Roman Reigns Comments on The Rock Not Being in Ring Shape for WWE WrestleMania Match

During an appearance on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday, undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns discussed the likelihood of The Rock not being available for WrestleMania 39 due to a lack of time to prepare.

Fallon brought up the possibility of Reigns facing his real-life cousin at WrestleMania in Inglewood, California, but The Tribal Chief suggested that The Rock won't be ready and explained the difference between being in good physical condition and being in ring shape (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of ThirstyForNews.com):

"I believe he just came out with a statement saying that he's not gonna be ready in time, which, [referring to Fallon looking confused] that's the face that everyone's making, like, 'Hold on! He trains every single day. He's huge!' But to his defense, it's one thing to train with weights, the bodybuilding, the look, the part … but, to be able to get in the ring and do a main event match, a championship match, an Undisputed WWE Championship match, it takes a lot of conditioning, it beats up your body.

"So there's more that goes into it than just training in the weight room. It's a professional athlete type of situation where you have to condition. He does two out of the three things perfectly. His nutrition and his weight training is on point, but you have to condition yourself, you gotta be ready to fall down."

Despite Reigns' comments, The Rock has not made a public statement regarding his WrestleMania status, but recent reports suggest that The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment will not be part of WrestleMania this year.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Mukherjee) recently reported that The Rock indicated to people within WWE that he would not be able to get in ring shape in time for WrestleMania.

Meltzer added that The Rock did leave the door open to potentially doing something with Reigns in the future, however.

While WWE has not teased Reigns vs. The Rock at all, fans and wrestling reporters have speculated on the match for months since they are cousins and WrestleMania is taking place near Hollywood, where The Rock has established himself as one of the biggest actors in the world.

Reigns vs. The Rock may not have felt as big in past years, but since Reigns is now unquestionably doing the best work of his career as the villainous Head of the Table and leader of The Bloodline, he is undoubtedly on a level necessary to lock horns with The Rock.

Assuming The Rock is indeed not available to WWE for WrestleMania, there are a number of other directions the company can go in, and it will likely be determined Saturday night at the Royal Rumble premium live event.

Provided Reigns remains WWE universal champion from now until WrestleMania, the winner of the 30-man men's Royal Rumble match will earn the right to challenge Reigns on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

The returning Cody Rhodes is the favorite to win, while The Bloodline's Honorary Uce Sami Zayn is lurking, and either of them would make for a fantastic Reigns opponent at the biggest show of the year.

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