The year is 2023 and it’s safe to say we are in a golden age of television. With shows like Succession, Severance, Last Of Us, Andor, and so many others on so many streaming services, there’s so many options for us to waste our time. But I am here to tell you about the best ongoing story going on in all of entertainment. And it’s in the WWE. Hear me out.
To truly encapsulate what I’m trying to accomplish here, I am going to be telling the story of three men and the family of one of them. This means it’s time to strap in for another doozy with your ol buddy Joe.
Let’s turn our clocks back to 2012. When the worst we had to think about was the events of that John Cusack movie coming true because of a Mayan Calendar. Netflix was in its infancy and was priming itself to launch the streaming wars that would change television forever. It was also when WWE Survivor Series 2012 aired which featured the debut of “The Shield”, a group of three men in tactical turtlenecks by the names of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns. Remember the last guy I mentioned. The Shield came in and turned their turtlenecks in for tactical vests and began what would become one of the best groups in professional wrestling history. A group of three men that all had potential to carry a company. Three number one overall picks if you will. The Shield immediately became one of WWE’s greatest acts, powerbombing anyone in sight. They won championships, Dean Ambrose became known as “The Titty Master” to fans, Rollins had a blonde streak in his hair and did flippy shit, then Roman Reigns just wrecked everyone, yelled “OOOOOAH”, speared grown men, and got the pin. It was the WWE’s version of NSync, or the Backstreet boys, or BTS. 3 good looking men that beat the crap out of everyone. The rarity here is that the Vince McMahon led WWE actually treated these three men like genuine stars. See this was in an era of “The WWE is the star, not the wrestler” where the WWE would actively neuter the momentum of wrestlers that got over despite not being in the WWE’s plans (Zack Ryder). The Shield, however, was the exception. They were all treated like future main eventers. The beauty of The Shield is that they never had a definite leader. At the beginning it looked like Dean Ambrose was the leader. Then midway through Seth Rollins appeared to be the leader, preventing Ambrose and Reigns from coming to blows several times. The run that The Shield had was the stuff of legend, frequently mixing it up with the legends of the industry, winning tag championships and mid card championships, all while looking like absolute stars. Then, after an incredible few matches against Evolution, The Shield began to approach the end. A fateful day came when Seth Rollins was revealed to be Triple H’s secret protege and turned on his brothers, beating the holy hell out of Reigns and Ambrose with a chair. “There’s always a plan B” will live on in infamous boy band break up history. See this is why it’s such great television. The genuine emotion this had over people, and even myself, still resonates to this day. Regardless, you must respect the acting ability of these men.
With all boy band breakups we get the inevitable solo careers that follow. The thing about The Shield is that they were three Justin Timberlakes (I sadly say as a JC guy). Dean Ambrose would go on to become a multi time WWE Champion before going to All Elite Wrestling as Jon Moxley where he would go on to become one of the biggest and most important wrestlers in that company. Seth Rollins would go on to become a Kingslayer (HHH) then a beast slayer (Brock Lesnar) then a Messiah, and then to now, where he is a certified drip God. Now that brings us to Roman Reigns. Let’s talk about him… MINI BIO TIME FOR CONTEXT:
Roman Reigns, born Joe Anoa’i, was born for greatness. The son of Sika Anoa’i of the Wild Samoans, and the legendary Anoa’i family which includes a certain cousin by the name of Dwayne Johnson. Ya know the guy from the tequila? The guy from the energy drink? The guy from the Under Armour? The guy from the football league? The guy from that movie you saw? Yeah him. Anoa’i came up as a football player, playing for Georgia Tech and the Minnesota Vikings for a cup of coffee. After the football career ended, Joe (Great name btw) decided to follow in the family footsteps and become a wrestler. He joined WWE in their developmental system then known as FCW and soon after NXT following Triple H’s rebranding (Which you know I’m going to cover later). He debuted as “Leakee” where it was a fun little skeleton of what we would see in the future. We saw the poses he would later do, but he didn’t quite have it there yet. However you could see that he had that ever elusive “It” factor. An undeniable presence. After a brief run as Leakee, he was repacked as Roman Reigns, where after a brief run of wearing a suit and tie, he joined The Shield. All the while Reigns was being prepped and destined for success, his real life cousins, Jimmy and Jey Uso (Josh and Johnathan Fatu, sons of WWE legend Rikishi) were attempting to make a name for themselves in the tag team division of the WWE. Their youngest brother, Joseph Fatu, would also do the football turned wrestler route, as he would join WWE and become Solo Sikoa. The Usos would do really well in the tag team division, and in 2021 Solo would debut in NXT where he would spend a few months there before being called up to the main roster (More on that later). But let’s go back to Roman and the events following the breakup of The Shield.
After The Shield went their separate ways, Reigns sort of remained the same. Where Ambrose and Rollins got new theme songs, Reigns came out in the same gear and same theme song for years, even still entering through the crowd like The Shield did. WWE, Vince McMahon mainly, really wanted to see Reigns succeed as the underdog good ol babyface that can! The thing is, it’s hard to be an underdog babyface when you’re a 6’4 Samoan demi-God looking man. So the entire Reigns babyface experience was just so forced and honestly boring. They made him wear blue contact lenses and say things like “Sufferin Succotash”. And then real life happened. Joe Anoa’i announced he would take time off due to his Chronic Myeloid Leukemia returning. In an ironic twist, that’s the exact cancer I had when I was a kid so this was oddly personal to watch. The good thing is that CML is very treatable and easy to beat, I mean I did on Medicare so a famous wrestler definitely kicked its ass. After a little over a year, Joe was in remission, and returned as Roman Reigns to confirm as much. This began an interesting period when Reigns had a ton of babyface momentum but no real direction. He was in feuds with Braun Stroman and such. Funny enough he was just kind of “There”. And then COVID-19 happened.
Reigns justifiably decided to take time off during the pandemic coming right after his battle with Leukemia. This would end up being for the best because what would follow would be the beginning of what might be the best story ever told in professional wrestling history, The Bloodline.
from day 1 the story of the bloodline was never romans story pic.twitter.com/wzvT29Owfa
— el (sami zayn apologist) (@cmpunkluvsme) January 29, 2023
After a few months off, Roman Reigns would make his return in a triple threat match against Braun Stroman and “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt. However this was no longer the Reigns we once knew. HE TOOK HIS VEST OFF! He finally showed off that epic torso that showed off an incredible Samoan tribal tattoo that covers the entire right side of his body, a work of art one must admit. See this is key in television. The main character, above all, must be HOT. Reigns then aligned himself with the infamous Paul Heyman, a man with genuine ties to his whole family, and what would follow would be the stuff of legend. Reigns would then begin a rivalry with his real life cousin Jey Uso (Josh Fatu, Rikishi’s son). Reigns, Jimmy and Jey Uso all grew up together, went to the same schools together, fought each other and fought together. Jimmy got injured at this point so it was up to “Main Event” Jey Uso to go solo, and try a singles run.
Jey won a number one contender’s spot against Reigns and decided to take on his big cousin, this would not end well. Jey Uso would put up a valiant effort against the Universal Champion Reigns, still going by his then nickname of “The Big Dog” would end up beating the unholy hell out of his cousin to retain his championship. It was a masterclass in storytelling and acting. Now I understand if you’re reading this thinking “Oh this is just wrestling come on” and to that I say “Shut up”. I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of television and movies. I’ve studied filmmaking, acting, and have done both at a semi-professional level. So I say all that to say, this is some of the best acting any professional wrestler has ever showcased. Reigns showed off a side of him we had never seen, but had always known was there. We finally saw the cocky arrogant big badass we always knew he was, but the WWE refused to let us see, until now. Reigns had literally beaten his cousins into absolute fealty of him in a vicious way. Punching him relentlessly while talking all the possible shit a man can talk while beating up his cousin. Jey’s brother Jimmy would literally throw in the towel for his brother, and look Reigns in the eye and call him “The Tribal Chief” for the very first time, and from here on, history began to be made. And with that, a brilliant television villain was created. A man so powerful and unbeatable that he’s willing to just obliterate his own cousin in order to have him at his beck and call.
After recruiting (By force) his cousins, Reigns was in full control of The Bloodline, and was on a crash course with WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. Ya see they had two shows so two champions, and Reigns challenged Lesnar for what had to be the 650th time at this point. However this time it was different, this time, Lesnar was facing the Tribal Chief, a man with a date with destiny as the face of professional wrestling, an honor his older cousin once held. Reigns, now flanked by his cousins The Usos the WWE Tag Team champions, over 500 days into his reign (See that pun come back around?) beat Lesnar and fully cemented his place as the face of the WWE, and the face of the industry. A place he was destined to be, the throne the chief was always meant to sit upon.
Just shortly after defeating Lesnar at Wrestlemania, however, the story began to go from “Good” to “One of the best ever told in professional wrestling”. That was because of two men: Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens. Stay tuned for part two!
