How was former WWE star Umaga related to Roman Reigns?

Roman Reigns was born into pro-wrestling royalty and has many of his family members who have wrestled for WWE and many other promotions. When one thinks about the famous names from the Samoan family, The Rock, Rikishi, The Usos, and Yokozuna come to mind. However, one late superstar related to the Tribal Chief is former Intercontinental Champion Umaga.

The Samoan bulldozer wrestled in the WWE across two stints. His time in the company that really made a mark was between 2005 and 2009. Similar to the Tribal Chief, Umaga came from wrestling royalty. His father Elevera Anoa'i is the brother of Roman Reigns' father Sika. This makes the Tribal Chief and the Samoan bulldozer first cousins.

Unfortunately, on 4th December 2009, Umaga suffered a heart attack and passed away. He was one of the most dominant Intercontinental Champions in history on Monday Night RAW.

Sami Zayn first thought about working with Roman Reigns one year ago

Sami Zayn and The Bloodline are currently the hottest act on WWE TV. It wouldn't be wrong if one states that Sami Zayn is currently nearing the popularity of Roman Reigns.

In an interview with Peter Rosenberg, Zayn was asked about the birth of this on-screen storyline. The former NXT Champion revealed the talks for something similar to their current storyline that started after Survivor Series 2021.

“The first time I think there was any sort of interaction with myself and The Bloodline was just after WrestleMania. But in actuality, the idea was first kind of discussed going into Survivor Series last year."

He continued:

"I was doing this whole thing on SmackDown, I was the longest-tenured member of SmackDown, I was the locker room leader, and I just thought there would be something really interesting there with the locker room leader and ‘The Head of the Table,’ the premise sort of being that ‘The Head of the Table’ isn’t in that locker room anymore, and he needs eyes and ears sort of in the ground."

Since then, Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns have come a long way. From being an outside help to a full-fledged member of The Bloodline, Zayn has shown how brilliant a performer he is.