Roman Reigns has shared the WWE ring with his family in a storyline for years — he called his faction The Bloodline — so it seemed right to him they were his tag team partners on a cover for WWE 2K25.
Reigns was named as this year’s cover star on the standard version of the 2K25 game while the former WWE champion was joined by current and former stablemates Jey Uso and Jacob Fatu, among others, for The Bloodline Edition.
“We’re always trying to represent our family, I’m always trying to represent the elders of my family and the ones that laid down the groundwork and the foundation that we stand on,” Reigns said. “To be able to take it to this level and this platform, and to have the interaction with the video game, and for people and our fans to continue to make moments with The Bloodline, with the Roman Reigns character, and really just dive in and take control themselves, it’s a cool chapter for what we’re doing.”
The game will be available on March 14, plenty of time for gamers to lay the smack down with their controllers ahead of the April 19 and 20 WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas.
Reigns joined some of WWE’s greats to earn a cover shot, along with previous stars Cody Rhodes, Brock Lesnar, Steve Austin, Rey Mysterio and John Cena. Bret “Hitman” Hart, Chyna, Batista, The Rock, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, CM Punk and Becky Lynch are among the 300 WWE superstars available as part of the largest roster in the game’s history.
The Undertaker is on the Deadman Edition cover, while The Bloodline Edition cover features members of both Reigns’ and Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline factions, including Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso and Paul Heyman interwoven into the roots and branches of the iconic Bloodline family tree.
WWE 2K25 Deadman Edition and The Bloodline Edition are scheduled for a March 7 release.
“We earned it,” Reigns said of the cover. “We set out to be very special.”
Reigns shared the cover in 2020 with Lynch.
The 39-year-old Reigns continues to perform at the highest level in professional wrestling and competed in the main event of both nights of WrestleMania last year in Philadelphia. Reigns, who played college football at Georgia Tech, has been a staple in WrestleMania events and should be a major player again in this year’s card at Allegiant Stadium.
He last missed a WrestleMania during the pandemic 2020 card when the show was held inside an empty arena because of the coronavirus. Reigns pulled out of the company's version of the Super Bowl, in large part because of his health.
While Roman Reigns — billed at 6-foot-3, 265 pounds — the WWE character has largely been unbeatable, the real-life Leati Joseph Anoa’i has battled leukemia since 2007 and had to step away from the company in 2018. His leukemia diagnosis left him immunocompromised, and he told The Associated Press it's a never-ending fight that will be part of him for the rest of his life.
“I look at health in a couple of different layers because when you look at someone it's, oh, they look healthy,” Reigns said. “But, what's your bloodwork look like? How are you feeling? What's your energy look like? I'm very blessed to be able to say it's all good for me right now. My bloodwork, everything that involved the leukemia, all that is in a great range, and at bay. We're still working on that zeroed-out molecular remission, but it's under a level that's sustainable to where we're in a very good place.”
Reigns said he feels great physically and mentally and will compete in WWE's next signature event, the Royal Rumble on Saturday in Indianapolis.
This time, as a 2K25 cover star.
“Right now," Reigns said, "I'm in a good place.”
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports
FILE - Roman Reigns presents the best coach award at the ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House national security adviser Mike Waltz is leaving the administration just weeks after it was revealed he added a journalist to a Signal chat being used to discuss military plans, according to two people familiar with the matter Thursday, marking the first major staff shake-up of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Waltz came under searing scrutiny in March after revelations that he added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on the encrypted messaging app Signal, which was used to discuss planning for a sensitive March 15 military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen. A far-right ally of the president, Laura Loomer, has also targeted Waltz, telling Trump in a recent Oval Office conversation that he needs to purge aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the “Make America Great Again” agenda.
Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, is also expected to depart, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel move not yet made public. The National Security Council did not respond do a request for comment.
Waltz, who served in the House representing Florida for three terms before his elevation to the White House, is the most prominent senior administration official to depart since Trump returned to the White House. In his second term, the Republican president had been looking to avoid the tumult of his first four years in office, during which he cycled through four national security advisers, four White House chiefs of staff and two secretaries of state.
The Signal chain also showed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop. Waltz had previously taken “full responsibility” for building the message chain and administration officials described the episode as a “mistake” but one that caused Americans no harm. Waltz maintained that he was not sure how Goldberg ended up in the messaging chain, and insisted he did not know the journalist.
Trump and the White House — which insisted that no classified information was shared on the text chain — have stood by Waltz publicly throughout the episode. But the embattled national security adviser was also under siege from personalities such as Loomer, who had been complaining to administration officials that she had been excluded from the vetting process for National Security Council aides. In her view, Waltz relied too much on “neocons” — referring to hawkish neoconservatives within the Republican Party — as well as others who Loomer argued were “not-MAGA-enough” types.
Waltz was on television as late as Thursday morning, promoting the administration’s agreement with Kyiv that would allow the U.S. to access Ukraine’s critical minerals and other natural resources. As reports began to circulate that Waltz could be leaving the administration, Loomer appeared to take credit in a post on the social media site X, writing: “SCALP.”
“Hopefully, the rest of the people who were set to be fired but were given promotions at the NSC under Waltz also depart,” Loomer wrote in another post.
Loomer had taken a similar victory lap when several other NSC officials were dismissed last month one day after she met with Trump. Those firings included Brian Walsh, a director for intelligence; Thomas Boodry, a senior director for legislative affairs; and David Feith, a senior director for technology and national security, as well as other lower-ranking aides.
Waltz’s resignation comes as questions are swirling around Hegseth and his role in the Signal chat.
While Waltz set it up, Hegseth posted times for aircraft launches and bomb drops into the unsecured app and shared the same information with dozens of people in a second chat, including his wife and brother.
The Associated Press reported that Hegseth also bypassed Pentagon security protocols to set up an unsecured line for a personal computer in his office –- beside terminals where he was receiving classified information. That raises the possibility that sensitive information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.
The Pentagon inspector general is investigating Hegseth’s use of Signal, and he has faced criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans. It has added to the turmoil at the Pentagon at a time when Hegseth has dismissed or transferred multiple close advisers. Nonetheless, Trump has maintained public confidence in Hegseth.
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Associated Press writer Tara Copp contributed to this report.
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz listens as President Donald Trump meets with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks during a television interview at the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks during a television interview at the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
