Roman Reigns stepped away from WWE during the COVID-19 pandemic and ahead of WrestleMania 36. He did not want to put himself or his family at risk before returning that summer, where he aligned with Paul Heyman and turned heel.
Heyman told Raj Prashad of Uproxx that Reigns considered himself retired while away from the company. He said,
“He considered himself retired. He wasn’t coming back. I was executive director of Monday Night Raw, and Roman was assigned to SmackDown. But every week I heard all the SmackDown writers and producers and personnel saying, ‘God, I just wish Roman would come back.’ And I would ask, has anybody talked to him? Yeah, he says he’s retired. He’s not coming back. No way. Thanks a lot. Done. Finished. Goodbye. So the fact that he came back for this run, for what we have accomplished, is nothing short of a miracle because as far as he was concerned, he was out.”
