Roman Reigns speaks about his Tribal Chief character ahead of WrestleMania 37
WWE Universal title-holder Roman Reigns was on PR duty earlier this week as he spoke in an interview with the People Magazine.
Reigns was out of the fray for months due to health issues. But he made his much-awaited comeback at SummerSlam in August 2020.
And since then, he has embodied a new character; that of the feared and brutal ‘Tribal Chief’. During that time, he has held the Universal title, which he is now set to defend against Edge in less than a week’s time.
With the company not doing its best financially in the past few months because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of interesting storylines, Reigns is one wrestler that has been carrying the promotion on his back.
His Tribal Chief moniker is to thank for that as WWE’s own supervillain has been carrying out that role to perfection.
And he spoke about why he thinks his new character is doing so well. According to him, it’s because people can relate to it on some level.
“There’s a lot of truth to what we put into the Tribal Chief character, the burden of the crown, of being the face of the company. I think everybody would like to be Superman, but to be able to have some of those Superman qualities, then also display the emotions, the mentality that comes into it, and the way it can affect a man. People connect to that.”
Reigns battled cancer and came out victoriously of that situation to re-establish himself as a WWE superstar. That is a fight, a struggle, that many people face in their lives.
Perhaps not to that extent or in that way, but they can see that Reigns’ life is not all rosy and he has also battled a very serious, very real problem.
This is something that Reigns suggests the people relate to, even if he doesn’t use those words exclusively in his interview.
“People understand the struggle, people understand these different battles, these emotional battles that my character kind of displays on a weekly basis. I think it allows for a different connection, and that’s why it’s been received so well.”
It now remains to be seen if Reigns can defend his title against the 2021 Royal Rumble winner as WrestleMania 37 draws closer. But whatever the result, one thing is for sure; The Tribal Chief is here to stay.
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