Kevin Eck says in his latest blog entry that WWE initially didn’t want to acknowledge Roman Reigns’ Samoan heritage. While the company has done so since, Eck — a former writer for the company — writes that he pitched the idea of Reigns as a cousin to the Usos in a way that would play up Reigns’ heritage and family ties to Rikishi and the Usos.
Eck writes, “Surely Vince would love the pitch and I’d get one of his “that’s really good thinking” figurative pats on the back. Instead, Vince and Triple H were in agreement that we absolutely should not acknowledge that Reigns is Samoan. Their belief was that it would pigeonhole him and damage his mystique. The inference was that the audience had a preconceived notion of what a Samoan wrestler is. You know, a guy in a grass skirt who wears a puka shell necklace.”
He adds, “I suppose they did have a point. I mean, just imagine how much bigger of a star The Rock would have become if only WWE had hidden his Samoan heritage.”
