During a recent appearance on the Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin podcast, Paul Heyman spoke about the creation and theme of Roman Reigns’ current Tribal Chief character.
Heyman clarified what various elements of Roman’s gimmick signify and how the persona resonates with the fanbase.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the role the character plays in the larger scope of WWE: “I always looked at him and thought, not in these words, but, ‘That’s the Tribal Chief.’ It’s not just a play on the Polynesian Islands or the Samoan Tribal Chief. I know a lot of people suspected at first that was me paying homage to Peter Maivia, you know, the Paramount High Samoan Chief. It’s not. The idea was the tribe is the WWE Universe and he’s The Tribal Chief of the entire WWE. Not of the Samoan Islands. He’s the Tribal Chief of the WWE Universe and he operates out of the Island of Relevancy. It’s funny because we almost didn’t go with Island of Relevancy. We almost went with Championship Island. Somehow, we realized, well, that limits a decade’s long progression of the character, because if it’s not about the championship then why are we on Championship Island.”
On Reigns as the originator of the “Acknowledge Me” concept: “That’s just Roman. He stumbles on to things. The ‘Acknowledge Me’ was a stumble. We were trying to figure out, you know, what does he really want? His first story line as champion was with his cousin, Jey… Roman had said, ‘Well, you know what I really want from Jey? I don’t want his love, I have that. I don’t want his admiration. I don’t even want his obedience. I’ll take that from him. You know what I need? I’m The Head of the Table. I am The Tribal Chief. I need him to acknowledge me.’ The moment he said it, we all got chills because we knew this is bigger than this moment. This is the declarative statement, this is the definition of the character. What does the character want? What does The Tribal Chief need? What does The Head of the Table seek? Acknowledgement. It’s emotional.”
On how Reigns’ catchphrase differs from those of his predecessors: “That’s the bottom line because Stone Cold said so. Alpha male statement. If you smell what The Rock is cooking, same thing, very alpha male, very declarative, very boss, very dominant. What you gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you. In other words, you’re hopeless. You’re helpless. There’s nothing you can do. … These are prison declarative statements. Rest in peace. That means you’re dead. You’re dead motherfucker. You’re against The Undertaker. You’re gonna die at the hands of The Dead Man. Roman’s catchphrase… it’s needy. The most confident performer. The best looking man. The guy that looks like a champion. The one guy that can handle Brock Lesnar. The D1 athlete. A second generation Samoan American wrestler, and he’s needy. He’s a Tribal Chief. He’s the Head of the Table. He runs the family. He’s the biggest star, but he’s needy. He needs you to acknowledge him. Please acknowledge me. I’m not here for your love. I’m not here for your affirmation. I’m not here for you to to cheer my name. I just need you to acknowledge me. It’s unbelievable. It puts the power in the audience to react any way they want.”
On how Heyman thinks Reigns’ character resonates with the fanbase: “The reactions are always incredible because it empowers the audience to be real. It empowers the audience to be themselves. It empowers the audience to be their own Tribal Chief and say or do anything they want and the most powerful performer in the industry in decades, is asking you, pleading with you, please do this.”
