Roman Reigns’ Family Upset With The Ending of WrestleMania 31

Last Sunday at WrestleMania 31 at Levi’s Stadium, Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank Briefcase during the Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns contest to capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Reigns had been pegged for several months to be crowned the title, but lackluster crowd reaction led to WWE brass making a late switch that resulted in the Iowa native being made aware at the event that he would be winning the belt instead.

Reigns’ family, the Anoa’i family wrestling dynasty, was furious with the outcome of the contest and nearly created an ugly scene with members of the sports-entertainment organization.

According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Reigns’ father, Leati Anoa’i, was livid at his son not winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on Sunday night. Anoa’i, who is professionally known as Sika of The Wild Samoans, brought a number of family members to WrestleMania 31 not just to see family member Rikishi get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, but to see Reigns win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

One person in WWE remarked of the situation to Meltzer:

“Sika forgot this business is not real life, and was legit pissed at the finish and looking to start a war. A lot of the younger (family members) were rallying around Sika, but the other 45 or 50 of them talked some reason.”

Ultimately, nothing hostile came of the decision, though it was a tension-filled situation. The source added that while the family was quite angry and disappointed, they were not out of control, and those who worked in the professional wrestling industry told those unaware that is how the business functions and some were braced ahead of time for the possibility that WrestleMania 31 wouldn’t be Reigns’ crowning moment.