Roman Reigns Reveals Inspiration For New Heel Character In WWE

Roman Reigns is back, and he has a new attitude. He is the Tribal Chief and Paul Heyman is his Special Advisor as they control the top spot in WWE. This new character evolution for Reigns was inspired from a Daniel Day-Lewis character.

WWE wanted to make Reigns and Heyman something different from any previous roles they played. Vince McMahon has also trusts Paul Heyman to allow him significant input in Roman Reigns’ creative direction.

While speaking to Comic Book, Reigns revealed the inspiration for his new character in WWE. He watched Gangs Of New York and was motivated to craft a character like The Butcher in the Martin Scorsese film

“I can’t say that I really built it around anyone within the industry,” Reigns said. “If anything, more [from] movies. It’s hard because in a weird way, I’m sure you guys have seen Gangs of New York, The Butcher. In his mind, there is a bad element to him. but he’s the native, he’s the one that’s from America. I like those type of characters to where there’s a justification, in their own mind at least, to what they’re doing.”

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“For me and the character that I’m trying to portray going forward is not everybody on our roster is going to be able to understand where I’m coming from and the reason that I’m doing it because they’re not in the position that I’m in,” he continued. “They’re not in that boss role, that top-of-the card role, and if they are they haven’t been there as long as I have. So of course they’re not going to be able to understand. But there are some justifications and a lot of rationalizing that this character is going to go through to convince himself that he’s right, even when he is wrong. I’ll have conviction going forward.”

Roman Reigns defeated Jey Uso at Clash Of Champions Gold Rush as Jimmy Uso made a surprise return to throw in the towel for his twin brother. Reigns’ persona in WWE is very different this time around and he crafted it because a big change was needed. WWE also used Paul Heyman as a lure to bring him back to WWE, and that didn’t hurt.

Gangs Of New York is an amazing film and it’s hard not to talk about it here, but let’s stick to wrestling. You can watch a clip below to see a bit of Daniel Day-Lewis’ portrayal of The Butcher.