[231003] Roman Reigns' First Video Game Appearance Explained

https://gamerant.com/roman-reigns-first-video-game-appearance-explained-ncaa-not-wwe/
Roman Reigns is one of WWE's longest-reigning champions, but his first video game appearance may not be what many fans expected.

Highlights

• Roman Reigns, WWE's biggest star, made his first video game appearance in NCAA Football 2005 as a college football player.
• Before his rise in WWE, Reigns had to develop in WWE's developmental promotion and then join The Shield on NXT. This wrestling journey followed his college football career.
• Despite his early appearance in a football game, Reigns will likely continue to be a mainstay in WWE games for years to come.

Roman Reigns is one of the biggest stars in WWE, but his first video game appearance may come as a surprise to some. At this point he has become an icon, and has gained a lot of respect for how long he has been putting on high-quality matches. However, Roman wasn't always at the top of the mountain in WWE, and his rise ended up surprising several people, including former detractors. Roman has been all over the WWE video game series since his time in The Shield, but even big fans may not remember his first game appearance.
Before Roman Reigns was WWE 2K23's highest-rated wrestler, he had to spend a lot of time developing. Starting his career in WWE's developmental promotion FCW under the name Leakee, he would see some success. However, it wasn't until he adopted the identity of Roman Reigns and joined The Shield on NXT that he got his first major break. The Shield would go on to be one of WWE's greatest stables, with all three members going on to become some of the biggest wrestling stars of the current era. Roman in particular had a meteoric rise, with his tyrannical heel character being one of WWE's major attractions.
Roman Reigns Didn't Make His First Video Game Appearance For WWE

Unfortunately for Roman, until WWE 2K23 added John Cena's Prototype gimmick, developmental versions of wrestlers were not included in WWE games. In fact, it wasn't until WWE 2K15 that NXT wrestlers were added to the game's rosters. By the time Roman made his debut in WWE 2K14, The Shield was already an established group on RAW, and had been since the beginning of the year. However, WWE 2K14 wasn't Roman's first video game appearance either. Rather, Roman's debut in the gaming sphere happened long before he ever debuted as a wrestler. Instead, it involved his previous time as a college football player.
One couldn't be blamed for forgetting, especially since after the remarkably expensive NCAA Football 2014 was its last installment, but NCAA Football games used to be yearly releases, complete with the names of players from competing schools at the time. In college, Reigns played football for Georgia Tech, and as a result, he ended up being on their roster in NCAA Football 2005, appearing under his real name, Joe Anoa'i. In fact, Roman Reigns' video game debut only came a year after John Cena appeared in his first WWE game, WWE Wrestlemania XIX, despite their wrestling careers starting a decade apart.
It's no surprise that a lot of fans missed Roman's role in NCAA Football 2005. For one, unlike WWE 2K23's customizable wrestlers, the individual players in NCAA Football games did not get a lot of focus. While individual stats were kept for each player, and they could win awards, individual players rarely got a specific spotlight outside of the cover athletes, of which Joe Anoa'i was not one. Also, there is the fact that NCAA Football 2005 was an early game in a series that released yearly games for over a decade. It's no surprise that the game would be somewhat buried, let along Reigns' appearance in it.
It's a safe assumption that despite starting in an NCAA Football game, Roman Reigns will be staying in WWE titles. After all, the upcoming EA College Football game is unlikely to bring back players from the past, especially if they went into wrestling rather than football after college. Considering that Reigns will likely be a mainstay of WWE games for years to come, players and WWE fans will probably be seeing plenty of him in the future regardless. Still, it's an amusing note that one of WWE's biggest wrestlers first appeared in a college football game well before his career even started.

机翻
罗曼·雷恩斯 (Roman Reigns) 是 WWE 统治时间最长的冠军之一，但他的首次电子游戏亮相可能出乎许多粉丝的意料。

强调
罗曼·雷恩斯 (Roman Reigns) 是 WWE 的大牌明星，他在 2005 年以大学橄榄球运动员的身份首次出现在 NCAA 橄榄球比赛中。
在WWE崛起之前，雷恩斯必须在WWE的发展晋升中发展，然后加入NXT的盾牌。 这段摔跤之旅是在他的大学橄榄球生涯之后进行的。
尽管雷恩斯很早就出现在橄榄球比赛中，但他很可能在未来几年继续成为 WWE 比赛的中流砥柱。

罗曼·雷恩斯 (Roman Reigns) 是 WWE 中最耀眼的明星之一，但他第一次出现在电子游戏中可能会让一些人感到惊讶。 至此，他已经成为一个偶像，并因其长期以来的高质量比赛而赢得了很多尊重。 然而，罗曼并不总是处于 WWE 的顶峰，他的崛起最终让很多人感到惊讶，包括以前的批评者。 自从在《盾牌》中出现以来，罗曼就一直活跃在 WWE 视频游戏系列中，但即使是铁杆粉丝也可能不记得他第一次在游戏中亮相。
在罗曼·雷恩斯 (Roman Reigns) 成为《WWE 2K23》中收视率最高的摔跤手之前，他必须花费大量时间进行培养。 他以 Leakee 的名字在 WWE 的发展推广 FCW 开始了他的职业生涯，并取得了一些成功。 然而，直到他采用了罗曼·雷恩斯（Roman Reigns）的身份并加入NXT的神盾局（The Shield）后，他才获得了第一次重大突破。 盾牌将继续成为 WWE 最伟大的马厩之一，所有三名成员都将成为当今时代最伟大的摔跤明星之一。 尤其是罗曼的崛起，他的暴虐角色成为WWE的主要吸引力之一。
罗曼·雷恩斯 (Roman Reigns) 并未首次出现在 WWE 电子游戏中

对于罗曼来说不幸的是，直到《WWE 2K23》添加了约翰·塞纳的原型噱头，摔跤手的发育版本才被包含在 WWE 游戏中。 事实上，直到《WWE 2K15》，NXT 摔跤手才被添加到游戏名单中。 当 Roman 在 WWE 2K14 中首次亮相时，The Shield 已经在 RAW 上成为了一个成熟的团体，并且从今年年初就一直如此。 然而，《WWE 2K14》也不是罗曼第一次出现在电子游戏中。 相反，罗曼在游戏领域的首次亮相早在他作为摔跤手首次亮相之前就发生了。 相反，这涉及到他之前作为大学橄榄球运动员的经历。
人们不能因为忘记而受到责备，尤其是在极其昂贵的 2014 年 NCAA 橄榄球比赛成为最后一期之后，但 NCAA 橄榄球比赛过去每年发布一次，并附有当时竞争学校的球员姓名。 大学期间，雷恩斯为佐治亚理工学院踢橄榄球，最终他以真名乔·阿诺阿伊 (Joe Anoa'i) 出现在 2005 年 NCAA 橄榄球比赛的名单中。 事实上，罗曼·雷恩斯 (Roman Reigns) 首次在电子游戏中亮相仅在约翰·塞纳 (John Cena) 出现在他的第一款 WWE 游戏《WWE Wrestlemania XIX》一年后，尽管他们的摔跤生涯相隔十年。
毫不奇怪，许多粉丝怀念罗曼在 2005 年 NCAA 橄榄球比赛中的角色。一方面，与 WWE 2K23 的可定制摔跤手不同，NCAA 橄榄球比赛中的个人球员并没有得到太多关注。 虽然每个球员的个人统计数据都被保留，并且他们可以赢得奖项，但除了封面运动员之外，个别球员很少受到特别关注，乔·阿诺伊不是其中之一。 此外，事实上 NCAA Football 2005 是十多年来每年发布的系列赛中的早期比赛。 毫不奇怪，这款游戏会被埋没，更不用说雷恩斯在其中的出现了。
可以肯定的是，尽管罗曼·雷恩斯在 NCAA 橄榄球比赛中首发，但他仍将留在 WWE 冠军头衔中。 毕竟，即将到来的 EA 大学橄榄球比赛不太可能让过去的球员回归，尤其是如果他们在大学毕业后从事摔跤而不是橄榄球。 考虑到雷恩斯可能会在未来几年成为 WWE 游戏的中流砥柱，无论如何，玩家和 WWE 粉丝将来可能会经常见到他。 尽管如此，有趣的是，WWE 最大的摔跤手之一在他的职业生涯开始之前就首次出现在大学橄榄球比赛中。