Where Does The Bloodline Storyline Go After WWE WrestleMania XL?

Last Sunday at WrestleMania 40 the “Reign of Terror” was finally conquered. Roman Reigns’ 1,316 days as champion finally came to an end. It was at the hands of The ‘American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes in his very first reign as the New Undisputed WWE Champion. 

With Roman Reigns and Jimmy Uso both losing at WrestleMania 40 what’s next for The Bloodline? Where does this storyline go from here after Mania? First, let’s take a look at what happened in the first week of the New Era after Mania.

Raw After ‘Mania

When Cody Rhodes was in the middle of celebrating and talking to the WWE Universe he was interrupted by The Rock. The ‘Final Boss’ quickly made things awkward by asking Cody if he could hold his Undisputed WWE Championship. Rhodes relented only if he could hold Rock’s People’s Championship.

After that exchange, The Rock gave it back and gave Rhodes a gift, saying to not open it and for Rhodes to ‘not break his heart again’. The Rock also told Rhodes that he would be going away for a little while. This got the whole WWE Universe wondering what The Rock gave to Cody Rhodes. And what’s next for The Rock? What does this mean for The Bloodline?

Meanwhile, former Bloodline members Sami Zayn and Jey Uso also had a memorable night. Both men reunited as and congratulated each other over their respected ‘Mania moments. Zayn shortly talked to the WWE Universe and talked about beating Gunther’s historic 666 days as WWE Intercontinental Champion. This was the longest reign ever in the title history.

Shortly after in the backstage area Zayn and Chad Gable agreed to a match for the Intercontinental championship this Monday on Raw. Meanwhile, Jey Uso would win the Fatal Four-Way #1 Contender’s Match to challenge the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest at WWE Backlash.

Jey Uso would beat Ricochet, Bronson Reed, and Drew McIntyre. However, Raw was not as eventful or surprising for The Bloodline as it was on SmackDown.

First SmackDown After ‘Mania

Meanwhile on SmackDown Cody Rhodes announced the contenders for Smackdown’s triple threats matches to see who faces him at WWE Backlash. Then Paul Heyman, Solo Sikoa, and Jimmy Uso walked towards their Bloodline locker room.

However, this time there was a big Cody Rhodes American Nightmare logo on the door. Heyman acknowledged to Solo and Jimmy that it’s the champion’s locker room and winning and losing matters in WWE.

Heyman pretty much acknowledged Rhodes as champion and respected it much to the disbelief and anger of Solo. Then when Paul Heyman was talking about the Mania outcome and was about to hype up the return of Roman Reigns, Solo stops him. Solo would go on to repeat what Heyman said, that winning and losing matters.

Then he hugs Jimmy Uso and turns his back to him as a new Bloodline member is born and attacks Jimmy Uso.

Tama Tonga made his WWE Debut and seemed to align himself with Solo and The Bloodline. As Heyman watched in disbelief, he tried to call Roman Reigns on his cell phone, but Solo grabbed it and stomped on the phone.

Backstage as Heyman is about to talk about what happened to Solo, Tama Tonga and Solo pretty much stare down Heyman to be quiet and join them to have a conversation.

Meanwhile next week we are getting a number one contenders match between the two respected winners of their triple threat matches. LA Knight defeated Santos Escobar & Bobby Lashley while AJ Styles defeated Rey Mysterio & Kevin Owens. 

The Mania rematch between Knight & Styles will determine who will be the number one contender for Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. As Rhodes awaits his first title defense at Backlash what is going on with the Bloodline?

Who Is The Real Leader of The Bloodline?

As soon as Roman Reigns lost at Mania, the big question was always what would happen to the Bloodline? The Rock is going back to Hollywood for the time being and Roman Reigns is nowhere to be seen. It seems there is a power struggle for the head of the table vacancy.

Solo seems to think that since winning and losing matters losing has consequences.

That is why Solo and Tama Tonga attacked Jimmy who lost to Jey Uso at Mania. This makes you think that Solo is done with Reigns as head of the table for the Bloodline.

But is Solo happy to take that spot or is he following orders from someone else? Let’s take a brief look at every member and former member of The Bloodline.

Roman Reigns

Let’s talk with the man who started it all the tribal chief Roman Reigns. He had been champion for nearly four years as he became champion in August of 2020. As the champion he was the leader of the Bloodline to honor his family one of the best Wrestling families in all of Professional Wrestling.

As champion, he would use The Bloodline to help him maintain champion, but now that he lost at Mania Reigns will not be around for quite a while.

Even before losing at Mania, it was well known that Reigns would be taking time off, win or lose, at WrestleMania. It is unclear when he will come back but when he does the Bloodline faction will look a lot different.

Paul Heyman

If Reigns started the Bloodline, the Wiseman Paul Heyman helped him start it. Heyman has been a part of the Bloodline from the very beginning.

He has been the voice of reason and the mic handler of the group. He would make matches and talk to the Raw and Smackdown managers on behalf of The Bloodline business.

No one was more hurt by Reigns losing at Mania than Heyman who screamed no as Rhodes hit the final Cross Rhodes. Now it seems that Heyman is still loyal to Reigns and he does not know what to do about Solo making orders.

Jey Uso

The first minion of Roman Reigns was Main Event Jey Uso. This man challenged Reigns for the title before joining Bloodline only to join later so Reigns could leave his twin brother, Jimmy Uso, alone. Jey Uso for over a year would be the main reason why Reigns would retain.

Then when Jimmy joined they both became WWE Unified Tag Team Champions shortly after. However as Jey did not trust Sami Zayn at the start, Zayn’s action would change the heart of Jey. When Reigns, Solo, and Jimmy attacked Zayn, Jey left disgusted.

However, Jey Uso is caught in a fight between Zayn and Jimmy, and Jey chooses his brother Jimmy. At WrestleMania 39 Jey and Jimmy would lose the championships to Zayn & Kevin Owens.

In June of 2023, Jey would leave the Bloodline as he felt Reigns was out of control and did not respect them. Jey challenges Roman in Jimmy’s honor only for Jimmy to backstab Jey and cost him the match.

Since then Cody Rhodes helped Jey Uso sign to Raw and leave the Bloodline. Jey Uso would still get involved with the Bloodline but only as a rival this time. He would help out Rhodes, Zayn, KO, and Seth Rollins instead of his former group.

Jimmy Uso

When his brother Jey seemed the most loyal to Reigns, Jimmy’s start in the Bloodline was quite the opposite. He did not want Jey to join because he did not trust Roman Reigns. Even when he did eventually join the group, he did not like how Jey would follow Reigns obediently.

But as they became champions Jimmy would begin to trust Roman especially after their little brother Solo joined the group. He immediately embraced Zayn into the Bloodline and liked Zayn. Only to quickly betray Zayn when Zayn would hit Reigns.

When it seemed like he was out of the Bloodline, he quickly chose Roman over Jey Uso. After losing to Jey at this year’s Mania, Solo would kick Jimmy out of the Bloodline.

Solo Sikoa

Solo made quite a name for himself in NXT and won the NXT North American Championship. He never lost the title, it was taken away from him for joining the main roster.

He made his main roster debut at Clash at the Castle where he would cost Drew McIntyre the match against Roman. As he joined the Bloodline, he was known as the enforcer.

He was the main reason Rhodes lost to Reigns at WrestleMania 39. Solo would be on a hot undefeated streak until finally losing to Rhodes on an episode of Raw.

After that Solo was mainly used to help Reigns and Jimmy in their matches. In an episode of Smackdown Reigns would call Solo the tribal chief heir when he is done. Is it time now? Or is someone else calling the shots?

Sami Zayn

Zayn was an interesting case as he is the only Bloodline member to join without being actual blood. He is the only non-Samoan bloodline member well besides Heyman. It all started with Zayn showing support for The Bloodline and wearing their shirts in his promos and segments.

When Zayn would start acknowledging Reigns as the Tribal Chief he started talking to Reigns more. What started as a joke turned into Zayn slowly joining The Bloodline. Reigns introduced him at first jokingly and Jimmy always liked Sami.

Heyman tolerated him and Solo even said Zayn earned the right to be in the Bloodline when Zayn took a hit for Solo so Bloodline could win the match. Jey Uso was the only one who did not trust Sami Zayn.

Left and right Sami Zayn would sacrifice himself so Bloodline could win. It was not until Survivor Series: War Games in 2022 when Zayn would lowbrow Kevin Owens and hand Jey the victory that he gained the love and respect of Jey Uso.

After that, Jey was Sami’s biggest supporter and the reason Zayn would stay a bit longer in the Bloodline. Once Zayn defended KO against Reigns and left the Bloodline Jey Uso was hurt. Now they are both reunited on Raw where Zayn is the new Intercontinental Champion.

The Rock

The Final Boss came back to WWE just for the sole purpose of facing Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. In what The Rock viewed as the biggest draw he took Rhodes’ spot even though Cody Rhodes won the Royal Rumble and earned the spot to face Roman Reigns.

Since it is known that The Rock is part owner of TKO which has a partnership with WWE it did not sit well with the WWE Universe. They chanted for Cody Rhodes and they got it. This turned The Rock heel in the process and he joined Bloodline out of hatred for Cody Rhodes.

The Rock and Roman would beat Rhodes and Rollins in night one of WrestleMania. However, Rhodes would get the last laugh and win the title in Night Two by dethroning the tribal chief. At this past RAW, The Rock admitted he will be gone from WWE for a while.

Tama Tonga

The newest member of the Bloodline is Tama Tonga who just recently signed with WWE. He is the nephew and adoptive son of legendary wrestler Haku. Tama Tonga is also the cousin and adoptive brother of Tanga Loa who was his tag team partner. Both were in the Guerrillas of Destiny stable.

Both Tonga and Loa are multiple-time tag team champions in NJPW and ROH.

Tama Tonga is an original member of the first Bullet Club stable alongside Finn Balor. Although mostly known as a tag team wrestler Tonga has won a couple of singles titles around the world. Now he is in the biggest stable in Current WWE, The Bloodline.

What to Expect from The Bloodline Members Story-Wise

It seems WWE is determined to have Roman vs The Rock next year for WrestleMania 41. The question is how will they get there? The Reigns vs Rock match is big enough not to need a championship involved but The Bloodline storyline will get the story through.

To me, it seems that it is starting already. Maybe Solo is not taking matters into his own hands yet, maybe The Rock is behind it all.

The Rock’s new Bloodline would include himself, Solo, Tama Tonga, and Jacob Fatu who has yet to make his WWE debut. This could lead to a Survivor Series War Games match against Roman Reigns Bloodline: Reigns, The Usos (Jimmy & Jey), and Sami Zayn. Now that is a match we would all love to see.

To get there in November I believe it could start at SummerSlam. It’s only fitting that the Rock would challenge Cody Rhodes at a big PLE in August.

As The Rock and his new Bloodline try to win, Reigns would be the reason Rhodes retains, now that would be poetic. That will lead to a Bloodline Civil War at Survivor Series War Games that would eventually culminate at Wrestlemania 41 to see who would be the undisputed Tribal Chief of The Bloodline.

Or maybe The Rock will dethrone Cody Rhodes at Summerslam and defend his championship against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 41. That is just one option but what’s the alternative option

Solo Sikoa Option 2

The second option would be to have Solo Sikoa as the new heir of the Bloodline. Roman Reigns has already endorsed it in the past. He said that Solo is the future of the Bloodline, what if Solo believes the future is now?

What if Solo has decided to take matters into his own hands and instead of The Rock vs Reigns we get Reigns vs Solo at WrestleMania? The Rock is the past, Roman is the present, and Solo is the future.

That could all be an option too. However, it does seem more logical to have The Rock trying to take over The Bloodline to get to Roman vs The Rock. Who knows but this storyline is going to be cinema.

The Bloodline Story Will Continue For At Least Until WrestleMania 41

What we do know is that the Bloodline storyline will continue for at least until WrestleMania 41. That is why Roman vs The Rock seems like the most logical choice and it can be built for a whole year too.

As we finish the Rock vs Reigns with probably Reigns coming out victorious we could get Roman vs Solo at WrestleMania 42 in what could be the very last installment of The Bloodline Saga.

Whose to say Mania 42 would be the last installment maybe the last installment could be Jey Uso. Maybe Jey Uso will win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 43 and become the new face of the Bloodline. A lot could happen in the next few years.

Whatever happens, expect both Usos to be involved in the mix too as they would probably join Roman Reigns but this time as babyfaces instead of heels. Sami Zayn will also probably be involved in the favor of Roman’s group. Whatever happens next expected this whole year to take fun and unexpected turns for The Bloodline.

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