During an appearance on WWE's The Bump, Paul Heyman explained why he and Roman Reigns have become aligned.

“Take it any way that you want it but I also said it on Friday Night SmackDown, if you would kindly pay attention to our own television programming, the quote was ‘I was thrown into an ocean of obscurity and I was rescued to the island of relevancy by Roman Reigns’ and that is a fact.”

“I was cast out. I was thrown away. I was sent out to drift into the ocean and just go away, ‘don’t even bother us any more’ and Roman Reigns realized just in order for him to protect his status as the Superstar in WWE, that someone who has experienced the same disrespect, the same lack of appreciation, someone who has experienced everything he is going through this year, that would be Paul Heyman, would need to protect him from these evil deeds that were cast upon him and to course correct what was happening here in World Wrestling Entertainment. As it does in all other forms of entertainment, all other forms of sports and also all other forms of sports entertainment.”