Reggie, initially known as Reginald, is enjoying some breakout success as the WWE 24/7 Champion.
The former circus performer has grown quite a following thanks to the athleticism he now regularly displays on WWE programming.
During an appearance on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Reggie discussed the personality of the character who amazes fans with his effortless flips. He noted that this current persona is practically his true self, which is a far cry from the sommelier gimmick he first had on WWE SmackDown. He didn’t have a lot on direction for his character, so he relied on some of his real-life personality traits, like his love for fashion.
“Actually pretty much 100% of that character is me,” said Reggie. “It’s quite funny because I didn’t have much direction when first was introduced to SmackDown, I was just the sommelier and whatnot. And they didn’t tell me how to act or what to do, it was just do these certain things with Carmella and whatnot. But come to find out, I actually spoke French, I went to school in Montreal, I travelled around France. And I love fashion, I love suits.
“And so I just put all of those things into that character and it worked so well.”
Reggie then reflected on his WWE career up to this point by stating that he’s “blessed” with the opportunities he has received. He shared his mindset that he doesn’t complain because he came from nothing, so he appreciates his current success
“I’m totally blessed for sure,” said Reggie. “And that’s been my motto my entire life. You know, coming from legit nothing, I mean, it’s, how could I fail when I started with nothing? That’s my thing. So any opportunity that’s presented to me, I have to take it. I can’t complain. I can’t be upset because I’m not doing what people may think I should be doing. I’m just happy to be here, man. And coming from where I come from, it means a lot.”
RELATED: Reginald Had Once Given Up On His Dream Of Becoming A WWE Superstar Because Life Got In The Way
Looking back on his origins as a fan, Reggie noted that he used to watch wrestling was a kid, but he had to leave the business behind to get to where he wanted to be in life. He also noted that, for a time, he stopped watching wrestling because he didn’t want his fandom to have an adverse effect on his perception.
“I’ve been a fan since I was eight years old,” said Reggie. “But life, for me, got in the way. When I was that age, there was no finding a wrestling school, training and getting into the business, like you just couldn’t do things like that. And especially where I’m from, I mean, wresting wasn’t cool back then, so if you liked wrestling, you got picked on as well. And so I loved it, but just like circus, I wasn’t gonna let circus ruin my image, because I was also part of a gang and all these different things. And so I told myself like, there’s no way that I’m gonna ever become a wrestler. There’s no way that I will be a WWE Superstar. There’s no way that I’m gonna be on any of those TV screens, performing in front of thousands of people.
“And guess what I did? I stopped watching it, I stopped wanting to be a wrestler. I just had to deal with life. I just had to figure out how to get out of the hood, and it wasn’t though wrestling at all.”
But as it turned out, Reggie found his way back to WWE, thanks to his abilities as a circus performer. He described how NXT coaches Matt Bloom and Scotty 2 Hotty were responsible for getting him invited to a tryout after they saw him perform during a WWE talent exchange with Cirque du Soleil. The rest, as they say, is history.
The full episode is available here:
