Tag: Roman Reigns

WWE Will Not Introduce A Tribal Chief Championship

As previously reported here on Wrestling News Blog, WWE had been exploring the idea of introducing a new championship to highlight the intense rivalry between Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa. However, according to the latest update from The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, those plans have officially been shelved.

The Tribal Conflict

The feud between the two Bloodline leaders has been brewing for months, with both Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa vying to establish themselves as the true Tribal Chief. At Survivor Series: WarGames 2024, Reigns solidified his dominance by pinning Sikoa in a high-stakes WarGames match. The event saw the Original Bloodline, alongside CM Punk, clash with the New Bloodline and Bronson Reed, leaving fans buzzing about the heated familial warfare.

The rivalry is far from over, as Reigns and Sikoa are set to collide in a Tribal Combat match on the premiere episode of RAW on Netflix next month in Los Angeles. The bout promises to be another brutal chapter in their ongoing saga.

No Tribal Championship

While early speculation suggested that WWE was considering creating a “Tribal Championship” to symbolize the ultimate prize in their feud, recent reports confirm that such a title will not be introduced. Instead, the focus will remain on the ula fala, a traditional Samoan necklace that has become a symbol of leadership within the Bloodline storyline.

“Regarding reports of a new title being added called the Tribal Chief title, we’re told that’s not happening,” the Observer noted. “Now will guys feud over the ula fala? Yes, obviously.”

What’s Next?

With the rumored championship off the table, the ula fala remains at the heart of this epic Bloodline conflict. The unique stakes and cultural significance of the ula fala have added depth to an already captivating story, allowing Reigns and Sikoa to channel their personal and professional tensions into one of WWE’s most talked-about rivalries.

Fans can expect fireworks when Reigns and Sikoa square off in Los Angeles next month. Will Reigns continue to assert his dominance, or will Sikoa rise to the occasion and claim his spot as the rightful Tribal Chief?

Report – New Theme Song For Roman Reigns Is Ready To Go

Roman Reigns may be debuting a new theme song in the near future.

Fightful Select is reporting that a new full theme song has been produced for the WWE Superstar.

The report notes that the music is ready to go whenever WWE wants to use it. The song is said to be “expansive and lengthy to say the least.”

As of this writing, there is no word on whether the song will be used for Reigns moving forward. But it is there if needed.

Speaking of Roman Reigns, he made his return on this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown.

During the main event of this week’s show, Solo Sikoa came to the ring to proclaim that he was the new Tribal Chief and if Reigns had a problem with it, he could come down and attempt to take the title from him.

Reigns eventually came out and took out Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa. As Solo and Reigns began to brawl, the latter was about to take out Solo with a Superman Punch, but Loa pulled him out of the ring.

It’s worth noting that Jacob Fatu was not present for the segment. Fatu is currently dealing with an injury. It isn’t known how long he’ll be out of action.

Source: eWn

WWE Hall Of Famer & Father Of Roman Reigns Sika Anoa’i Has Passed Away At Age 79

WWE Hall of Famer Sika Anoaʻi has died at the age of 79. Born Leati Sika Amituana’i Anoa’i, he was the father of Roman Reigns and late WWE star Rosey

Jahrus Anoa’i broke the news that Anoa’i passed away in an Instagram post. He leaves behind his wife Patricia and four children including Roman Reigns. Sika was preceded in death by his son Rosey.

Following in his brother’s footsteps, Sika began training in the early 1970s and made his Stampede debut in 1973. The Wild Samoans made their way to WWF in 1979 and became two-time WWF Tag Team Champions during their initial run. While away from the company for a few years, The Wild Samoans spent time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Mid-South, and Georgia Championship Wrestling.

Upon returning to WWF in 1983, Afa and Sika regained the WWF Tag Team Championship and reigned for several months that year. Sika returned again in 1986 as a singles competitor before teaming up with Kamala. His last televised WWF match would be a battle royal at WrestleMania IV, which was won by Bad News Brown.

Sika wrestled nearly a dozen more times following his sole WrestleMania bout, and his last match took place on the indies in 2006. The Wild Samoans were then inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 and remained active as trainers at their own school in Florida.

After news broke Tuesday that WWE Hall of Famer Sika Anoa’i had died at the age of 79, his son Roman Reigns took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a tribute to his late father. 

“My family and I thank everyone for the outpouring of support in the name of my father, Pola’ivao Leati Sika Anoa’i, who will forever be remembered as one half of The Wild Samoans tag team,” he said. “My father had a profound impact on my entire family and we are forever grateful for the foundation he built for us. There’s no way to fill the void left by his passing but my sisters and I will do our best to represent him and his legacy. Rest in Power, Dad. We love you.”

https://twitter.com/WWERomanReigns/status/1805778972783034801

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Fox Blacks Out WWE SmackDown Bloodline Segment In Reported Effort To Avoid Crowd Sign

The Bloodline were once again the focal point of “WWE SmackDown” this week, as The Rock declined Cody Rhodes’ recent challenge for a match at WrestleMania. Instead, Rock thought it would be a better idea to have himself and Roman Reigns face Rhodes and Seth Rollins in a tag team match as one of WrestleMania 40’s main events. “The Great One” has been playing up his heelish antics as of late, so much so that Fox had to work around the crowd who weren’t happy to see Rock on “SmackDown.”

PWInsider reports that the random blackouts fans in the United States kept experiencing on the March 1 “Smackdown” wasn’t a technical problem, but was Fox themselves trying to censor a sign in the crowd that read “Die Rocky Die.” The fans also chanted “Die Rocky Die” at the former WWE Champion, causing the crowd to be dubbed over, and in some cases, completely muted due to the hostility of the chant.

The “Die Rocky Die” chant became infamous not too long after Rock’s 1996 WWE debut, as the fans didn’t respond well to the bland Rocky Maivia character being forced upon them. The chant would eventually lead to Dwayne Johnson shedding his babyface persona of Rocky Maivia and evolving into The Rock. He would join The Nation of Domination in 1997 to revolt against the WWE fans who booed him, deciding to forge his own path of not caring about anyone but himself. However, his natural charisma and attitude proved too much for the fans to remain against, and his entertaining villainy launched him into WWE’s main event scene and eventually becoming one of the most popular stars of all time.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

The Rock Acknowledges Roman Reigns, Lays Out WrestleMania Challenge On WWE SmackDown

Cody Rhodes, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns may be pulling double duty WrestleMania 40 weekend, following Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson issuing a challenge with set stipulations during the opening of Friday’s “WWE SmackDown.” The Rock also acknowledged his cousin, Reigns, as his Tribal Chief during the segment after Reigns interrupted Rock’s iconic “if you smell” catchphrase.

Rhodes had previously challenged the Rock to a one-on-one match during “The Grayson Waller Effect” at Elimination Chamber. Rollins did him one better and said he would team with Rhodes to take on the Rock and Reigns. On “SmackDown,” Rock said he wouldn’t be facing Rhodes one-on-one because everyone wants to challenge “The Great One.” He did challenge both Rhodes and Rollins to the tag team match the World Heavyweight Champion previously suggested at the premium live event, but with added stipulations.

Rock said that if Rhodes and Rollins win on WrestleMania Night One, the Bloodline would be barred from ringside during Rhodes’ match for Reigns’ title on Night Two. However, if the babyface team loses, Rock said the title match would be a “Bloodline Rules” match where anything goes. Rock said he was giving Rhodes the option to accept the challenge, but if he doesn’t, he said he is going to make sure Rhodes does not win the title.

There’s currently no word on if Rollins and Rhodes will acknowledge the challenge on “WWE Raw” on Monday, but Rhodes is scheduled to appear on the next three episodes of “SmackDown” alongside the Rock on the “Road to WrestleMania.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Reported Date For The Rock & Roman Reigns Vs. Seth Rollins & Cody Rhodes In WWE

To say that the road to WWE WrestleMania 40 has been eventful would be an understatement, as the proposed main event between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes has been confirmed, dropped, and re-assigned within a few weeks. Not only that, but The Rock has gotten involved and joined The Bloodline, while Seth Rollins has put his differences with the “American Nightmare” aside to fight the good fight for WWE. This story took another turn at Elimination Chamber in Perth when Rhodes challenged The Rock to a match, prompting Rollins to offer his support in the battle against the Bloodline. 

The idea of the Bloodline against Rhodes and Rollins is enough to get even the most casual WWE fired up, and it might be on the cards. According to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of “Wrestling Observer Radio,” he’s heard that the match could headline night one of WrestleMania 40. While this is all speculation at this time, it would mean that both Rollins and Reigns would pull double duty over WrestleMania weekend, as they would both have to defend their respective championships on night two.

While Reigns vs. Rhodes has been officially confirmed for some time, Rollins is scheduled to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 40. This follows McIntyre’s victory in the men’s Elimination Chamber match this past Saturday in Perth. The Rock and Reigns have yet to answer the callout made by the “American Nightmare” at Elimination Chamber, a topic of discussion that might crop up this Friday when the Bloodline makes an appearance on the March 1 edition of “SmackDown.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Cody Rhodes Will Face Roman Reigns For Undisputed WWE Universal Title At WrestleMania 40

Cody Rhodes will challenge Roman Reigns at WrestleMania XL.

The WrestleMania 40 press conference in Las Vegas was nothing if not explosive. For the entirety of the men’s segments, chants of “we want Cody”, “let’s go Rocky”, and “Rocky sucks” reverberated off of the walls of the T-Mobile arena.

Roman Reigns made the first move by announcing that he wants to face Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in Philadelphia. “The Rock” came out immediately after to greet Las Vegas, and was met by a swelling wave of boo’s. Johnson stood silent for several minutes as the audience continuously hijacked the segment with chants, boo’s, and off-handed comments. Once the crowd offered a moment of quiet, Johnson formally welcomed the many media journalists in attendance, and introduced them to the “Cody Crybabies”.

Johnson presented a picture of the extensive Anoa’i family tree, and spoke about how Amituana’i Anoa’i and Fanene Anderson (formerly known as Peter Maivia), Reigns’ and Johnson’s grandfathers respectively, tied together their lineages in a blood oath to become aiga, or “family”. Johnson leveraged the history of the Anoa’i clan and their contributions to professional wrestling in order to validate a match between him and Reigns at WrestleMania 40.

Rhodes made his presence known with little introduction, and confronted Reigns and Johnson directly. He chastised Reigns for seizing the Royal Rumble victor’s power to choose any champion at WrestleMania. Rhodes reclaimed that power, and told Reigns, Johnson, Seth Rollins, and the entire world that he would be meeting Reigns in Philadelphia for WrestleMania 40.

Reigns attempted to invoke Rhodes’ father and his forgotten legacy to demoralize Rhodes. “The American Nightmare” shot back, and invoked both Reigns’ and Johnson’s family-based reasoning. He claimed that the Reigns did not care about family, given his treatment of Jey Uso, and that Reigns was just a “meal ticket”. He also criticized the reasoning behind a match with Reigns and Johnson, claiming that the two men were fighting to be the head of the table, but neither had “cooked”, or performed, in two years. Rhodes finished with scathing vitriol, and told Reigns and Johnson that their grandfathers, should they be alive, would be “ashamed” of where their grandsons were.

Johnson did not take too kindly to Rhodes’ comments, and reminded Rhodes that any attack on Reigns’ lineage was an attack on his (Johnson’s). Johnson physically attacked Rhodes, and it took the efforts of multiple WWE officials to separate all involved parties. The fans chanted and whooped as Rhodes, Johnson, and Rollins hurled expletives at each other, and Rhodes was escorted off the stage.

While “The Rock” has expressed a strong desire to be an active participant in Reigns’ WrestleMania 40 plans, his official place in the match has yet to be determined. As of writing, Rhodes has officially chosen to challenge Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 40.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Is The Rock vs. Roman Reigns Still Planned For WrestleMania 40?

Here is the very latest on the plans involving The Rock and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. Please just keep in mind while reading this that the situation is fluid at this point and more will be known on Thursday at the press conference in Las Vegas, NV.

According to a report from Pwinsider, multiple sources claim that The Rock vs. Roman Reigns is still “100% the plan” for WrestleMania 40 despite the strong negative reaction from fans online.

The report states that the match is a “done deal” and is likely “contractually locked in” due to the fact that this is one of the things that was agreed upon with The Rock being appointed to the TKO Board of Directors.

One source went as far as to say there is “no scenario” where The Rock is not facing Roman Reigns short of something like an injury happening. Could they do The Rock vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 (Night One) and Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns (Night Two)? Of course – but that wasn’t the plan as of Monday afternoon.

It is said that Brian Gewirtz, who works closely with The Rock, is expected to be at all major WWE events going forward. This includes the Elimination Chamber 2024 pay-per-view event. He’s also expected to be part of the creative process heading into WrestleMania 40.

While it is said that WWE “definitely took notice” of the reaction Cody Rhodes received, there are several in the company who have pushed for WWE to lean into the situation. The belief internally is that this will all make Rhodes a stronger babyface by playing up the fan support for him. With that being said, there were never any plans to turn The Rock heel or have it come off as if he was taking Rhodes’ spot in a malicious way.

The company can obviously adjust things week-by-week in order to “make it make sense,” as we’re still 61 days away from WrestleMania 40 so there’s plenty of time to change the fan perception.

There are some who believe that with the initial shock of The Rock’s appearance wearing off, the creative team can now work on building everyone as strongly as possible going into the “Showcase of the Immortals.”

It is said that there isn’t a single person in WWE who wants this to hurt Rhodes, as they know how important he is to the company. This includes live events and merchandise sales.

While there were some reports of Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns in a World Heavyweight Title vs. Undisputed WWE Universal Title match taking place at SummerSlam 2024, that is all speculation at this point. That would be six months out and creative is not even being discussed for that show at this point.

Finally, Triple H retweeted the following video of NFL star George Kittle after RAW, seemingly indicating that The Rock could be the special guest referee for a match between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns at WrestleMamia 40. They’re certainty keeping the fans guessing these days as they attempt to pivot away from the negative press involving Vince McMahon.

https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1754732325869441087

Source: eWn

Backstage Report On Why WWE Swapped The Rock In For Cody Rhodes At WrestleMania 2024

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appears to have replaced Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns’ opponent at WrestleMania 40. Despite being a much-discussed dream match, the timing of the announcement and shunting of Rhodes out of the picture has led to huge backlash from fans, and there’s been some updates on the matter since.

Dave Meltzer wrote on the F4W Forum that it was Rock who pushed super hard to make his match with Reigns happen, and the change came to be when it was clear CM Punk and Brock Lesnar were both off the WrestleMania card. Rhodes was previously planned to challenge Reigns in a rematch of their WrestleMania 39 bout, while Punk was penciled in to face WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, and a Rock-Reigns bout was due to be made further down the line with either next year’s WrestleMania or a potential Saudi Arabia show in mind. Meltzer floated the idea that the change could have been made to divert attention from Vince McMahon’s sex trafficking scandal.

PWInsider later indicated that, per some of their WWE sources, Johnson put himself forward to “save WrestleMania” in the absence of Lesnar and Punk. Yet, still other sources reportedly believe he was going to push for this regardless, given his conditional $30 million stock deal with TKO is contingent on hitting milestones. Such milestones are speculated to have included a return to the ring, and Johnson felt the time was right to do so with the idea that Rock vs. Reigns will be the larger attraction. Therefore, it’s possible that regardless of who won the Royal Rumble it was going to be Rock challenging “The Tribal Chief” in Philadelphia. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

The Rock Appears To Replace Cody Rhodes As Roman Reigns’ WWE WrestleMania Challenger

Cody Rhodes will not be facing Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 after all. Instead, it appears Reigns will be facing his cousin, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, following the events of “WWE SmackDown.”

“The Tribal Chief” took to the microphone Friday night in anticipation for Rhodes’ WrestleMania opponent announcement. Reigns responded to World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins’ recent plea to Rhodes, and dismissed Rollins’ self-appointed title of “the guy” and Rollin’s complaints regarding Reigns’ schedule, among other things. Reigns finished his rebuttal by claiming that he wasn’t “going to beg” Rhodes for his attention like Rollins did.

Reigns ultimately did not need to beg, as Rhodes made his entrance shortly thereafter. Tensions were high between the two, to the point that Rhodes dismissed Jimmy and Solo. Initially, Rhodes spoke with the implication that Reigns was his WrestleMania choice, and that the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship was not a Hollywood title, as Rollins claimed, but was “the title that was put into [his] father’s hands at Madison Square Garden, and then swiftly taken away”. Rhodes openly pondered if his story would be finished when he dethroned “The Tribal Chief”, or if his story would be finished when he took “everything” from Reigns. All the pieces were nearly aligned for a Rhodes and Reigns WrestleMania rematch.

Then, Rhodes said that he would not dethrone Reigns at WrestleMania. Instead, Rhodes claimed he spoke to a person Reigns knew intimately.

Like clockwork, all of Birmingham was prompted to smell what “The Rock” was cooking, and the recently-appointed TKO executive came strutting down the ramp. Rhodes shared a brief moment with “The Rock” as Johnson pulled him in to whisper something in his ear. Rhodes then took his leave. “The Rock” stared down “The Tribal Chief”, who was holding onto his title just a bit more tightly. “WWE SmackDown” then went off the air, with neither men having said a single word to each other.

While there was no confirmation regarding Reigns’ plans for WrestleMania 40, the general consensus is that he will be facing “The Rock” instead of “The American Nightmare.” Johnson has previously expressed desire to face his cousin at some point, and the idea of a family feud headlining WrestleMania 40 has been lurking in the background of Reigns’ entire Undisputed WWE Universal Championship run. It is to be noted that Johnson never specifically expressed desire for a title opportunity. Rhodes’ cryptic claim that he could dethrone Reigns at a time other than WrestleMania adds into the complexity of the situation. 

In the last moments of the show, WWE promoted a WrestleMania 40 press conference for Thursday evening, February 8.

Source: Wrestling Inc.