Roman Reigns’ “Acknowledge Me” phrase is as well recognised as his character in WWE. The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion is often heard asking his subordinates, The Bloodline members and other wrestlers to acknowledge him while cutting promos and after victories in matches.
Reigns’ manager Paul Heyman has shared an interesting story about how the “Acknowledge Me” phrase first came to be used and then stuck with The Tribal Chief. In an interaction on Rick Rubin’s “Tetragrammaton” podcast, Heyman highlighted that the phrase was first used by Reigns during the 2020 feud with Jey Uso.
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“Roman had said, ‘Well, you know what I really want from Jey? I don’t want his love. I have that. I don’t want his admiration. I don’t even want his obedience. I’ll take that from him. You know what I need? I’m the ‘Head of the Table.’ I am ‘The Tribal Chief.’ I need him to acknowledge me.’ And the moment he said it, we all got chills because we knew this is bigger than this moment,” said Heyman.
“This is the declarative statement. This is the definition of the character. What does the character want? What does ‘The Tribal Chief’ need? What does the ‘Head of the Table’ seek? Acknowledgment,” he added.
Heyman further hailed Reigns as a champion performer who is needy despite being the biggest star.
“[Roman is] the most confident performer, the best-looking man, the guy that looks like a champion, the one guy that can handle Brock Lesnar, the D1 athlete, a second-generation Samoan American wrestler, and he’s needy. He’s a ‘Tribal Chief.’ He’s ‘The Head of the Table.’ He runs the family. He’s the biggest star, but he’s needy. He needs you to acknowledge him,” said Heyman.
Recently, Reigns was superkicked by Jimmy Uso which proved to be a major reason of his and Solo Sikoa’s loss against tag team champions Kevin Owens-Sami Zayn at Night of Champions 2023. The shocking incident has widened the rift within The Bloodline and threatened the group’s existence.
