Although Sami Zayn was ejected from The Bloodline with extreme prejudice at the Royal Rumble, there can be no doubt that the storyline has been one of the most successful in modern wrestling history.
After months of winning over Roman Reigns and The Bloodline, Zayn was finally accepted as part of the family when he helped them win WarGames at Survivor Series by landing a low blow on his old friend Kevin Owens, this enabled Jey Uso to hit a Flying Uce and score the pinfall victory for the team.
While things seemed good in the faction for a short time, cracks soon began showing as Reigns became paranoid that Zayn would betray them. This eventually led to ‘The Trial Of Sami Zayn’ on Raw XXX on January 23rd. Although Zayn was found “Not Guilty” thanks to testimony from Jey Uso, Reigns still had one final test to administer.
At the Royal Rumble, that test proved to be a step too far as Reigns and The Bloodline brutally assaulted Kevin Owens while Zayn looked on. Reigns demanded Zayn hit Owens with a steel chair while he was helpless and handcuffed to the ring ropes, but instead, Zayn turned on his Tribal Chief, hitting him with the chair in the back.
This led to the group attacking Zayn en masse, except for Jey, who left the ring rather than attack the man who had become his friend.
Sami Zayn reflects on the beginnings of his storyline with The Bloodline
Before the heartbreaking scenes at the Royal Rumble took place, Zayn spoke about the beginnings of the story during an interview with BT Sport’s Ariel Helwani, claiming he knew it would be a success before it even happened.
“Yes [laughs]. I know, I don’t want to come off conceited or anything like that. But I did, we already had this time last year the idea was already in my head.
“Now did I ever think that it would actually happen? No. For a lot of this stuff, like this whole thing of, because I have said this in other interviews, there was initially an idea. Because I was calling myself the locker room leader, Roman Reigns was obviously The Head of the Table.
“Actually, coincidentally it was an interview that Roman did with you [Ariel Helwani] that kind of spawned it all off. You would ask was there anyone that you [Roman] would particularly want to work with? And he mentioned my name, which I took as a huge compliment.
“So one time we were talking and I’m like man I have this idea, it would be so fun to do some on-screen stuff. Some of it was his idea too, like where it could go. But, basically it wasn’t like to be a full-fledged member of The Bloodline or anything like that.
“But it was, it would be very cool if we had this periodic relationship, where we’re [does Uso handshake] just checking in, how’s it going, you know. And just to be able to show his [Roman’s] character, a new side of his character to show some range, and obviously doesn’t hurt me to rub up with Roman Reigns on TV. So that was sort of the like inception.”
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