Paul Heyman Explains Why Roman Reigns Fits His Character So Well

Roman Reigns lives the character of the Tribal Chief in and out of the ring, and Paul Heyman says that’s why it’s a compelling role. Heyman has been working with Reigns since he returned in 2020 as the new gimmick that has led to his dominance over WWE.

Heyman spoke about helping Reigns understand the character in his appearance on Six Feet Under. He also talked about why the man underneath fits the role of Roman Reigns so well. You can see highlights below:

On Talking With Reigns About the Character:

“When Roman and I first got put together, we would talk on the phone. And at times, I’d just out of the blue, in the middle of a conversation talking about, you know, just, ‘How does your lawn look today?’ You know, just completely off-topic, I’d say, ‘What’d you have for breakfast today?’ ‘Oh, you know, this many eggs and, you know, a bowl of oatmeal, whatever,’ ‘Great, what did the Tribal Chief have?’ And I’d want him to talk to me as the Tribal Chief. And not just for a promo for five minutes. Talk to me for a while, spend a half-hour on the phone with me as the Tribal Chief. ‘Do small talk with me as the Tribal Chief. Did the Tribal Chief take his kids to school today? Did the Tribal Chief pick his kids up from school today? What was that conversation like?’

“So that he learns how to walk in the skin of that character so much that he’s just as comfortable being the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns as he is being Joe Anoa’i. And once you have that comfort level of understanding who that person is, then you can switch it on and hopefully, afterwards, switch it off. But that you could switch it on in your pursuit of greatness ’cause you truly understand who that character is. If you walk in, go, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that, I don’t know.’ Okay, why wouldn’t you say it? What would you say? What would your character say? How would your character approach it? What’s the new layer of your character that we can reveal because this is a new situation for the character to be in?”

On Why the Character Fits Reigns:

“It’s close to home for him, though. It’s super close, he is the head of his table. He is the Tribal Chief of that family, he legitimately is. And there always was, you know. For a while it was Afa and Sika together, and Afa would handle the business and Sika was the muscle. And then, Rodney stepped up. And for a while, it was Junior. Junior was the undisputed head of that family for a long time, and it was time for Joe. And you know this — the head of that family takes care of a lot of people in that family. There’s a lot of people dependent on the head of that family, and that’s Joe.

“And so, the Tribal Chief was something that we came up with because he was, and he is. And to me, that was very easy to fall into as his — at first special counsel, and then he named me the Wise Man. But it was very easy to fall into that because I looked at him like he was my Tribal Chief. Because he conducted himself like a tribal chief. He aspired not only to live the character, but he admired the character and the traits of that character. And the benefits that that character brought himself, his wife, his children and the rest of his family to the point where he’s — Joe Anoa’i looked at Roman Reigns, the Tribal Chief, and said, ‘I need to be more like that, like him. That guy is worthy of admiration and worthy of the respect that I want bestowed upon me.’ And he conducts himself like that, he is the Tribal Chief.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Six Feet Under with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.