Samu acknowledges Roman Reigns in a more meaningful way than he could have on Raw XXX

Initially, WWE’s promotion for the 30th anniversary episode Raw promised “every generation of The Bloodline”. The company didn’t list any names, but the assembled members of the Samoan Dynasty were going to be on hand for an “Acknowledgement Ceremony” for Undisputed WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns.

The segment on Raw XXX turned into “The Trial of Sami Zayn”, and (outside of its impact on the rest of the card) no one complained about what we got. One member of Reigns’ family tree, Samu Anoa’i, did some press before the show saying he & his old Headshrinkers tag partner Rikishi would be there, however. So when Samu was a guest on The Two-Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast recently, he confirmed reports the Ceremony was scrapped due to health & travel issues:

“It was supposed to be Rikishi, myself, my dad [Wild Samoan Afa], and my uncle [Wild Samoan Sika] to name a few. My dad couldn’t fly at the time and Rikishi had pneumonia at the time, so everything just got put on the back burner.”

Samu took the time to acknowledge his cousin during the interview, and in much more in-depth and meaningful way that he would have been able to on television:

“Of course [Roman is ‘The Head of The Table.’]. Listen, you brought these people [fans] to be able to pay attention, to bring it back. I mean, not that it has gotten boring or anything, just sometimes wrestling does that. It just flatlines for a while and then it makes a comeback all the time.

“Wrestling just does that. It’ll go dead and something else will pop up. Some new thing that will last five minutes and go away. Nothing’s really changed on the landscape or the format. So it’s, it’s pretty obvious you know, the ratings and everything like that, that Joe [Anoa’i, Roman’s real name]’s doing, it’s phenomenal, great business. I’m glad he has a lot of creative control.”

Believe that.

H/T Fightful for transcription