Paul Heyman Explains the Importance of Changing Roman Reigns’ WWE Entrance Music

When Roman Reigns arrived for his WWE Universal Championship match against Daniel Bryan on the April 30 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, he did so to the tune of a brand-new entrance theme tilted “Head of the Table.” His previous theme was a slightly altered version of The Shield’s entrance theme and had been with him since the group broke up back in 2014. In a new interview with Complex last week, Paul Heyman explained the importance in shedding all of the different aspects of Reigns’ “The Big Dog” persona in order to build up his new role as “The Tribal Chief” — culminating in dropping his old music.

“It was the final step away from The Shield,” Heyman said. “That’s what it was. One of the things that Roman Reigns and I spoke about, with all final decisions being Roman Reigns’. I am Special Counsel to the Tribal Chief, and that’s not just a public persona on television. Behind the scenes, I’m Special Counsel to the Tribal Chief. And one of the many things that we were both desirous of, A. Change the mannerisms. B. Change the presentation. C. Change the hairstyle. D. Change the look.”

“He took off the vest, and rightfully so,” he continued. “He changed the music. It was time to change the music. That was The Shield’s theme. Now it’s evolved. Now it’s Roman Reigns’ theme. Now it has nothing to do with The Shield or the members of The Shield. It has evolved. It’s better. We’re not resting on what it was. We are invoking the future. We’re not reminding you of the past. With respect to the past, we’re bringing it forward.”

He also talked about the “swagger” the two had as they recently entered the ring.

“So it’s funny that you mentioned my swagger, coming out with Roman to the new music,” Heyman said. “Everything about the Roman Reigns presentation needs to circle around Roman Reigns. If you watch Peaky Blinders, everything revolves around how it affects Tommy Shelby. If you had watched the Sopranos, no matter what the side storylines were, it always ended up, how does this affect Tony Soprano? And that’s a central character in any kind of entertainment presentation. And that’s Roman Reigns. So, when it’s the debut of his new music, and there is a certain swagger that Roman Reigns has walking out to the ring, isn’t it incumbent upon all those around him to be in step with that persona so that we are presenting a united front, so that I am simply an extension of the swagger with which Roman Reigns approaches the squared circle.

“In other weeks, I am the side salad,” he continued. “I offer a contrast to the mindset of the Tribal Chief. Okay, look at the swagger that this athlete, this champion, this head of the table, this top attraction, walks out to the ring with. Oh, that’s his Special Counsel. Wow, he seems pensive. He’s in thought. He’s looking for guidance from his star athlete. This one, we had to be in lockstep. I was an extension of Roman Reigns. The swagger was united because this was the first time you were hearing the music. There was no contrast. We were together. We were in unison. If you watched, it wasn’t just the swagger. My shoulders swayed as his shoulders swayed. My left foot went with his left foot. My right foot went with his right foot. We were in lock step because that was what the new theme required in order to convey to the audience the enormity of this moment.”