5. Roman The Wild
Did anyone else think that Mr. McMahon stopped just short of calling Roman Reigns a savage during his tirade? Vince went right at Roman during the opening segment, but he got personal when he started talking about the Wild Samoans, Afa and Sika (the latter being Reigns father). Mr. McMahon noted that Roman is one generation removed from having a bone through (his) nose, a comment on how nearly all Samoans were portrayed for decades in professional wrestling. Even as recently as the late 2000s, Romans cousin Umaga played a wild, uncontrollable Samoan monster. Reigns is a rarity a Samoan whose heritage hasnt been exploited or even used as a central part of his character. But it was still a nice moment as Mr. McMahon talked about using up Romans father and uncle until they were dried-out husks, and Reigns responded by just piefacing him to the mat. No angry outburst, no wild Samoan response after insulting his family and heritage. Subtle, but nice.
Scott Carlson
Contributor
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
See more from
Scott