Roman Reigns: The Tragic Journey of the Tribal Chief – Update

DISCLAIMER: This is a piece detailing the kayfabe character of Roman Reigns: The Tribal Chief. In parts of this piece, I will touch on Roman’s fan response during his Big Dog run. In these sections I am specifically detailing how fan response may have molded Roman’s kayfabe character. Nothing I am detailing is an inditement on fans’ response.

As of this writing, Roman Reigns has been Universal Champion for 1073 days. For 1073 he has dominated WWE and left countless challengers laying on their backs for the 1, 2, 3. But the story of the Tribal Chief did not begin with his shocking return attacking Bray Wyatt. Rather, it began 9 years ago on a summer night when Seth Rollins stuck a dagger in the backs of his Shield teammates. This betrayal plants the seeds of distrust which grow overtime and blossom into the Tribal Chief, a character full of manipulation and hunger for control. But I’m getting ahead of myself, because there is another cornerstone in the foundation of the Tribal Chief character, us.

After Roman’s run with the Shield ended in tragedy, he began a lengthy run as the Big Dog. This run was mired with synthetic accolades forced by WWE, trying to make Roman Reigns the next John Cena level star. Obviously, the crowd didn’t accept that and the result was rejection…and a lot of it. Throughout the Big Dog run, Roman was shoved down the throats of fans and was repeatedly rejected by them through no fault of his own. The character Roman Reigns was constantly dealing with rejection, when in character, he did nothing but what he thought was right for the fans. The character Roman Reigns always did the right thing and stood up to the big bad (Brock Lesnar, Baron Corbin etc.) Yet all he got was rejection for his troubles for years.

Now imagine being a person who is constantly fighting against the bully, week in and week out fighting against people who are malevolent, yet you never receive an ounce of gratitude? Thats enough to drive even the best of us to be selfish. Today, Tribal Chief isn’t waiting around for fans to give him his adoration and flowers. He has had enough of their rejection. It has effected him so much that he now repeatedly needs to demand acknowledgement. Roman Reign’s insecurities from years and years of rejection have turned him into a person who needs his affirmations now and he’s finally willing to take them by force.

But this constant need of acknowledgement is only part of who the Tribal Chief is. Roman really is a manipulative piece of work. He has anyone who comes close to him wrapped around his fingers. Just look at how he has controlled The Usos and Sami Zayn. Today, Roman is a master manipulator and extremely controlling. But the question is, how did he get here? To answer that, we need to revisit something I mentioned earlier, Romans first bout with betrayal.

The Shield were a force to be reckoned with at their height. They ran through the WWE with ease and defeated groups such as Team Hell No, The Usos, Prime Time Players and even the legendary Evolution. But team accolades weren’t enough for Rollins, and thus he stabbed his brothers in the back in pursuit of singles glory. This betrayal shook Roman to the core, even though he may not have outwardly shown it. These three were family to one another, they literally called each other brothers. But that brotherhood didn’t mean much to Rollins when Triple H promised him individual glory. A family died on June 2, 2014, and Reigns never truly recovered.

But Rollins betrayal wasn’t the only thing Roman witnessed. On October 22, 2018, Roman Reigns relinquished his WWE Universal Championship to battle his returning leukemia. It was an emotional moment which transcended wrestling. Afterwords, his old Shield brothers came out for a moment of support. It was an emotional and touching moment.

But later that night tragedy struck again. A mere two hours after showing a united front for Roman, Dean Ambrose turned on Seth Rollins and viciously attacked him. While this time, Roman wasn’t the one being directly betrayed, I could only imagine how he felt watching one of his brothers violently attacking his other brother right after Roman’s emotional life altering announcement. Again, the people closest to him could not put aside their selfishness to be united for him…even during his most trying time. The character of Roman Reigns was alone again.

Today, Roman Reigns is terrified of betrayal. He can’t stand the idea of someone backstabbing him. He is so obsessed with loyalty, he has become a slave to it and constantly needs his blood family to repeatedly prove their loyalty to him. Sami was all in with Bloodline, all he wanted was some acceptance. But Roman could not overcome his fears of betrayal to see that, he needed repeated oaths of loyalty, repeated acts of loyalty until he finally pushed Sami over the edge. Roman’s fear of betrayal is what ultimately led to his next biggest betrayal. But it didn’t end with Sami, it only continued with his cousins The Usos. Soon enough it will probably happen with Solo too…and eventually Roman will be alone again. But this time, it won’t be because of the selfishness of others, but rather his fear of finally trusting someone again.

Now let me ask you dear reader, if you were subject to constant rejection from the group of people you try your hardest to make happy. If you were betrayed by your brother unexpectedly and then left aside and alone during your lowest point due to the selfishness of those closest to you, how would you react? Would you still be the person you are today? I don’t think anyone could go through what Roman Reigns has went through and not become closed off and a bit more selfish. Roman Reigns is a victim of his past trauma. Roman is afraid of rejection, betrayal. He is afraid to be alone. But the greatest tragedy is Roman is already alone. Rejected by the fans, betrayed by his brothers Roman was driven over the edge. Now he is forcefully trying to build a family, a support system, but that too is crumbling around him. Roman Reigns went from Big Dog to Tribal Chief.

Soon Reigns will be the chief of a tribe of just one, and that really is a tragedy.