00:00 The Bloodline story involving Roman Reigns, The Usos, Solo Sakoa, Paul Heyman, Sami Zayn
00:06 and others has been one of the best in recent WWE history.
00:11 It's not hard to see why especially when WWE doesn't usually execute a storyline at this
00:16 length which is now technically 3 years plus that we get something like this that has such
00:24 an ambitious take on what you can do with modern wrestling characters in the 21st century.
00:30 While it revolves around one man, Roman Reigns, one of the most successful outcomes is that
00:36 it's elevated several other stars around him in The Usos, Zayn and Solo.
00:41 But it's hard to argue that in 2022 it may have peaked, with Sami Zayn playing the honorary
00:48 Usos and the whole lot happening around them last year, but with 2023 coming to an end,
00:55 is the story on its last legs?
00:57 Is it fair to say that it's been dragging on too long?
01:01 Has the Bloodline run dry?
01:04 It's Sportskeeda Wrestling, I'm Kevin, let us know what you think in the comments below.
01:09 Go ahead, right now.
01:10 Hey, and before you say, "Oh, the Sportskeeda guys are just being negative for the sake
01:15 of negativity."
01:16 No, no, no, no, no, no.
01:17 The Bloodline has been one of the most entertaining things that WWE's done in a while, we're
01:23 saying that, but there's just some signs there that maybe it's not as hot as it once
01:29 was.
01:30 It's not as oocy as it could be.
01:33 See what we did there.
01:34 One of the critical factors is Roman Reigns.
01:36 His part-time schedule has been the biggest thing to impact the story since his presence
01:41 has been reduced compared to 2022.
01:44 This isn't to say that he hasn't earned his part-time featured role, because after
01:49 10 years of grinding on the main roster through injuries and other health challenges, and
01:54 being WWE's top guy for most of it, he deserves to have a reduced workload.
01:59 But is that reduced workload something that allows him to still be the top guy?
02:05 That's another video we can make, but the issue is just how much his workload has reduced.
02:11 Let's look at it with the stats alone.
02:13 Roman Reigns' part-time deal began early in 2022, but it really came into full effect
02:18 in 2023 in terms of what we could see.
02:21 In 2022, he wrestled a total of 52 matches, averaging one a week or so.
02:27 This includes dark matches and untelevised live events, house shows, but televised matches
02:32 were 14 in total.
02:34 Out of those, 11 were on premium live events, and 3 were on Raw or Smackdown.
02:41 In 2023, for comparison, he has wrestled a total of 11 matches, 7 on premium live events,
02:49 and 4 on house shows.
02:51 That's a drastic change.
02:53 This isn't even mentioning his lack of appearances on Smackdown, where the biggest gaps have
02:57 been felt.
02:58 Now, WWE clearly has a lot of other players who are big names, big draws, and fun for
03:04 fans to go and see outside of Roman Reigns.
03:07 But when you look at the bloodline, that's a big difference year to year.
03:11 As a result of this, everything else happening within the bloodline feels like filler.
03:21 Everyone in the band but the lead singer.
03:24 Until the Tribal Chief returns.
03:33 They clearly wanted to reach that thousand day milestone, which seems to be fair in and
03:38 of itself, but was it worth dragging out the story that it has become from 2022 to 2023?
03:46 This is a different time.
03:47 People consume wrestling in a completely different way, at a much larger and faster scale.
03:53 Can you do a champion having a title reign that long in this modern time?
03:58 WWE is certainly testing the patience of the collective WWE universe by doing it.
04:05 This isn't to say that it still won't go down as one of the greatest storylines in
04:08 WWE history.
04:10 Putting those nostalgic glasses on, people are easy to forget the worst parts and only
04:14 focus on the memorable moments.
04:17 But we're still a few years away from that.
04:19 For now, it seems that the bloodline has gone from a story that has been called "cinema",
04:24 a compliment we've never really heard before in WWE, to being stretched out a bit too long.
04:31 When you have weekly episodic television that needs to be produced with 52 live episodes
04:36 a year on the road, it isn't the easiest to sustain a single story without anyone getting
04:42 tired let alone a lot of fans getting tired.
04:45 And right now, just some fans are getting tired.
04:48 And we're talking to them.
04:50 The fact that the bloodline story has managed to drag on this long is that it's an exception,
04:55 not the rule.
04:56 In wrestling, things move fast, and there's a constant need for change and reinvention.
05:01 And maybe doing something this long is a part of that reinvention.
05:06 And that's why even some of the biggest stories you can remember in wrestling history
05:10 haven't lasted as long as you may think they did.
05:14 Heck, if you assume the bloodline story ends at WrestleMania 40, the entire three and a
05:19 half year long saga will have been almost the equivalent of Stone Cold Steve Austin's
05:24 entire rise to the top.
05:27 Yeah, back in the Attitude Era.
05:29 One of the biggest issues is the fact that the endgame of such stories has to be WrestleMania,
05:35 which makes sense.
05:36 It is technically the biggest show in the entire industry, but it's a side effect this
05:42 year where the story has been left on the crutches, just left on the stove, and we've
05:48 kept it hot.
05:49 But it's been sitting there, and we don't know what the flavor's going to be the next
05:53 time we bite into it.
05:54 Whatever the end is, however long it lasts, enjoy it while it does, because you're unlikely
05:59 to see anything like this in a long, long time.
06:05 We're just looking at some of the issues that we have to acknowledge.
06:09 What are your issues with the bloodline in WWE?
06:12 Sound off in the comments below.
06:14 For more videos like this, subscribe to Sportskeeda Wrestling and turn those notifications on.
06:18 Thanks for watching.
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