Fanatics Fest 2026 with Jalen Brunson & Roman Reigns: Jalen's INJURY update, Parade Stories, Reigns Retirement

**Shannon Sharpe** (0:00)
Thank you, thank you.

**Chad Johnson** (0:02)
Good morning, good morning, y'all good? Wait a minute, I can't hear you. Good morning, y'all good?

**Shannon Sharpe** (0:09)
Man, this is amazing. First of all, thank you, Michael Rubin. Thank you, Fanatics, everybody that's involved with this for giving us an opportunity to come share our platform on your platform. We cannot be more thankful than you inviting us out. So again, thank you, Michael Rubin, and everybody involved with Fanatics. An unbelievable event, the best event going in the world today that involves fans and some sports celebs. So again, thank you very much. Give yourself a round of applause. You know what, guys? We're not going to take up too much time because we know you guys want to hear from these guys. Guess what we got today? We got the Tribal Chief coming to the stage. The heavyweight champion of the world, Roman Reigns. And the NBA champion from your own New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson.
I'm ready to get mic'd up. Here it comes, that's it, the ninth World of the World.
And the tribal chief, Roman Reigns. Thank you, thank you.

**Chad Johnson** (1:59)
Thank you, appreciate it, appreciate it. That's dope.

**Shannon Sharpe** (2:21)
Soak it up, soak it up.

**Jalen Brunson** (2:22)
I like it, I like it, I like it.

**Roman Reigns** (2:24)
This is what they do, you know what I mean? And it just reminded me that there's only one way to start this thing, you know what I mean? Fanatics Fest!
Acknowledge me. All right, let's get it.

**Chad Johnson** (2:44)
I like it, I like it, I like it.
Hey, listen, Roman, Roman, you and Jalen, you guys have been friends for some time now. How did that relationship start?

**Roman Reigns** (3:07)
Well, we actually just met for the first time. Yeah, I mean, it's I think something that from a distance we've admired each other's work. We've had a high respect for what we've been able to do in our separate fields.
So yeah, I mean, this was a long time coming and it's actually very cool to meet, meet Jalen and expand the friendship.

**Chad Johnson** (3:29)
I like it.

**Shannon Sharpe** (3:32)
It's been a magical ride for you, but Reigns invited you to Madison Square Garden. What can we expect tonight?

**Jalen Brunson** (3:47)
What to expect tonight? Honestly, I'm just happy to be, you know, surrounded by this aura over here, honestly. Like, just to be out there with him, I think it's going to be a great time. But I'm going to follow in his footsteps. Obviously, he's the tribal chief, so I'm going to follow suit. Follow suit.

**Roman Reigns** (4:10)
You just got to show up, baby. That's it. Just show up to the garden. I'll handle the rest.

**Shannon Sharpe** (4:17)
Hey, Roman, I've seen you played D tackle in college. You played in the ACC at Georgia Tech. First team all defense.
What was the transition like from football to wrestling?

**Roman Reigns** (4:31)
Well, the first time I had to put the underwear on, that sucked.
No, I mean, there's a lot of things that translate. You know, I think the physicality, the toughness, the charisma, you know, and I wasn't like Ocho. I was a de-tackle. So, you know, I would talk shit to the O line, but like not on the level of like captivating the whole world. You know what I mean? So some people have to like really tap into that and figure it out. And that was that was where for me, everything in ring and like the physicality of it all, that was easy for me. It was the public speaking. It was the character development. It was the psychology of performance and storytelling. It was all the little micro nuances of performing arts. The athletics were easy to me.

**Shannon Sharpe** (5:16)
If you think about it, a lot of you guys transitioned, seemingly like the transition from football to wrestling. Ernie Ladd transitioned. Wahoo McDaniel transitioned. Lex Lurie transitioned. Rock, you and Rock are the more famous ones that transitioned. What was it about? Did you have aspirations of playing in the NFL? And it's like, OK, well, I got to transition to something else because this doesn't seem to be going my way. Let me see what else I can do.

**Roman Reigns** (5:39)
Well, that was always it, man. I didn't really want I wanted to either play football or wrestling was like a true backup. OK, it was it was tough because my whole life was surrounded by it. Even when I was doing good in football, it would end up being like, so your dad wrestled and I was like, yeah, he did. And so did all my other family members. But let's talk about football. You know what I mean?