Roman Reigns admits his family name opened doors. He says that’s only half of it.
Shannon Sharpe brought up nepotism claims during Reigns’ appearance on Club Shay Shay, pointing to the wrestling family behind him. Reigns’ father, Sika, was one half of the Wild Samoans. The extended Anoa’i family includes Yokozuna, Rikishi and The Usos, and has deep ties to The Rock’s family.
Nepotism is funny. It’s a funny case because the door opens for you. But what are you going to do when you get in the room? You’re going to just be one of those guys in the corner and blending in, or you’re going to take over the room.
Reigns acknowledged the advantage was bigger for past generations, when wrestling was protected and outsiders were kept away.
I mean, we do have the advantage, but if you told me 20 years ago to 40 years ago, we definitely had the advantage because we know about Fight Club. Nobody knew about Fight Club back then. There was a mystique around the business.
He continued:
If you tried to get in, they beat you up for real. They don’t want everybody in the business. They don’t want to share our secrets. Right now, all you got to do is like go on Instagram. Follow WWE. You can get a tryout tomorrow. So it’s just a little bit different nowadays.
Later in the interview, Reigns said the family name raises the stakes every time he performs.
Every time I step out there, like the people that say the nepotism, there’s so much that I’m representing. I’m not just representing myself. I’m representing my entire lineage, everyone that came before me, all my ancestors that laid down the groundwork.
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