Roman Reigns Sends Final Ominous Message Ahead of Hell in a Cell Match With Jey Uso

Roman Reigns will compete in the first-ever I Quit Match inside Hell in a Cell at Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. His Universal Championship defense against Jey Uso comes with serious personal consequences, as Uso will have to “fall in line” and acknowledge Reigns as “The Tribal Chief” if he loses. If he refuses Uso, his brother Jimmy, their wives and their children will be excommunicated from the Anoa’i family. Reigns took to Twitter on Sunday with one final message for his cousin, one that could signify just how violent their I Quit Match will get.

“Jey has already succeeded in doing two things: turning his back on our family for personal gain……and guaranteeing he’s gonna get his ass whooped tonight inside #HIAC,” Reigns wrote.

While he says he doesn’t consider himself a heel, Reigns has completely reinvented himself since returning to WWE television at SummerSlam. His new attitude, nickname and management in Paul Heyman has made him the most villainous force on Friday Night SmackDown, and all backstage reports have him holding the Universal title for a long time.

Reigns explained in a recent interview on the Load Management podcast that his character was inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis’ Billy “The Butcher” Cutting from the 2002 film Gangs of New York.

“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.

“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.”