KEY POINTS
- WWE’s storyline with The Bloodline has drawn Eric Bischoff’s admiration
- Sami Zayn turning on The Bloodline has propelled the story to even greater heights
- How it ends will be WWE’s biggest conundrum between now and WrestleMania 39
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and his Bloodline faction have been the talk of the entire pro wrestling industry, and its fans following the Royal Rumble and Eric Bischoff believe it is in a league of its own in terms of storytelling.
Speaking on his Strictly Business podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer heaped praise upon the company and Reigns for how timeless the story has since become.
“I’ve admired his (Roman Reigns) performance, his character, his consistency, everything about it. My take on Roman, up until the [Royal] Rumble, has been silent but violent; every guy in America wants to be silent but violent in America, in real life… We relate to that consciously or subconsciously,” Bischoff initially said.
Many fans had become growingly convinced that Zayn’s time with The Bloodline was going to come to an end soon, but the question on everyone’s minds was how and when.
Those questions were answered at the conclusion of the 2023 Royal Rumble last January 28.
During The Bloodline’s beatdown of Kevin Owens after failing in his title challenge against Reigns, Zayn convinced Reigns to hand over the steel chair and told the “Tribal Chief” that such a thing was “beneath him”–practically saying Owens was already beaten.
Reigns wanted to prove a point to Owens at that time and instead ordered Zayn to attack his former friend and when the “Master Strategist” opted not to do so, Reigns got into his face and berated him.
Zayn finally had enough and slammed the chair into Reigns’ back, producing arguably the loudest genuine pop since Daniel Bryan claimed the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 30 nearly a decade ago.
During their run together, the entire faction was getting cheers from the fans for their great character work both inside and outside the ring as the story continued to progress.
But as Bischoff noted, such reactions from the fans made Reigns a heel that was too well-liked to draw heat–until the Rumble happened.
“To me, that’s a cool-ass babyface that is a heel, but he’s so frickin’ cool that he doesn’t have any heat. That’s one characterization for Roman. Up until Royal Rumble, when he got real heat. He didn’t get ‘I wish I was you’ heat. He got ‘I want to see you burn’ heat,” Bischoff stated.
With Cody Rhodes winning the men’s Royal Rumble match and Zayn being the biggest babyface in WWE, there is a legitimate claim to both men being the ones to end Reigns’ illustrious title run that stretches back to the Payback pay-per-view in August 2020.
The International Business Times previously put out a piece as to how such a split could happen at WrestleMania 39 which involves all three stars and the two titles hanging above the ring in a ladder match.
“The Showcase of the Immortals” will take place on April 1 and 2 at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and the start of The Bloodline’s ultimate downfall is expected to happen then.
All WWE needs to do now is to stick the landing to what has been its best storyline in years.