In WWE, like in life, there's nothing worse than a bad nickname. While some, like Seth Rollins, have been able to overcome a bad moniker, with “Freakin'” arguably the worse nickname imaginable, others haven't been so lucky, with Roman Reigns famously being showered with dog food by Baron Corbin in what would be the final bow of his “Big Dog” character before linking up with Paul Heyman.
Fortunately, after being straddled with a string of less-than-ideal gimmicks basically since he left The Shield, Reigns landed a very good one in the “Tribal Chief,” a nickname that both plays on his family ties and cements himself as the “Head of the Table.”
Discussing the process behind reinventing Reigns for primetime following an absence due to COVID-19 in an appearance on Rick Rubin's Tetragrammaton podcast, Heyman explained how the ‘Tribal Chief' came into being and how it perfectly encompasses all elements of Reigns' new character.
“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,” Heyman said via Fightful. “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 the 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.”
Yeah, no offense to the genius wrestling minds of Reigns and Heyman, but calling the “Tribal Chief's” home Championship Island would have been a mistake, even if it would have been technically correct, as the “Head of the Table” has been champion for 1,014 days and counting. Still, the idea of making Reigns not just the Tribal Chief of the Fatu/Anoa'i' family but of the WWE Universe, in general, is a smart one, as his calls to “Acknowledge Me” have been met with incredible reactions from around the world, even when facing off against uber babyfaces like Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes. And the best part, at least for Heyman? He was afforded a special title too, which he holds in incredibly high regard when compared to the storied history of the McMahon family's wrestling empire.
Paul Heyman considers “The Wise Man” to be an incredible honor.
Turning his attention from the “Tribal Chief” to his own moniker, “The Wiseman,” Paul Heyman explained how the title came into being and just how much he appreciated Roman Reigns' decision to bestow him with the honor.
“Well, I came up with Tribal Chief, and Roman came up with Special Council for me, and he tagged me the ‘Wise Man,'” Heyman said. “When he called me The Wise Man, I was just like, ‘Wow, he just threw me something, man. He just bestowed upon me a sacred name in WWE/WWF/WWWF culture.' In the McMahon's family dynasty, that's a sacred name. Bobby Heenan was not the ‘Wise Man.' Jimmy Hart was not the Wise Man. Slick was not the Wise Man. None of these people ever got bestowed upon them the title of ‘Wise Man.' So I just thought, like, ‘Wow, he just made his Special Council a Wise Man. I will remember this promo for the rest of my life.' Then everyone started to come up and go, ‘Wise Man, could I ask you something?' It just stuck. Even Vince would say, ”Wise Man', may have a moment.' I'm like, ‘Vince's calling me ‘Wise Man?' What have you done?'”
Wow, who knew the “Wise Man” moniker meant so much to Heyman, especially when he's also called the Special Council, which is a big-time title in and of itself?
While any one element of The Bloodline storyline may not stand on its own, when they all come together and have since expanded to include elements that felt borderline unimaginable when Heyman and Reigns first linked up, like the additions of Solo Sikoa and “The Honorary Uce,” Sami Zayn, it's clear WWE has stacked mythology on top of mythology, on top of mythology to create something truly special and relatively president in the promotion's recent booking strategy. Though the story is clearly on the back nine at this point – though, to be fair, folks have been saying that for about nine months now – it's pretty incredible to see how the storyline continues to develop and mature with each passing week.
Follow Us
Subscribe