00:00FOLLOWING THE FAILURE OF WRESTLEMANIA 40 FOR THE BLOODLINE WHICH SAW JIMMY USO LOSE TO
00:12HIS DEFECTING BROTHER J, AND ROMAN REIGNS THE TRIBAL CHIEF HUMBLED FOR ALL OF HIS HUBRIS
00:19WITH A LOSS OF HIS YEARS LONG RUN AS THE WWE UNDISPUTED UNIVERSAL CHAMPION TO CODY ROWES.
00:27WHO IN THE BLOODLINE WOULD RISE, WELL IT WOULD BE SOLO SAKOA WHO DECIDED TO GET RID OF WHAT
00:34HE DEEMED THE WEAKEST LINK.
00:36SOLO WOULD REPLACE JIMMY USO WITH THE ADOPTED SON OF LEGENDARY HAKU TAMA TANGA.
00:44TAMA WAS FRESH OFF A BIG RUN IN NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING AND NOT FAR BEHIND HIM WAS TANGA
00:49LOA WHO WOULD SOON BE ADDED TO THE RANKS AND THEN OF COURSE THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED DEBUT
00:54OF THE SAMOAN WEREWOLF JACOB FATU.
00:58THIS WOULD CHANGE THE BLOODLINE AS WE KNOW IT FOREVER, A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GROUP OF
01:02NAMES THAT WERE ALL VALIDATED WITHIN THE LONG LINE THAT CONNECTS THE BLOODLINE, ACTUALLY
01:08BY BLOOD.
01:11SOLO SAKOA MADE HIS INTENTIONS CLEAR, HE ISN'T WAITING FOR ROMAN REIGNS TO RETURN AND ACKNOWLEDGE
01:17HIM AS THE HEAD OF THE TABLE AND THE NEW TRIBAL CHIEF, HE'S SIMPLY TAKING MATTERS INTO
01:21HIS OWN HAND AND HE'S GETTING BOOED OUT OF ARENAS FOR IT.
01:25LET'S ACKNOWLEDGE WHY WWE FANS ARE REALLY UNHAPPY WITH SOLO SAKOA AND THE MORE RECENT
01:33UNBELIEVABLE UPHEAVAL IN THE POLYNESIAN PRO WRESTLING FACTION.
01:38I'M KEVIN KELLUM, THIS IS SPORTS KEY TO WRESTLING, AND LESS THAN 100 WORDS OR SO,
01:44CAN YOU FANTASY BOOK THE FUTURE OF THE BLOODLINE IN WWE?
01:48LET'S HEAR IT IN THOSE COMMENTS BELOW.
01:50STAND BACK, THERE'S A NEW WRESTLING QUIZ COMING THROUGH, CHECK OUT BRAIN BUSTER, THE
01:56DAILY QUIZ THAT TESTS YOUR WWE KNOWLEDGE WITH WINNING STRENGTHS, STATS AND MORE.
02:01IT'S TIME TO SEE IF YOU'RE UP FOR THE CHALLENGE.
02:04You people don't deserve Roman, you got me now.
02:10The power and control, the change, all of it could be best exemplified when Paul Heyman,
02:18the reliable, yes, consulting wise man of this faction who had been at Roman's side,
02:24refused to acknowledge Solo as his tribal chief out of his undying loyalty to his tribal
02:31chief, his tribal chief, Roman Reigns.
02:35At Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena, the consequence for this refusal
02:41to fall in line, the wise man was taken out physically by the Bloodline.
02:47Yes, WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman got an extreme beatdown of his own, being plowed
02:53through a table, despite the crowd at MSG getting behind him saying he would not acknowledge
02:59it, it doesn't matter, he got powerbombed through a table, sorry Paul.
03:02The story seems to be taking off, but WWE fans are still quite unhappy with Solo Sokoa,
03:08and why could that be, and aren't they supposed to be unhappy with him?
03:12One of the petty, shallow arguments from these fickle, fickle fans against Solo Sokoa
03:17is that he hasn't progressed too much as a character, um, I'm sorry, but what is
03:22this argument?
03:23They say he's a stern, silent badass enforcer, and it's just a trope and it's been done
03:28quite a few times before in wrestling, so it's not exactly new or exciting in a new
03:32direction or it's this.
03:34One of the roadblocks he seems to be facing is that his character can't seem to fully
03:39connect with WWE fans, but here's how it does connect with WWE fans, he gets booed,
03:45and then he's supposed to terrorize the good guy Cody Rhodes.
03:49Some of you want this to be a little bit more complicated than it needs to be, but I'll
03:52still get into more of the running arguments against everything Solo out there, not many
03:57are convinced that he's ready for the next level, and honestly, some can make that argument,
04:03but hasn't been proven yet because he hasn't been tested at that level just yet.
04:08Despite being in the most important storyline on SmackDown, Solo hasn't proven himself
04:13to be a WWE Championship challenger in the eyes of many just yet, but the counter-argument
04:20to that notion is pretty simple, yes, he feels he's entitled to these things because he's
04:26in the bloodline, he's entitled to them, he doesn't feel he needs to earn these opportunities,
04:32so he simply forces his way into a world title match with Cody Rhodes.
04:37But the pattern here, yeah, you're not supposed to feel that he's honorable, Roman Reigns
04:42made it clear before that Solo Sokoa was the tribal successor to him, but that position
04:48seems to have been maybe rushed or stolen or he's not following orders that were declared
04:54from atop from the guy who isn't there who doesn't want to show up or whatever, perhaps
04:58Solo branching off on his own wasn't the next best step, but it's the step that's been made,
05:05and maybe that is the compelling thing that will lead to something else down the line,
05:09yes, patience is something that these same fickle fantasy booking fans who don't see
05:14their fantasy on screen need to be patient for, and yeah, perhaps maybe Solo branching
05:20off with his own bloodline wasn't the next best step, but the consequences of his actions
05:27are what we get to see, but if WWE wanted to introduce names like Tama Tonga and Tonga
05:33Loa and Jacob Fatu, who else could have done that?
05:37The present new surly version of the bloodline needed to be connected to the fallen previous
05:43incarnation, Solo Sokoa is the best option to do that.
05:47Another major issue Solo Sokoa has faced is his up and down momentum as a solo superstar,
05:53but with the group around him, does that re-correct the course, I mean this is the guy who had
05:58a John Cena feud in late 2023 where he demolished him and sent him packing and maybe prepping
06:05him for retirement and their big match in Saudi Arabia, it's a perfect example of that.
06:10The story was crafted in a way to build Solo vs Cena in Saudi Arabia with Solo crushing
06:16the greatest of all time and getting the biggest win of his career, the win feels incredibly
06:21pointless because WWE proceeded to do not much with him as a solo superstar after that.
06:27It's a hard lesson in how to keep a superstar's momentum alive on WWE's monstrous three ring
06:33circus of television week to week heading into Wrestlemania, and the follow up with
06:37Solo Sokoa from that big win over Cena was just uh, underwhelming because he just felt
06:43like he was back in the same role he was in before that match.
06:47Solo has unfortunately gotten the tag by some of being called bland, but those are the same
06:53fans that are booing him, and remember, you're supposed to boo him, you're not supposed
06:59to like him, when did bad guys have to be more likeable than the good guys?
07:04There is some reasonable criticism in some saying he has an overall lack of aura, yeah
07:09that's a hot word everyone's using, which isn't unusual for a younger wrestler who
07:14maybe isn't Roman Reigns who's leading the faction that Roman Reigns left behind,
07:18and maybe the fact that he's the guy who has to take on this role when Roman Reigns
07:22isn't there, yeah that's not easy.
07:25Yes, the worst thing that Solo Sokoa is doing is he's not Roman Reigns.
07:30One thing for sure is there's probably been more character growth for Solo Sokoa in the
07:34past three months than maybe in the 18 months before Wrestlemania 40.
07:39It took Roman Reigns getting kicked out of the big picture of WWE for Solo to finally
07:45get the spotlight, but even when pinning Cody Rhodes and challenging for the WWE Championship
07:51at Summerslam, yes right he pinned Cody Rhodes, that was a big moment, he doesn't feel like
07:56he's ready.
07:57Let's take the example of another body-wrecking up-and-comer in Gunther.
08:02After losing the Intercontinental Championship with a record-breaking reign, he went on to
08:06win the King of the Ring tournament and earn a championship match for the World Heavyweight
08:11title at Summerslam, and you'd have to wait a month and a half for this, but you're
08:17not going to see anybody questioning his position, he has felt like he's been ready
08:22for that for a while now.
08:25If you're thinking, that's not a fair comparison since there's a huge difference in experience
08:29between Gunther and Solo, we'd say fair enough.
08:33But we need to address the elephant in the room.
08:36The elephant in the room is a 6 foot 2, 280 pound Samoan werewolf by the name of Jacob
08:42Fatu.
08:43We did a big video about him, go check it out.
08:47There was a rumor prior to his debut that some people backstage in WWE were afraid that
08:53Jacob Fatu was going to overshadow Solo.
08:57While the larger wrestling fanbase may not be too in the know about Jacob, they may know
09:03about him prior to WWE but don't really know him just yet, virtually every veteran and
09:09higher up in wrestling promotions has had their eyes on him for quite some time.
09:15So assuming that that rumor is true, it's not a surprise why some people were worried
09:19about Jacob possibly being much more of a Samoan badass than Solo Sokoa in the eyes
09:27of the common wrestling fan.
09:29The potential for Jacob Fatu was clear before he even signed the dotted line for WWE.
09:36Just a few appearances in, Jacob Fatu seems to be getting better reactions than Solo already.
09:42He has a presence in him that legitimizes him without having to say that much.
09:47Perhaps the concerns of Jacob Fatu overshadowing Solo are true, but WWE will need to improvise
09:54and change things up in the bloodline story if he doesn't overtake Solo in popularity.
10:01Is Solo Sokoa actually ready for an all out war type of feud with Roman Reigns when he
10:06returns?
10:07Is he ready for the onslaught of Cody Rhodes?
10:10With everyone who's in his Nightmare family, only time will tell, but right now it seems
10:16a bit unlikely.
10:17He's set for the biggest match of his career at Summerslam 2024, and although we highly
10:23doubt he's the one to beat Cody Rhodes, a lot of work is going to have to be put in
10:28to fulfill the potential of Solo Sokoa.
10:30What do you think?
10:31Let us know in those comments below.
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