seth Rollins . He is a member of the Anoa ' i family , a renowned Samoan - American wrestling dynasty . Football career . Anoa ' i is a former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket , and was named first - team All - ACC his senior year . After going undrafted in the 2007 NFL Draft , he was signed by the Minnesota Vikings . Upon being waived by the Vikings , he was added to the Jacksonville Jaguars roster to provide depth at defensive tackle . In 2008 , Anoa ' i was signed by the Edmonton Eskimos and accepted a spot on the team ' s practice roster . Professional wrestling career . Developmental territories ( 2010 – 2012 ) . In July 2010 , Anoa ' i signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) and was later assigned to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling ( FCW ) . He debuted on September 9 , 2010 , using the ring name Roman Leakee , in a loss to Richie Steamboat in a singles match . Further losses to Idol Stevens and Wes Brisco ensued , before he gained his first win on September 21 over Fahd Rakman . He continued competing in FCW throughout the remainder of the year , wrestling mainly in tag team matches . On the January 16 , 2011 episode of FCW television , Leakee was a competitor in a 30 - man Grand Royal , but was eliminated . Later in 2011 , Leakee formed an alliance with Donny Marlow and the pair unsuccessfully challenged Calvin Raines and Big E Langston for the Florida Tag Team Championship on July 8 . In 2012 , Leakee became a main eventer in singles competition , and he pinned Florida Heavyweight Champion Leo Kruger during a tag team match on the 8 episode of FCW television . On the February 5 episode of FCW television , he defeated Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match to become the number one contender to the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship . He failed to win the championship when he lost to champion Kruger the following week . He won the Florida Tag Team Championship with Mike Dalton , before dropping it to CJ Parker and Jason Jordan . When WWE rebranded its developmental territory , FCW , into NXT Wrestling , Anoa ' i , with a new ring name of Roman Reigns , made his " WWE NXT " debut on the October 31 , 2012 episode , defeating CJ Parker . The Shield ( 2012 – present ) . Roman Reigns made his main roster television debut on November 18 , 2012 at the Survivor Series pay - per - view alongside Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins , assaulting Ryback during the triple threat main event for the WWE Championship , which led to CM Punk pinning John Cena to retain the title . The trio declared themselves " The Shield " and vowed to rally against " injustice . " They denied working for Punk , but routinely emerged from the crowd to attack Punk ' s adversaries , including Ryback , The Miz , and WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No ( Kane and Daniel Bryan ) . This led to a Tables , Ladders , and Chairs match being set up for the pay - per - view pitting the three men of the Shield against Ryback and Team Hell No , which Ambrose , Reigns and Rollins won in their debut match . The Shield continued to aid Punk after TLC ; during Punk and Ryback ' s TLC match for the WWE Championship on the January 7 , 2013 , episode of " Raw " , they attacked Ryback , which resulted in Punk again retaining his title . During the Royal Rumble event where The Rock challenged for Punk ' s WWE Championship , match , a blackout occurred and the Rock was attacked in the darkness by unknown assailants , directly leading to Punk pinning Rock ; the announcers blamed the Shield for the attack . The match was later restarted with Rock winning . The following night on " Raw " , the Shield attacked and laid out John Cena ; Sheamus and Ryback suffered the same fate when they attempted to save Cena . Later in the show , it was revealed through footage played by Vince McMahon that Punk and / or his manager Paul Heyman had been paying the Shield and Brad Maddox to work for them all along . This culminated in a six - man tag team match on February 17 at Elimination Chamber , which the Shield won . On April 7 at WrestleMania 29 , The Shield defeated Big Show , Randy Orton , and Sheamus in a six - man tag - team match . The following night on " Raw " , The Shield attempted to attack The Undertaker who was paying his respects to late Paul Bearer but were stopped by Team Hell No . This set up a six - man tag team match on the April 22 episode of " Raw " , where The Shield emerged victorious . Four days later on " SmackDown " , after Ambrose lost to the Undertaker , he and the rest of the Shield viciously attacked Undertaker , beating him down with chairs and powebombing him through the announcers ' table . On the April 29 episode of " Raw " , The Shield defeated Team Hell No and WWE Champion John Cena in a six - man tag team match , with Reigns pinning Cena for the win . On the May 13 episode of " Raw " , The Shield suffered their first loss as team in a six - man elimination tag team match by disqualification against John Cena and Team Hell No when Reigns and Rollins , who were already eliminated , attacked Cena while he was performing the STF submission hold on Ambrose , but The Shield still got the upper hand and finished off Cena . On May 19 at Extreme Rules , Reigns and Rollins defeated Team Hell No in a tag team tornado match to win the WWE Tag Team Championship , while earlier in the evening Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston to win the WWE United States Championship . Reigns and Rollins made their first televised title defense on the May 27 episode of " Raw " , defeating Team Hell No in a rematch . Personal life . Anoa ' i is a member of the Anoa ' i family . He is the son of Sika of the Wild Samoans and the brother of Matt " Rosey " Anoa ' i , who are both professional wrestlers . He has a daughter with his fiancée , and he is also the cousin of Dwayne " The Rock " Johnson .