Roman Reigns had the wrestling world buzzing on Sunday long before WrestleMania Backlash started. Videos from his post-show promo at a live event in Trenton, New Jersey, from earlier in the weekend made the rounds on social media as it sounded like “The Tribal Chief” was stepping away from wrestling full-time. He said, “I’ve been here a couple of times in the past 10 years. I’m starting to work into a new phase in my career, and I honestly don’t know if I’ll be back here again. If that’s the case, I just wanna say thank you for all these years of support.” Fightful Select then reported WWE still had creative plans for Reigns for well into the future, so leaving wasn’t on the table. Dave Meltzer then explained on Wrestling Observer Radio that he had recently signed a new deal that included a lighter schedule.ย
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“It’s not it for him, but the situation is that he got a new deal and the new deal is for far less dates,” Meltzer said (h/t Cageside Seats). “I don’t know how many house shows he’s going to be doing, but it will be much less than the number that he’s doing now. It’s one of the perks of being there for a while and being valuable there is you can kind of call certain shots. And he’s got the power to maintain the championship and work fewer dates like [Brock] Lesnar had and [Hulk] Hogan used to have. So, he’s gonna be — new phase in his life. He’s got young kids and everything like that. You know, [in his] mid-to-late 30s. Probably wants to preserve his body a little bit more.”
Reigns then uploaded a video of himself in the gym (still mostly playing his heel character) and addressed the situation โ “What’s on my brain right now, what’s got your Tribal Chief in here {his heart] right now is, what if that’s the last six-man tag you ever see the Bloodline do? I believe, when it comes to TV and it being broadcast for the entire world, that’s only the second one. Y’all are freaking out right now. Don’t worry, the Tribal Chief loves you. I’m not going anywhere. Unless I am, who knows? What if that’s the last one? There is so much riding on us. We have all the titles, we’re the very best at what we do… What if that’s the last time you see us do what nobody can do? That’s the island of relevancy right there, people. It’s not a gimmick, were’ not just putting this on shirts. This is as real as it gets. Anybody that sits at the table, anybody that tries to step up, anybody that is near us, they automatically become better. You’ve been seeing this. The proof is in. Whether you like it or not, you love it. And we know you respect it because you acknowledge it everywhere you go. But think about that, if that’s the last one, we already know you’re going to miss us. We’re the greatest to ever do it. It’s because we’re the Bloodline. And we the Ones.”