When Roman Reigns and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took the ring together on RAW‘s debut on Netflix, it had fans around the world thinking the same thing: was “The Final Boss” going to turn on the “Tribal Chief?”

That's right, after working together at WrestleMania 40 in Johnosn's first match this decade, he and Reigns suddenly found themselves on the opposite side of the heel-face dynamic. The Rock, despite playing nice for much of the night,  was still a heel the last time fans saw him on television, seemingly working alongside Solo Sikoa, while Reigns had turned himself into arguably the most popular babyface in the promotion; how could they co-exist?

Well, as it turns out, they did co-exist, but in the opinion of Rikishi on his Off The Top podcast, they really shouldn't have, as the promotion had the perfect opportunity to set up something great only to let it pass for one reason or another.

“Just because I'm one of the boys, like, ‘Okay, where do we go with this,' right? I'm thinking, like, Man, this is, is something going to happen here or as always, like, maybe not yet. We're just going to plant the seed. That's the way I seen it,” Rikishi said via Fightful.

“It was a good way of The Rock validating, somewhat like passing the torch over to [Roman] because they kept mentioning The Rock's name on TV, his Matai name, okay, his Matai Name is Seiuli. So, for Seiuli, The Rock, to be able to actually — we've seen that before. When the Ula Fala was first introduced into the world of professional wrestling, or we've seen Roman's father, Uncle Sika give Roman the blessings of the Ula Fala. So when I seen that happen on Monday Night RAW, it was like a beautiful thing, man, but it also like, boy, if I wanted to turn heel, if Rock wanted to turn heel, what a perfect time to do it.”

Did WWE make a mistake? Should Reigns and Rock begin a program to see who ends up becoming the Tribal Chief? Sure, but do you know what? There's still time, and that could happen at the Royal Rumble, so this is a regular TBD for the time being.

Rikishi acknowledges Roman Reigns as Tribal Chief

Elsewhere on his podcast, Rikishi discussed Reigns becoming the new Tribal Chief over his son Sikoa, noting that he fully acknowledges his accomplishment.

“I think we, we all need to acknowledge Roman Reigns.'The Tribal Chief.' We all need to acknowledge ‘The Tribal Chief.' Man, with what type of character is this guy here? Look at the doors, the opportunities that he's opened, not only for our family but for the business, man,” Rikishi said via Fightful.

“We're tied in with Netflix. Come on. I guarantee you, if the numbers weren't right, for well over four-plus years, this company has been on his back. In comes the Bloodline, running these storylines left and right to keep this thing going. At the end of the day, you can hate us and love us, but the numbers don't lie, baby. The numbers don't lie. You can take that to the bank if you want to. Bloodline was the timeline. Bloodline is the timeline. Hey, Netflix, Bloodline is the timeline.”

As one of the biggest stars in wrestling, Reigns as the Tribal Chief only elevates The Bloodline's story, which doesn't have a title at the moment. So, in a way, Sikoa's loss puts over Rikishi's three sons further, which is a 4D move if I've ever seen one.