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Former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz has revealed that he warned the company against allowing Roman Reigns to deliver his infamous 'suffering succotash' line.
Reigns made the embarrassing comment when he engaged in a war of words with Seth Rollins on a SmackDown episode on January 9th, 2015.
During the promo, which is widely considered the worst of all time, Roman called the then-MITB winner a "sniveling little suckup sellout full of sufferin' succotash!" The confused WWE Universe didn't react positively to Roman Reigns' promo as it inadvertently hurt his push in the company.
Despite leaving his full-time role in 2012, Brian Gewirtz continued contributing to WWE as a creative consultant and recalled urging the writers to remove the unwanted line from the script.
Here's what he revealed on the Cheap Heat podcast:
"I was consulting WWE at the time. I saw 'suffering succotash' in the script, and I was just like sending out flare guns like, no! Don't have him say that," said Gewirtz. "There's no good way you could say that." H/t POST Wrestling
Roman Reigns has improved on the microphone in WWE
While his ability to tell compelling stories inside the ring was never in doubt, Roman Reigns has often attracted criticism for his promo work, especially during his formative years in WWE.
Reigns was destined to be the top guy, which was always evident from Vince McMahon's insistence on pushing him as a babyface despite early fan backlash. While The Tribal Chief continued to amass championship reigns, he was never entirely accepted by the audience until he was given the creative freedom to be himself on TV.
Since adopting his Tribal Chief persona in 2020, Reigns has inarguably done some of his best character work while also refining his microphone skills. Reigns has become one of the most quotable wrestlers these days, and one of his recent lines on Austin Theory has already spawned a new WWE t-shirt.
What are your thoughts on Roman Reigns' promo skills? Share them in the comments section below!
