The top storyline in WWE this past year has been Sami Zayn’s relationship with The Bloodline.
The angle began after “WrestleMania 38” when Zayn lost to Johnny Knoxville. The veteran felt he had lost the locker room and started to try to gain the trust of Roman Reigns and The Usos. After months of shenanigans and efforts to help Reigns retain the Undisputed Universal Championship, Zayn was named “Honorary Uce” on the Sept. 23 episode of “SmackDown.”
Reigns and The Usos remain dominant over WWE, holding the top singles belts and tag team belts, respectively. And Zayn and Solo Sikoa, the brother of Jimmy and Jey Uso, have helped The Bloodline retain its top-tier status.
But the question on every fan’s mind: How will this end?
The Bloodline picked up a win at “Survivor Series WarGames” last Saturday, and WWE has not done a proper job building up viable contenders for Reigns, who has held the Universal Championship since Aug. 30, 2020 and the WWE Championship since April 3.
The Usos have held the SmackDown Tag Team Championships since July 18, 2021 and the Raw Tag Team Championships since May 20. But that is where things need to begin.
The Bloodline does not necessarily need to break up, but it has been so dominant that a win needs to matter, and that person must benefit from a victory. The faction began with Reigns becoming the “Head of the Table” by reeling in The Usos, and the group’s losses should begin with them.
The problem is WWE’s tag team division is all over the place. Teams like The Brawling Brutes and The Street Profits consistently lose to The Usos, and other teams like The OC and Judgment Day are busy feuding with each another. The rest are stuck in stop-start pushes or are just comedy acts.
WWE must push an up-and-coming tag team that will benefit from defeating The Usos for the tag belts, because that would be the first domino to fall before things transition to Reigns.
There is much debate on who should beat the Undisputed Universal Champion. But for the storyline to reach a conclusion satisfying for WWE fans, Zayn must be the one to do it.
The 20-year pro wrestling veteran always has been viewed as an underdog. That moniker was only elevated when he arrived to WWE in 2013 and became NXT Champion. His run on the main roster has been mired in stop-start pushes as it became clear Vince McMahon wasn’t all in on Zayn. But things could be different.
McMahon resigned as company chairman and CEO in July 22, and Paul Levesque, also known as Triple H, took over in his new title of chief content officer. It’s not clear how Levesque views Zayn among the high-end talent of WWE. However, fan support always has been on the 38-year-old’s radar, and supporters can buy into the idea Zayn is due for a special moment in his career, like winning the world title.
Tensions were played up between Jey Uso, Zayn and the latter’s real-life best friend, Kevin Owens, during the build to “Survivor Series WarGames.” Owens should play a big part in helping Zayn win the title without outright interfering in the match. Reigns’ loss should be clean, with zero doubt and shenanigans. Owens could simply prevent the other Bloodline members from interfering in the match and help secure a clean victory for the championship.
WWE has its sights set on a “WrestleMania 39” main event featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Reigns, but the Zayn world title match might not even need to happen as soon as April.
“SummerSlam” could be the ideal time to conclude the Zayn-Bloodline angle. Whether intentional or not, Zayn and Reigns only have had one singles television match against each other. The latter beat the former in 15 seconds on the Dec. 3, 2021 episode of “SmackDown” due to an attack by Brock Lesnar before the match. So, a singles match would not be a retread and would be fresh for fans to see.
The big factor in determining the success and delivering the most satisfaction for fans is if WWE will be fully committed to Zayn.
