Roman Reigns: Tribal Chief and the Samoan Wrestling Dynasty, Explained

WrestleTalk

Roman Reigns: Tribal Chief and the Samoan Wrestling Dynasty, Explained What was your favourite moment during the feud between Roman Reigns and Jey Uso?  A special thank you to David Tuinei for speaking to me for this video. For more information about the Samoan Cultural Center visit: lefaleoo.com Or find them on Facebook: https://bit.ly/2Kj3DT1  SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/  Roman Reigns returned at SummerSlam 2020 and turned heel, proclaiming himself to be the head of the table and the tribal chief, but what does it mean to be a chief in 2020/21? And what significance does it have to Jey Uso and the rest of the Samoan wrestling dynasty? Laurie is here to explain.  #wwe #partsfunknown #wrestlingdocumentary

Transcript

00:00 Potential is hard to quantify when it comes to wrestling.

00:11 Is it just technical talent, overwhelming charisma, size, presentation, fan support?

00:18 Which concoction of these traits magically produces a main eventer and what accident

00:23 of alchemy produces Shorty G?

00:26 I don't know, I'm not a wizard, but I do know that if Potential is a cocktail of

00:30 characteristics then Roman Reigns has always had all of the right ingredients.

00:35 WWE just never managed to mix them into that tall drink of water.

00:40 Before now.

00:41 Because heel Roman, the Tribal Chief, has flipped fan opinion on the most divisive babyface

00:47 since John Cena, transforming him into the star of one of the most compelling wrestling

00:52 stories of 2020 and 2021, otherwise known as 2022, Electric Boogaloo but worse, and

00:58 made in the centrepiece of the Smackdown universe.

01:02 And fans have gone, you know what, yeah, I accept that.

01:07 He started out with a yard, now he's got an island.

01:10 I'm Laurie Hailing from partsFUNknown and this is the Tribal Chief Explained.

01:15 Before we crack on with this episode, please consider giving us a subscribe so you never

01:28 miss content like this or support us on Patreon.com/partsfunknown for awesome rewards and early access to all

01:36 future videos.

01:43 So when Roman returned at Summerslam 2020 to attack The Fiend and Braun Strowman after

01:48 their Universal title clash, you'd be forgiven for thinking that WWE was just doing what

01:53 they'd always done, putting Roman on top whether you wanted it or not.

01:58 And sure he seemed unusually angry, screaming "you ain't a monster unless I'm here"

02:04 at Braun, bending a chair over his back and spearing the newly crowned champ The Fiend

02:08 a good few times before saying "I run this bitch".

02:14 But Braun and The Fiend were both heels and Roman had sat out most of 2020 with an enlarged

02:19 spleen making it dangerous for him to compete after his recent recovery from leukaemia.

02:24 So there was every possibility that WWE viewed this violence as a babyface thing.

02:30 It's the Charlotte Paradox as I like to call it.

02:33 And I do think that people initially chalked it up to being another facet of the badass

02:37 babyface character, the "owner of yards" that Roman had been since retiring Taker.

02:44 Wreck Everyone and Leave was already written on his t-shirt, You'll Never See It Coming

02:48 was the tagline for Summerslam, it all just felt a little too contrived to be anything

02:54 other than WWE's latest harebrained scheme to make Roman the guy.

02:59 Because they'd already had about as many goes at that as Taker had at retiring and

03:02 neither of those stuck.

03:04 So it was a genuine shock when it turned out on Smackdown that Roman Reigns wasn't "the

03:09 guy", he was a Paul Heyman guy and he was a full on heel.

03:14 Suddenly if you were the kind of fan who had the urge to boo Roman it all made sense because

03:19 the character finally reflected the reality.

03:24 Because after six months of uncertainty with the global pandemic WWE were returning to

03:29 the relative safety of Roman with the belt, even though fans had been clamouring to see

03:34 The Fiend get a second bite at the atoll for quite some time.

03:38 Roman wins lol, which he did at payback being both The Fiend and Strowman, so a double f***ing

03:45 lol.

03:46 But the magic is that Roman now knew we hated that idea and didn't really care.

04:01 He was doing what he thought was best for himself, best for his family, best for business.

04:07 Best for us comes in tangentially to that, what do we actually know?

04:12 Reigns described it in a shoot interview with CBS Sports like this.

04:17 "I try to look at it as being a character in a storyline and he has choices like anyone

04:22 else.

04:23 Some of his choices are going to be perceived as good, some of them are going to be perceived

04:27 as bad, and some of them people won't understand because they won't understand where he's

04:33 coming from.

04:34 That might be because they're not in the same field or on the same level, kind of like

04:38 how I told my cousin that he wouldn't understand what it's like to be on top.

04:42 He never has to operate at the top.

04:45 He's never been WWE champion.

04:47 He's never been Universal champion.

04:50 I have many times."

04:53 And with all of those times on top comes not only a weight of expectation that you would

05:00 carry the company, save the failing viewing figures, do all of the media, but also this

05:07 oppressive pressure of trying to win over a rather hostile fanbase.

05:11 It's the kind of pressure that might twist you in ways that made people uncomfortable.

05:16 Roman's special counsel Paul Heyman put it really well in an interview with Sports Illustrated's

05:21 media podcast when discussing why Roman didn't turn heel earlier in his career.

05:27 Which everyone was asking for.

05:30 He said before he looked late 20s, early 30s and he was still too young.

05:36 He wasn't grizzled and didn't have any scars.

05:39 Now you see the wars on his face.

05:42 You see the pressure and obligation and responsibility and accountability and the sheer burden.

05:48 That's the cool word when it comes to being a top star in WWE.

05:52 The burden and the weight and what it's done to Roman Reigns.

05:57 Four WrestleMania main events.

05:59 It would have been five if he appeared this year.

06:02 It will be five when he appears at next year's WrestleMania.

06:06 Battle scarred, grizzled, burdened.

06:09 This Roman Reigns has been fighting his entire existence.

06:14 Whether that's fighting opponents, management, the fans, his gruelling schedule, illness.

06:22 So he comes back.

06:23 It's like WWE always knew the importance of Roman.

06:26 Joe, humble though he is, also always knew the importance of Roman.

06:31 He knew the importance of Roman, though we didn't actually want to admit it.

06:34 But now Roman knows the importance of Roman and he is tired of people getting in the way

06:42 of him doing his job.

06:46 And that job is to keep WWE relevant and make himself and other talent look good.

06:53 As he told CBS Sports, Roman would say that's the island of relevancy.

06:58 That's how powerful the character is and if we can take someone like my cousin, who

07:03 has been half of the best tag team of my generation, and elevate him and put him in the spotlight

07:09 all the way from just 15 minutes ago, I was talking about him on ESPN First Take, that

07:14 wasn't happening before.

07:16 Now we put him in a position to where all eyes are on him.

07:20 In kayfabe though his overall goal is as champion to collect the biggest paycheck in order to

07:27 provide for his family, which is where Samoan culture begins to bleed into this storyline.

07:39 Because Roman is a member of the Aniwai wrestling family, which started with High Chief Peter

07:45 Maivia, grandfather of The Rock.

07:48 It was Peter who trained Roman's father Seeker and his uncle Afa, the Wild Samoans,

07:52 who in turn imparted their wisdom to Roman.

07:55 We've heard it all before, but it's a proud wrestling lineage with knowledge of

07:59 this family business being shared across generations.

08:03 Roman's brother Rosie was also a wrestler, he's cousins with Yokozuna, Umaga and Rikishi,

08:09 he's the uncle of the Usos.

08:12 And that history hangs over this storyline.

08:16 Samoan culture is structured around Fa'a Samoa, which is translated as the Samoan Way,

08:23 which David Tuine, founder of the Lefaleo Samoan Cultural Centre, was kind enough to

08:28 tell me all about.

08:30 Living in isolation like we do, your network, which is your immediate network, is your family,

08:39 is the basis of your survival.

08:41 It's going to be very difficult for an individual to survive out in these conditions by themselves.

08:46 That is the core and the root of this idea that we have as Samoans, and it's passed

08:52 down through generations, that the family is the key, right?

08:57 You survive not as an individual, you survive as a family.

09:02 And you thrive as an individual as you thrive as a community.

09:06 Family is a very integral part of our psyche, right?

09:10 We don't survive without our family.

09:12 And so we do everything that we can to care for our family, take care of these relationships

09:16 and these bonds that we have.

09:18 So if Roman sees himself as a matai, or a chief, it is his responsibility to provide

09:24 for his family.

09:25 And sure, Kevin Owens has used that as a hook for his prizefighter gimmick, and Heath Slater

09:30 has had his 'I Got Kids' t-shirt, but the pressure on a chief is to provide for

09:36 a whole community and make really tough choices in doing so.

09:41 There's a saying in Samoan, 'ole ala i le pule, ole tau tua', and what that means

09:46 is the road to authority is through service.

09:50 This idea that the greatest among us is the least, right?

09:53 The greatest among us is the servant among us.

09:56 So as the head of the family, right, there's many responsibilities that fall on you to

10:03 be able to make sure that the family is organized and functioning properly.

10:08 And they're bestowed a title to govern or have authority to govern this particular

10:16 family.

10:17 But our family depends on me.

10:20 Our family relies on me being the tribal chief.

10:24 That's who I am in this life.

10:26 That's why Jey becoming number one contender should have been a good thing for the family.

10:32 Because firstly, Jey gets a main event paycheck providing more for the family, and secondly,

10:38 Jey was likely to lie down letting Roman hold onto the top spot and that steady paycheck

10:43 longer.

10:44 The only thing is, Jey didn't.

10:48 Why can't I be the one to provide for the family, Us?

10:53 Because Jey also wanted to be a provider to make a name for himself apart from his twin

10:58 brother and that's why he opened the Clash match saying "I'm just trying to get this

11:03 to Us".

11:07 Sounded incredibly white there.

11:08 Because the spot of chief was technically still up for grabs because it's something

11:15 that is bestowed by family unanimously.

11:19 The way that one becomes a chief is just that.

11:22 "Kuleala le pule kaupua" meaning that the road to authority is through service.

11:28 So individuals that display a certain amount, you know, that serve the family, right?

11:34 That put time and effort to try to keep the family going, you know, doing the chores,

11:38 all these other things, are individuals that other family members will recognize and say,

11:44 "Hey, that's a person that has displayed that their heart is in the right place.

11:50 That they're about the family and making sure that the family is taken care of and that

11:54 they're not seeking out their own glory or their own opportunities, right?

11:58 Their own agenda, personal agendas.

12:00 The way a chief is selected is by family consent.

12:03 Even if it was father to son, father to son, they still present the son to the family and

12:10 seek the family's consent.

12:13 Traditionally, the families would seek 100% consent for this title passing from father

12:19 to son.

12:20 And we agree as a family, because you're not a chief unless you have a family to care for,

12:27 right?

12:28 So a title could be a title, but if it's a title without substance, then, you know,

12:33 it's a bell without a ring.

12:35 Roman's ascension to the role of tribal chief relies on Jay consenting.

12:41 So then there's also cultural significance to Jay arriving to this match wearing this

12:45 red garland because it is symbolic of the ceremonies in which people become Matai.

12:51 What they call in Samoan, "Ole Fa'a'u'io, Ole Ula."

12:55 And so this is where now Roman in Samoan culture really oversteps the mark because not only

13:20 does he cheat to keep Jay down, a blow to the family jewels of all things, but after

13:35 Jay refuses to quit, refuses to recognise and it's Jimmy that throws in the towel

13:40 on his behalf, Roman accepts the Ula from Paul Heyman.

13:45 He takes the mantle of the Matai without earning the respect that usually goes along with it.

13:53 So that's why he's pissed at his official ceremony.

14:14 So now Roman is stuck at this crossroads because he did what he had to do to secure his position,

14:19 but he's lost even more respect for doing it when he went too far with Jay.

14:26 So his next move is kind of a catch 22 for Jay because if Jay loses at Hell in a Cell

14:31 he has to fall in line, acknowledge the chief or him and his brother, their families and

14:36 their entire lineage will be removed from the Samoan dynasty.

14:40 In a Cell, like choking out Jay's brother, he has to grudgingly respect him.

14:49 Catch 22.

14:50 Unless, of course, Jay won.

14:53 Which was always an option.

14:55 It wasn't.

14:56 He didn't.

14:57 And Roman is not going to let that happen.

14:58 To quote another inspiration of Roman's for this character, Mafia Bosses.

15:01 I can't do a Brando but he made him an offer he can't refuse.

15:06 I sound like a frog person.

15:08 He made him an offer he can't refuse.

15:10 But the mob influences is a subject for another video.

15:14 The deeper I don't know why I am by the entire thing, because every step of the process

15:20 has significance and reflects Samoan culture in a way that is true, enhances the culture

15:26 and doesn't resort to lazy tribal stereotyping.

15:40 And even if your gripe with all of this is that Roman is the chief and the chief is a

15:44 heel and that's not as good as presenting all of this stuff in a positive light, there

15:49 is this lovely subtext to the whole story that Roman, or Joe in this case, is actually

15:55 out there raising his cousin up into the main event scene, looking out for his family.

16:01 Now that is how a chief should behave.

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17:14 So thank you once again for watching and why not watch another video in this series because

17:18 they're on screen now, they're there to be enjoyed.

17:21 Just enjoy them, they're there to be enjoyed.

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