Roman Reigns on His Martial Arts Training For His Akuma Role In Live Action Street Fighter Film, His Training For Wrestling Matches Being “Custom Job” Depending On His Opponent And His Elbows Not Feeling Good After His WarGames Match in 2025 Affecting His Training For Royal Rumble 2026, & More

Men’s Health held a recent interview with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns. One of the topics discussed included Reigns’ thoughts about his training to play the role of Akuma in the new live action Street Fighter film.

“I got lucky because Akuma…his physique is kind of bodybuilderesque. He’s a big brother, so he’s very muscular. That helped me out, to kind of stay in my regimen. But when you add in the martial arts, the fighting disciplines…you have to be able to have your legs in a sumo squat, but then you can pop up on your toes and also hit a unique pose with your arms. There’s so much isometric work in that. There’s so much to that body control, almost like a ballerina type of work. And the footwork was pretty extensive.”

Reigns also gave his thoughts about the martial arts aspects of playing Akuma.

“There were a lot of parallels for me to be able to transition. I mean, they’re obviously different things you’re asked to perform, within wrestling and within martial arts. But the physical disciplines are a bit adjacent to each other, where it wasn’t as big of a gap for me to figure out. The fact I’m in professional wrestling helped, but [martial arts] is still its own rite. It really makes you go back and look at all of the great martial artists: Jason Statham, Chuck Norris…all these guys who were able to do all these stunts and movies and and have it be so good.”

Reigns also gave his thoughts about how his training for his wrestling matches are “custom jobs” that are dependent on who he faces as an opponent. Reigns also gave his thoughts about how his elbows were in pain after his Men’s WarGames match in 2025 that affected his training to prepare for WWE’s Royal Rumble 2026 event.

“It’s a total custom job and I think for each individual it has to be that way depending on where you’re at within your physical life. You know what you’ve done athletically, what your job is and what your demand and what you’re asking your body to do. So, yeah for me I think the custom portion comes into how is my body feeling? What are my injuries? Am I nicked up? Do I have a little nagging, things from the ring that are bothering me? So that’s where I have to look at where I’m at in each quarter of the year and like this elbow is banged up, but the shoulders are feeling good.

We have to try to target where I feel good and try to push. But sometimes we get to a place where we just feel good and that’s how it happened. My elbows were really beat up in December coming out of Survivor Series in November. By the time I got to (Royal) Rumble in January, we were just barely getting them back to normal. My training struggled that whole time and I was coming out of a non-diet phase too out of the holidays.

I just couldn’t get to that intensity and that locked in focus just perfect structure because I was nagged by, was just hurting. Finally once we got that all figured out and rehabbed right, started feeling good, started training hard and now I’m really starting to put it back together. So it’s one of those things that I think you just have to be intuitive. You have to listen to your body if you’re committed to this and this is an annual thing. You’re running this year around. You really need to listen to your body and trust it too because your body’s going to send you signals of when you’re not feeling good.” 

Reigns also gave his thoughts about how he feels about his body in his 40s and if he misses how his body behaved in his 30s.

“I think I’m in my prime physically. I look at my stomach or whatever it may be, that’s a part of that body dysmorphia we’re all struggling with. And it’s one of those deals that I think if you just keep working on it…it’s not done until it’s done.”

Reigns also gave his thoughts about how he would tell himself in the mirror on days he is not as confident in his body.

“It’s a marathon. It’s not over. Even if your goal is tomorrow, just extend it. Just keep going. If my look isn’t perfect on Sunday, then I should probably just keep trying to make it a little better. Keep working at it.”

Reigns also gave his thoughts about how Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena have changed their physiques from pro wrestling for Hollywood.

“Even in their leaned-out stages, they’re still just superhero guys. We all get to a place where we have to adjust. We’ve got to evolve. And we have to change. I hope I can get to a place in my career, like they did, where that’s going to be the next step for me.

[For John], there was a bit of a shift for him where I think he moved into mobility a lot more, and pliability, where he started really stretching. I think it was when he went to China. He spent a good bit of time over there, and I think that’s when he started to change his philosophies on a few things. But John is one of those guys who’s just freakishly strong. Dwayne is huge. People don’t really understand how big DJ is. Even in his leaned-out state, he’s still a big man. I would say me and Dwayne have a little closer mindset on what we like to do in the gym. We’re chasing that pump. We’re trying to create hypertrophy.”

Reigns also gave his thoughts about how his body can protest due to his training regiment.

“You have to listen to your body if you’re committed to this, and this is an annual thing. Your body is going to send signals when you’re not feeling good. My elbows were really beat up [last] December. So, my training struggled that whole time, and I was coming out of a non-diet phase 2 out of the holidays, so I just couldn’t get to that intensity and locked-in focus. I was just hurting. It’s just one of those things where you have to be intuitive.”