Who is Lance Anoa'i? Meet Roman Reigns' cousin who just got released from wrestling promotion

Roman Reigns once saved his cousin, Lance Anoa'i, from a beatdown at the hands of Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre. The former Big Dog made the save following Lance’s match against Shane on the May 27, 2019, edition of Monday Night RAW.

Lance Anoa'i recently confirmed his release from MLW. The 31-year-old took to Twitter to thank the promotion. He also gave a shout-out to his fellow Samoan SWAT Team members, Jacob Fatu and Juicy Finau.

Lance joined MLW full-time in 2019 and got paired with Juicy Finau after the latter made his MLW debut in 2022. The pair won the MLW World Tag Team Championship from Hustle & Power (EJ Nduka and Calvin Tankman) at the promotion’s Blood and Thunder event on January 7, 2023.

Lance was announced for Pro Wrestling NOAH’s N-1 Victory tournament this July. He joined Block B of the tournament, which included the likes of former GHC Heavyweight Champion Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima.

Shiozaki would go on to win the tournament after beating Kenoh in the finals.

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Will Roman Reigns and Lance Anoa'i cross paths in WWE again?

Lance Anoa'i had several tryouts with WWE in 2015, 2017, and 2019. His first tryout involved a tag team match with Rhett Titus against The Ascension on the January 2, 2015, edition of WWE SmackDown. His second tryout came at an NXT event on February 1, 2017. His final appearance came on RAW in 2019.

It is possible that Lance could join Roman Reigns as the new member of The Bloodline on SmackDown in the wake of his departure from MLW. The current incarnation of the faction includes Paul Heyman, Solo Sikoa, and Jimmy Uso.

Speaking of Solo, the Enforcer will face John Cena in singles action at the upcoming Crown Jewel premium live event. Fans can read more about the match here.