Roman Reigns says beating Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 was ‘bittersweet’ and ‘almost feels like a loss’

It looks right now like Roman Reigns will have had the honor of being Undertaker’s last opponent in a WWE ring, as all signs point to the Dead Man calling it a career after losing for only the second time in 25 WrestleMania appearances on April 2 in Orlando.

Shortly after the match, ESPN’s Jonathan Coachman caught up with Reigns to talk about the experience. You can watch the video at this link, but we’ve transcribed The Big Dog’s comments here.

Asked what it was like to win the main event over Taker at WrestleMania 33, Reigns said:

To be honest with you Coach, you know, it’s bittersweet. It almost feels like a loss, you know what I mean? Because, I’ve said this for the past three or four weeks, I’ve got nothing but respect for the Undertaker. If you’ve been a part of this business, and you know, everybody’s got respect for that man. But at the end of the day you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. As a young man, as a family man, as a provider, I’ve got to go out there and fight for mine, and that’s what I did tonight.

Typically, by the time I’m connecting with Superman punches and I hit a spear, it’s done. Anything after that, it feels like torture. But that’s the type of competitor the Dead Man is. He won’t give up. He doesn’t know when to quit. That’s not in his programming. So I had to beat it into him. So that’s what I had to do. I had to dig deep and do something I didn’t want to do, and that’s take out a wounded warrior. But I feel like I did it the right way.

It’s an answer very much in line with how Roman carried himself coming into ‘Mania, with respect for the legend, but not so much it would keep him from doing what he had to do. His response when Coach asked him about what tonight meant to him followed suit:

To be honest, in this moment, it’s so fresh, you know what I mean? It’s hard to digest at this point. But the only thing I can say is I did what I said I was gonna do. This is my yard now. I wasn’t messing around. And the only thing I can do now is continue to reign.

Thoughts on how The Guy is handling a pretty huge honor, Cagesiders?