Paul Heyman Explains the Concept Behind the Tribal Chief Gimmick Which Is “Not” a Homage to Dwayne Johnson’s Grandfather Peter Maivia – “A Lot of People Suspected”

Dwayne Johnson was born into a wrestling family. His father was the popular Rocky Johnson while his maternal grandfather was the Samoan High Chief, Peter Maivia. An interesting fact about Johnson’s grandfather that you might not be aware of is that he wasn’t a ‘High Chief’ just in wrestling. Maivia descended from a royal Samoan family and was the head of the clan. Hence, he was the ‘High Chief’ outside the ring as well.

Some even suspected that Roman Reigns‘ ‘Tribal Chief’ gimmick is an homage to Johnson’s grandfather because of their common Samoan background. However, Paul Heyman recently debunked the myth while also clarifying the reason why Reigns is called ‘The Tribal Chief’.

Why not an homage to Dwayne Johnson’s grandfather?

Although Heyman respects the High Chief greatly, he explained the reason behind his actions in a recent podcast. The manager appeared in ‘Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin’ and talked about how ‘The Tribal Chief’ is an original idea.

Reigns has always appeared to be ‘The Tribal Chief’ to Paul Heyman. However, Reigns’ Samoan roots had nothing to do with it.

“The idea was, the tribe is the WWE universe and he [Roman Reigns] is the tribal chief of the entire WWE. Not of the Samoan Islands, he’s the tribal chief of the WWE universe,” Heyman revealed in the podcast. Heyman even acknowledged the way people connected his gimmick idea with that of Peter Maivia.

He said, “It’s not just a play on the Polynesian Islands where the Samoan tribal chief — I know a lot of people suspected at first that was an homage to Peter Maivia. You know, the paramount Samoan High Chief. It’s not.”

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We have already learned an interesting fact about Peter Maivia being the ‘High Chief’ in real life. Let’s talk more about the Samoan clan’s leader.

Dwayne Johnson’s grandfather was ‘freakishly’ strong

Most fans must be aware of the wrestler Andre The Giant. Fans recognized him for his large size. The almost 2000-pound wrestler has a picture with Maivia that is too wholesome to overlook. In the picture, Andre is sitting on Peter Maivia’s lap before the start of an event. The picture shows the amazing bond between the two while also showing how The Rock’s grandfather was so strong to handle his weight.

Through the picture, fans can see where Johnson gets a part of his ‘strong’ genetics from. Although Paul Heyman has debunked the speculations to announce that ‘The Tribal Chief’ was an original idea, Roman Reigns would have surely been honored to pay homage to a legend such as Peter Maivia.

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What’s the most interesting fact that you learned after reading through this article? Let us know in the comments below.