Roman Reigns Isn’t Done Yet: The Tribal Chief on Akuma, Hollywood, and His WWE Future
Reigns says there’s a “possibility” there’s another Tribal Chief-like run on the horizon.
ByMark Elibert
September 23, 2026
Joe Anoa’i has reached an interesting stage of his career. After more than a decade as Roman Reigns—one of WWE’s biggest stars and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion—he’s accomplished nearly everything there is in professional wrestling. Now, he’s beginning to explore what else is out there.Reigns is stepping further into Hollywood as Akuma in the upcomingStreet Fightermovie, following a path WWE stars like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena, and Dave Bautista have taken. He’s also bringing Akuma into a new campaign with The General, a partnership Reigns says made sense because of the insurance company’s existing relationship with WWE and its creative approach.
“I’ve always kind of appreciated their creative and their marketing,” Reigns tells Complex. “They’ve always been very clever throughout the years.”
With The General connecting WWE and Street Fighter, Reigns saw himself as a natural bridge. According to Reigns, the partnership “seemed like a great idea and a perfect collaboration.”
The campaign builds on The General’s longstanding message of “giving people a break,” this time using the world of Street Fighter to put a playful spin on the frustrations that can come with car insurance. In the ad, Reigns steps into the role of Akuma and roughs up a guy dealing with the wrong insurance company. The crossover also gives audiences an early look at Reigns as the beloved video game character ahead of Street Fighter’s Oct. 16 theatrical release.
The transition from Roman Reigns to Akuma wasn’t as drastic as it might seem. Reigns sees similarities between the intimidating Street Fighter character and the Tribal Chief persona he’s spent years developing.
“I think that’s why I was considered for the part and got it because there were so many parallels between the Tribal Chief and Akuma,” Reigns says. “I said it from the beginning. I’m not a good guy. I’m not a bad guy. I’m theguy, and that’s how I’ve always felt in WWE.”
Reigns doesn’t necessarily consider Akuma a villain, either.
“He’s not a villain,” he says. “He just is only looking for the most honorable fight, the greatest competition. That’s all he cares about. He’s not evil. He just is what he is, and that’s what I love about him.”
Playing Akuma also gave Reigns room to explore parts of the character that haven’t been fully fleshed out in the games while remaining faithful to what fans already know.
“With the game, we want to keep the authenticity as high as possible, serve the fandom, but there are a few gaps here and there that you have to kind of fill in as a creator and as a talent,” he says.
Reigns has previously discussed having to “rewire” himself for filmmaking after spending so much of his career performing in WWE, but playing Akuma ultimately felt familiar.
“When I was on set, I felt very comfortable,” he says. “The main thing is just not performing in front of a lot of people.”
Without a WWE crowd providing immediate feedback, Reigns found another way to create pressure.
“I was still able to switch on a competitive switch in my brain,” he says, explaining that he wanted to “pop the crew” and perform well enough to hear, “Man, that was a great take.”
Hollywood has long represented another avenue for WWE’s biggest stars, and Reigns now finds himself entering that lane while working a different wrestling schedule than he did earlier in his career. At the same time, a new generation is emerging in WWE, which also changes what Reigns believes his role can be.
After wrestling everyone from The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar to Cena, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, and CM Punk, Reigns says working with him now can be about more than creating a marquee matchup or simply putting someone over.
“I do think with where I’m at, there is a responsibility to try to tap into the future,” Reigns says. “Give them time to tap into my experience and my mindset and what makes me tick and what allows me to be successful.”
But younger wrestlers don’t necessarily have the same access to Reigns that previous generations had to veterans. Reigns points to The Undertaker as an example of how that relationship once worked.
“The Undertaker, before the bus system came around, he was always in the locker room, so he was able to have that godfather effect,” Reigns says before highlighting how his own position is different.
“I’m not just in the middle of all the talent anymore, so these guys can’t really use me as the re
That makes sharing the ring with him another opportunity to pass something along, which Reigns had done just days before our conversation. On Raw in Mexico City on Sept. 14, 2026, Reigns defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Penta in a hard-fought main event, with the hometown star pushing him throughout before Reigns ultimately retained his title.
“It’s one thing to have a match with me,” Reigns says. “It’s another to be the guy that we’re working towards to transition from me, or to use my equity to then put a rocket on that guy’s back.”
He continues, “If you’re in the ring with me, your value’s going up. It sounds arrogant, but I don’t mean it that way. I just mean that if you get in the ring with me, you’re gonna get the very best Roman Reigns.”
Reigns put that approach into practice against Penta in Mexico City. With the crowd firmly behind the star, Reigns gave Penta an opportunity to showcase himself against one of WWE’s top guys, even taking two Mexican Destroyers during their match. And with rising names such as Bron Breakker, Oba Femi and Jacob Fatu emerging as potential stars of its next generation, Reigns says anyone he works with has to possess “that special something” and already have their own connection with the crowd.
“You put them with someone like me, and I’ll be able to exploit it and then try to magnify and make it even greater,” he says. “But they got to have that thing going for themselves already.”
Building a talent up is one thing, but carrying WWE over a long period requires much more. Reigns points to his cousin The Rock’s rapid rise as an exception, not a blueprint.
“Dwayne is the anomaly. He is the outlier,” Reigns says. “Nobody’s ever gonna do it like The Rock.”
Instead, he believes careers like his and Cena’s show the time it takes to establish a franchise star.
“As it’s been shown with John and then also with me, it takes a decade or so,” he says before admitting he looks for consistency, durability, ambition and work ethic.
“Can you perform every single time and then deliver when you’re asked?” he says. “Can you do it when you’re tired? Can you do it when you’re sick? Can you do it when you’re hungover after WrestleMania?”
“Can you carry the banner for this company?” he adds. “This is a billion-dollar machine. It’s not easy.”
Of WWE’s current stars, Reigns believes one of his longtime rivals, Cody Rhodes, has proven he can do it.
“There’s only been one who’s been able to carry that banner,” he says. “And that’s been Cody.”
With Cody now carrying that responsibility, younger wrestlers rising and Hollywood opening another door, the question becomes what’s left for Reigns in WWE.
His answer isn’t necessarily another championship.
“I got like a little bit of OCD when it comes to storytelling and stuff,” Reigns says. “I like symmetrical situations, continuity and stuff.”
He believes there are still “a couple to a few years” of loose ends and “logic gaps” worth revisiting.
“It’s all about the nuances,” he says.
And some future stories may not exist yet.
“As these young guys continue to grow, they’re gonna create matchups and situations for me,” Reigns says. “As I’m phasing out and as they’re really taking the helm, their superstardom, I think, will create those type of fantasy warfares.”
Reigns even leaves open the possibility of facing someone who emerges years from now.
“What happens if he goes against the Tribal Chief five years down the road?” he asks.
So while Reigns is openly thinking about eventually phasing out and exploring life beyond WWE, he’s not putting an expiration date on the Tribal Chief.
“If I stay in shape and I do my end of the job,” he says, “I could possibly still have a whole ‘nother run that we didn’t even think about.”
And while Reigns is leaving the door open for plenty of future opponents, there is one matchup The General could theoretically put together itself. The insurance company has a longstanding relationship with Shaquille O’Neal, and Reigns believes the result of a showdown between the two would depend on which version of Shaq showed up.
“I’ve beat a giant or two in my day,” Reigns says, before admitting that Shaq in his Los Angeles Laker days would be a formidable matchup for the Tribal Chief. “Give me Shaq back in the Laker days, and he’s booming on everybody. That’ll probably do the job. I got Shaq right now, for sure.”
