The Beginning

Roman Reigns (real name Leati Joseph Anoa'i) was born on May 25, 1989 and is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Sika.  He is a part of the famous Anoa'i wrestling family which includes six members of the WWE Hall of Fame as well as he Rock.

Football Career

Joe Anoa'i played defensive tackle for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.  In 2006, he was named first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference.  He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Minnesota Vikings and was later signed to the practice squad of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

  In 2008, he played for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. 

The Family Business

After leaving football, he was trained to become a wrestler by his father and Uncle Afa.  In 2010, he signed a developmental deal with WWE and wrestled for their developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, under the name of Roman Leakee.  Around the time they changed were rebranded NXT, Roman Leakee was also given a new name, Roman Reigns.

The Shield

A few weeks after being given his new name, he made his WWE television debut at Survivor Series 2012 as one-third of The Shield alongside Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.  Dubbed the Hounds of Justice, the three men ran roughshod over the company and seemingly always had a numbers advantage.  For close to five months, he held the World Tag Team Championship with Seth Rollins. By the spring of 2014, the group became a threat to The Authority and started to be cheered by the fans.  When it appeared that The Shield won the war against The Authority, Seth Rollins betrayed his teammates and joined forces with his one-time enemies.

The Main Event of WrestleMania

When the Shield broke up, Roman Reigns set his sites on the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.  At both Money in the Bank 2014 and Battleground 2014, Roman found himself in muti-man matches where the title was on the line.  His momentum was temporarily derailed when he had an emergency surgery for a hernia.  However, he returned better than ever a few months ago and won The Royal Rumble shortly after he returned.  As a result of that victory, Roman Reings earned a man event title shot against WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31.
_{Sources used include: Georgia Tech Football Media Guide & Onlineworldofwrestling.com}