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WWE's Bloodline revival feels more like a remake than the next chapter
Roman Reigns has the WWE title, The Bloodline is the leading segment on the weekly shows, and Vince McMahons private life is back in the news. Wait a minute have we suddenly gone back to the summer of 2023?Youd certainly get that impression from last weeks Raw, which had more Bloodline segments than actual wrestling matches. The storyline has been bleeding over into SmackDown too, with The Usos heading to the blue brand to confront Solo Sikoa yet another clear sign that WWE is planning to put The Bloodline business front and center as we head into this years SummerSlam in August.You can understand why WWE might be tempted to run it back. After all, this is The Bloodline were talking about. Its the storyline that gave us three superb WrestleMania main events (Mania 39 and then two at Mania XL), brought The Rock back into the fold for the first time in a decade, and paved the way for that $5 billion Netflix deal. It could well be the single most successful angle of the modern era.Whats more, with Roman Reigns committed to working a full-time schedule (at least according to the man himself) as well as holding the WWE title over on Raw, you have the first two elements you need to run Bloodline 3.0. In those circumstances, you can see why TKO towers might see it as a no-brainer. If they can achieve just half of what they did last time, it would be a huge improvement for todays product.Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jacob Fatu and Jimmy Uso are dominating WWE's weekly shows.WWE via Getty ImagesOn the other hand, it isnt hard to see the problem here. As brilliant as The Bloodline arc was, it also already came to an end and a pretty good one at that. We had Roman dropping not just the belt at Mania XL, but also losing his empire afterward, in just the way that Cody Rhodes predicted. This then led to the Bloodline civil war, which finally allowed Roman Reigns to secure his babyface turn by overthrowing his errant cousin on last years Netflix debut. Redemption complete, right?For a while, it certainly looked like WWE was happy to let sleeping dogs lie. This years WrestleMania saw Reigns win the world title without any interference or mention of The Bloodline. Some of us had expected The Usos to show up. Instead, we had The Tribal Chief putting on a 30-minute slobberknocker against CM Punk that would have made Larry Zbyszko nod with approval. Who needs the Ula Fala when you can fight like that?In the weeks to come, though, that all changed. First, we had the backstage segments of Reigns politicking with The Usos. Then there was the whole family feud with Jacob Fatu that culminated in The Samoan Werewolf having to join the flock. Now we have various segments revolving around Roman Reigns desire to bring Solo Sikoa back into the Bloodline fold.For my money, that has to be the weirdest part of this Bloodline redux. I mean, Solo Sikoa as the missing piece of the puzzle? Isnt that the guy who Reigns squashed like a bug less than two years ago and who has spent most of his time since then feuding with a failed horror faction over a haunted lantern? And thats the guy youre desperate to recruit? Maybe CM Punk hit you harder than we thought back in Las Vegas.Still, I digress the bigger problem with Bloodline 3.0 isnt Solo Sikoa. Its how you actually find fresh ground to make this storyline feel exciting. And the danger there is that you end up realizing that most of the fertile ground has already been covered long ago.I mean, a few weeks ago there were segments on Raw revolving around the supposedly big question as to whether The Usos would fall in line behind their Tribal Chief. Dj vu, anyone? Even worse, not only have they already done that storyline to death, theyve even done the one that comes after it i.e. where Jey Uso discovered a backbone and went off to become a world champion in his own right. Remember that?Likewise, you get the same repetitive feeling from the whole Jacob Fatu angle. Sure, he brings a bit of extra aura to the whole Bloodline project given his whole snarling charisma. But hes also playing a role that feels too close to what they already did with Solo Sikoa a few years ago i.e. the unpredictable enforcer whos destined to go rogue. If anything, it just makes you wish theyd used Fatu for that role the first time around.Then theres the whole opportunity cost that comes with revisiting this Bloodline stuff over and again. After Reigns win at Mania 42, I wrote a column about how one of the most exciting things was that wed get to see Reigns work with new opponents who didnt get the chance in his previous run.At the time, I was thinking about names like Trick Williams or Gunther. Instead, weve had hints that we might even end up getting Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso for a second time. Which Samoan deity have we angered to bring that around?Still, maybe there are some grounds for optimism on the horizon. What was it Oba Femi said to Jey Uso during their staredown on this weeks Raw in London?At the end of the day, you are not the family member I am really worried about. It was the strongest hint weve had so far that Roman Reigns vs. Oba Femi might be in the cards, even if it probably wont be happening any time soon.Oba Femi as the solo warrior going up against The Bloodline, with the prospect of a world title change at Mania 43? Now thats the sort of thing that we can all get behind. If the route to get there involves a few more Solo Sikoa segments, I guess its a compromise Im willing to make.
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