Roman Reigns thought legendary 13-time World Champion was his uncle when he was a child

Growing up in a family of wrestlers, Roman Reigns was exposed to greatness from a young age. He once shared that he even believed one of his uncles to be a WWE legend.

During an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Fallon presented Roman Reigns with a photo featuring himself, his father Sika, and 13-time World Champion Hulk Hogan. As a revered figure in the wrestling industry, Hogan was just one of the many iconic wrestlers that Reigns had the opportunity to meet during his youth.

Fallon inquired with Reigns if it was a regular occurrence for him to frequently encounter legends and wrestlers. To which, Reigns disclosed that he believed WWE icon Hulk Hogan was his uncle.

“I’m pretty sure I thought Hulk [Hogan] was my uncle at this point. Like why has he got blonde hair? Everybody in our family is huge and larger than life, so you get used to it. So it’s a bit of conditioning. Those are always great moments to look back on.”(5:49-6:03)

Hogan achieved a total of 13 World Championships in three different promotions, namely WWE, WCW, and NJPW.

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Despite looking up to Hulk Hogan, Reigns also held admiration for another WWE Hall of Famer, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, whom The Tribal Chief continuously praised.

In previous interviews, Reigns consistently expressed his admiration for Bret Hart over Shawn Michaels, citing Michaels’ flashy attire as a factor, as Hart tended to present himself in a more serious manner.

During an ODE interview, Roman Reigns disclosed that he had always been a fan of Bret Hart.

“Bret Hart was always my guy,”said Reigns. “I enjoyed that sports-centric, athletic type of performance that he put on. He was a pro wrestler’s pro wrestler. His work ethic and the amount of dedication he put in is second to none.”(H/T – Inside The Ropes)

Despite facing tough opponents such as Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns received high praise from Bret Hart after his main event debut at WrestleMania in 2015. Hart went on to describe the match as an “instant classic”and it is still considered as such even to this day.

This was widely regarded as the ultimate showdown in the ongoing Reigns-Lesnar rivalry, until their Last Man Standing Match at SummerSlam 2022, which some argue exceeded it in intensity.