After losing out to Johnny Knoxville at WrestleMania 38 Sami Zayn set about trying to restore some pride, and establish himself as the locker room leader. This obviously brought him to the attention of the Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns.
However, instead of trying to overthrow Reigns, Zayn decided that he would join him. This set into motion a storyline which saw Zayn attempt to win the favour of the Head of the Table. This started out with the star helping The Usos in matches, and eventually becoming an “Honorary Uce” before being fully accepted into The Bloodline at Survivor Series.
Sami Zayn Recalls Discussing Partnership With Roman Reigns
The story has proved highly popular with fans, with current and former stars also praising all involved for their work. Speaking in a new interview with Peter Rosenberg, Sami Zayn revealed that the idea for the storyline was first mentioned a year ago, long before it ever arrived on television.
“I won’t pull the curtain back too much, but the idea was kicked around about a year ago, a good six months before the seeds were even planted on screen. The first time I think there was any interaction between myself and the Bloodline was just after WrestleMania. In actuality, the idea was first discussed going into Survivor Series of last year.
I was doing this whole thing on SmackDown where I was the longest-tenured member as the locker room leader. I thought it’d be something interesting with the locker room leader and Head of the Table. The premise being, the Head of the Table isn’t in the locker room anymore.
I wasn’t originally envisioning being a full member of the Bloodline or anything like that, just something to where Roman and I can occasionally get on screen together in a light-hearted way and I’m giving him these reports of what’s going on and what he needs to be careful for. Every once in a while, I get things kicked my way too. That was sort of the idea,”
Expanding further, Zayn said it wasn’t something just he pitched for, recalling that he discussed the story with Reigns too.
It was talked about with Roman as well. We were sitting at catering one day, and I heard an interview that he did with Ariel Helwani where he was very kind towards me and saying nice things about me as an on-screen character and that he’d like to do something down the road with me one day. We got to talking and I don’t remember exactly how it went, but it was a mutual thing.”
Following their victory at Survivor Series all is well with The Bloodline, but recent reports suggest that the harmony won’t last. It has been reported that Roman Reigns will put his Undisputed WWE Universal Title on the line against Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble before facing Sami Zayn a month later. This will then lead to a huge match with Dwayne Johnson at WrestleMania 39.
H/t to Fightful