Braun Strowman: ‘There Is No Tribal Chief Without Me’

Braun Strowman is staking his claim in Roman Reigns’ legacy, arguing that WWE’s modern-day “Tribal Chief” persona owes a debt to their history together. Strowman pointed back to the personal rivalry he and Reigns waged in the mid-2010s, which he considers one of the best programs pro wrestling has produced, and suggested that run helped lay the groundwork for the version of Reigns who would go on to dominate WWE as the villainous head of the Bloodline.

It’s a bold statement, but not one without some basis. Strowman and Reigns tangled repeatedly during that era, trading big man spots and hard-hitting brawls that helped both performers sharpen their characters in front of a national audience. For Strowman, a road warrior-sized athlete who broke through as part of the Wyatt Family before going solo, those matches were a proving ground. For Reigns, still working to shed the “guy WWE is forcing down our throats” narrative that dogged him for years, that stretch of competition against a monster like Strowman was part of a long, winding character journey that eventually reached its peak when he turned heel in 2020 and became the most dominant world champion of his generation.

Whether fans buy Strowman’s framing or not, it speaks to something real about how WWE careers get built. Reigns’ Tribal Chief run didn’t materialize out of nowhere — it was constructed match by match, angle by angle, across nearly a decade of programs against opponents like Strowman, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Brock Lesnar and others. Strowman inserting himself into that lineage isn’t outlandish; he was a legitimate part of Reigns’ ring history long before the Bloodline ever existed.

It’s also a reminder that Strowman, now removed from the white-hot spotlight he occupied during his own top-of-the-card push, still sees himself as a foundational piece of WWE’s current main event picture. He’s never been shy about reminiscing on that period of his career, and comments like these keep his name in the conversation even as he works a different role on WWE programming these days.

With Reigns’ spot in WWE currently in flux following the end of his record-breaking title reign and the fallout from the Bloodline civil war, it’s worth watching whether older rivals like Strowman get folded back into that story in some form. For now, though, this is simply Strowman reminding everyone that before there was a Tribal Chief, there was a monster among men standing across the ring from him.