San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan speaks to the media during Opening Night for the NFL Super Bowl 54. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
MIAMI (AP) — Roman Reigns went from the Royal Rumble to the Super Bowl.
The WWE star was in Miami for the opening night festivities at Marlins Park a night after wrestling in the Royal Rumble match in Houston, where he was the last competitor eliminated by eventual winner Drew McIntyre.
“What’s up?” San Francisco tight end George Kittle asked Reigns. “You sore at all?”
Reigns also earlier Sunday night defeated King Corbin in a falls-count-anywhere match.
“A little,” Reigns said. “Not too bad.”
Kittle is a huge wrestling fan, and uses a gesture to celebrate first downs that he borrowed from Pentagón Jr., a Mexican wrestler. Kittle makes a circle with his thumb and forefinger to form a “0” and then flicks his wrist so his other fingers form an “M” for Pentagón Jr.’s catch phrase: “Cero miedo” — or, “zero fear.”
Kittle caught some of the Royal Rumble action on TV after the 49ers got into Miami on Sunday night as they begin to prepare to face the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I loved it when you all just beat the crap out of Seth (Rollins),” Kittle told Reigns with a huge smile. “That was awesome. That was fun.”
Reigns then asked Kittle who on the 49ers would win a Royal Rumble among teammates. The wrestler told the tight end most of the 49ers said Kittle would take home the belt.
“Yeah,” Kittle said without hesitation.
So, who would go out first?
“I think we’d throw Jimmy (Garoppolo) out first,” Kittle said. “He gets too much attention. Just get him out of the ring, throw him out of the ring and let the attention be on us for once.”
Garoppolo was also asked, and he went a different direction: rookie defensive end Nick Bosa.
“First time I heard Bosa,” Reigns said. “Everybody’s saying Kittle.”
That surprised the 49ers quarterback.
“George?” Garoppolo said. “Who said that?”
Reigns told him “everybody,” and then asked who’d be tossed out of the ring first.
“Deebo Samuel, probably,” a grinning Garoppolo said of his wide receiver.
TELL ME, TOM
Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill doesn’t have any advice for Tom Brady with the six-time Super Bowl champ seemingly set to test free agency in March for the first time in his long career.
Hill says if he ever got a chance to talk with Brady, he’d ask to train together so he could learn from him. Why? Hill says Brady has played with Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Joey Galloway.
“He played with all kind of GOATs, man, at receiver,” Hill said. “He got a chance to throw at those guys and for me to pick his brain a little, I wouldn’t mind. I’d do it all day.”
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes speaks to the media during Opening Night for the NFL Super Bowl 54. (AP Photo/Steve Luciano)
SHUT UP AND DANCE WITH ME
Patrick Mahomes can throw as well as anyone and even showed off his skills as a runner in the AFC title game for the Kansas City Chiefs.
There are some things he’s not quite as skilled at.
“The only thing he can’t do is maybe dancing,” teammate Sammy Watkins said. “He can do everything, every sport, any game, any board game, whatever.”
Well, Mahomes tap-danced quite nicely down the sideline on his go-ahead TD against Tennessee.
NO HISTORY MAJOR
Chris Jones probably isn’t the best guy to have on your team for a Super Bowl trivia night.
He only started watching the game about three years ago.
You see, the Chiefs defensive tackle didn’t even start playing football until the 11th grade, and even then he played for only a half-season. But the 6-foot-6, 310-pounder with the agility of a ballerina and the mean streak of a saltwater crocodile turned out to be pretty good at it, and quickly became a five-star prospect before committing to Mississippi State.
He played three seasons there before entering the NFL draft, when the Chiefs picked him in the second round, and it finally dawned on him that he might want to watch the game everyone was trying to reach at the end of the season.
Better than watching it? Playing in it. That’s what he’ll be doing against San Francisco on Sunday night.
ROCK ‘EM SOCK ’EM
Another sport made its way onto the Florida Marlins’ field at media night. No, not baseball. Boxing — sort of.
A representative of DAZN, the streaming service, carried a mini Rock’em Sock’em Robots game and challenged just about anyone to give it a try.
One Kansas City Chief, safety Jordan Lucas, was willing, but his robot didn’t fare too well. Lucas can only hope he and his team stand up better against the 49ers on Sunday.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
